The parents of a baby girl who was only 13 days old when she died after officials said she drank tainted formula last year can move ahead with a lawsuit against mega-manufacturer Abbott Nutrition.
Kentucky newborn Willow Jade Dellaquila died on Nov. 5, 2023, after she was infected with a dangerous germ that caused a stroke on the right side of her brain, her mother said this week.
The deadly bacteria, cronobacter sakazakii, can be traced to a can of Similac Total Comfort powdered formula used in the baby’s bottles, records show.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” Cheyenne Ping, 25, said.
“No one should have to go through this.”
Abbott was forced to shut down a Sturgis, Mich., plant in 2022 when inspections found widespread contamination at the facility after similar reports of infant deaths and illnesses.
The temporary closure sent parents scrambling to find baby formula.
Ping and little Willow’s father, Christian Dellaquila, 26, were allowed to move forward with a lawsuit against Abbott, an Illinois judge determined on Wednesday.
The couple tried to join a lawsuit with two other families who say their children suffered major brain damage from cronobacter sakazakii linked to a different type of Abbott powdered formula, Similac Neosure.
But the judge requested the three cases be filed separately for now.
The other lawsuits include a baby in Missouri who was sickened in March 2023 at 6 weeks old and an Illinois 4-week-old infected with the bacteria in July 2021, according to officials.
Both fortunately survived.
The lawsuits each demand at least $450,000 per family.
Willow had formula made at the Sturgis plant and sold at a Walmart more than a year after Abbott was placed under court-mandated oversight by the Food and Drug Administration.
The other infants consumed formula from an Abbott plant in Arizona, which has also been under past scrutiny about alleged dangerous conditions, according to federal records.
Abbott claimed there is no proven link between the product and any infections at the center of the legal actions.
“No sealed, distributed product from our facilities have tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii and we don’t believe these claims have merit,” Abbott officials said in an email.
The bacteria can be found in home kitchens, including sinks, counters and even scoops that measure baby formula powder.
The germ can also be found in factories, on equipment and elsewhere.
While evidence of cronobacter was found in open cans of Abbott formula in Willow’s home — and confirmed to cause her infection — documents show that the same strain of bacteria was not detected in sealed cans of formula or at the Abbott factories, federal officials said.
That doesn’t prove the products were contamination-free, said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.
“If you get negative test results, it doesn’t tell you as much as a positive test result does,” Kowalcyk said. “If you get a positive, you’ve got a big problem. If you get a negative, you don’t know what’s going on.”
With Post wires
