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Heartbreaking final photos of twin boy who lived for just 25 days - as parents claim formula led to deadly intestinal disease
Heartbreaking photos showing a twin baby boy who lived for just 25 days have been shared during an emotional lawsuit which saw his parents win $60 million in compensation from a cow's milk formula producer.
Jurors recently found global company Mead Johnson negligent for failing to properly warn Illinois mother Jasmine Watson about the link between their product and the intestinal disease that killed her son Chance Dean in March 2020.
Chance weighed less than four pounds when he was born two months early, and his entire life was spent at a neonatal IC unit close to his family home in Southern Illinois.
On day 12, he was given the formula for premature babies after Watson was unable to produce enough breast milk for both him and his twin brother, Chase.
Heartbreaking final photos showing twin baby boy Chance Dean, who lived for just 25 days, have been shared during an emotional lawsuit which saw his parents win $60 million in compensation from a cow's milk formula producer
Jasmine Watson sits with her partner, Cedric Dean, and their son Chase, 4. Pictured on the pillow is Chance Dean, who died from NEC in March, 2020
Watson initially opted for the boys to be fed with a combination of her own milk and human breast milk from donor banks. But they were moved to a hospital where donor milk was unavailable, and it was here that Chance began to deteriorate.
'He just seemed like he just didn't feel good,' Watson, 25, told ABC News. 'It seemed like he was uncomfortable.'
Chance was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) - a deadly intestinal disease which mainly affects premature babies. He underwent three surgeries in efforts to save his life.
But on the evening of March 28, 2020, Chance died in his mother's arms.
'In that moment, I felt like the only thing that I could do for him was be there,' Watson told ABC News. 'I held him the entire time until his heart stopped beating.'
Chase, who received the same formula as Chance at the same time, did not develop NEC.
Four years later, jurors were shown heartbreaking photographs of Chance in a tiny blue knit hat with a feeding tube in his nose, as his family took global pediatric nutrition company Mead Johnson to court.
Following a three week trial, the jury decided Mead Johnson was negligent and had failed to properly warn Watson that the incidence of NEC is higher in formula-fed premature babies.
Watson's lawyers hailed the victory as a historic win for the state of Illinois.
'For good reason, we believe this is the largest compensatory damages award ever in St. Clair County and stands as one of the most substantial in Illinois state history,' they wrote in a press release.
In a statement from its UK-based parent company Reckitt Benckiser, Mead Johnson said it was 'surprised and deeply disappointed with the verdict' and pledged to 'pursue all options' to have it overturned.
'It is important to note that this is a single verdict in a single case and should not be extrapolated,' the statement said.
'We continue to believe that the allegations from the plaintiff's lawyers in this case were not supported by the science or experts in the medical community.'
Watson initially opted for the boys to be fed with a combination of her own milk and human breast milk from donor banks. But they were moved to a hospital where donor milk was unavailable, and it was here that Chance began to deteriorate
The company also told ABC News that the verdict 'sets a dangerous precedent that interferes with the practice of medicine and the patient-doctor relationship.'
But the lawsuit marks the start of a flood of similar litigation. There are more than a thousand pending suits in the US involving 7,000 families whose premature babies died or suffered serious injuries from NEC, according to Abc News.
Parents allege that cow's milk-based formulas for premature babies created by Mead Johnson and their main rival Abbott significantly increase the risk of infants contracting NEC.
Ben Whiting, a partner at Keller Postman, a national law firm which represented Watson and hundreds of other plaintiffs told Abc News producers need to have clearer messaging so that parents understand the risks.
'Our allegation is that these formula manufacturers should be, at minimum, warning moms, doctors, dietitians, nurses, and hospitals of the risk of this horrendous disease that comes with switching preterm infants from a human milk to a cow's milk-based formula,' Whiting said.