Yes, you can sue for a miscarriage caused by listeriosis if your illness can be linked to food contaminated with Listeria monocyctogenes bacteria. You may have a lawsuit against a grocery store, national retailer (Costco, Walmart, etc.), food company, supplier, importer and others. With a lawsuit, our lawyers can get access to information that will help you get answers, compensation and justice.
Listeriosis contracted by a pregnant woman can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and severe illness (often leading to death) in a newborn. It is usually infection with Listeria in the first trimester of pregnancy that leads to miscarriage. Our lawyers represented a couple whose twins were miscarried when the mother contracted this severe illness. She had eaten deli meat contaminated with Listeria bacteria. Our lawyers won over $2 million for the couple.
Why are Pregnant Women at Risk for Listeriosis?
According to the CDC, pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis food poisoning. (Read about Listeria and pregnancy.) In the past, it was thought that the reason for this was hormonal changes during pregnancy that affected the mother’s immune system, making her more susceptible to this illness.
Recent studies conducted by researchers at Berkeley now point to the placenta as playing a roll in the increased risk in pregnant women:
L. monocytogenes can invade the placenta, where – protected from the body’s immune system – they proliferate rapidly before pouring out to infect organs such as the liver and spleen. The illness they cause, listeriosis, often results in miscarriage or infection of the fetus.
The study is the first to trace such a pathway of infection, and it dashes the widely-held assumption that immune-system changes during pregnancy are to blame for elevated infection rates.
“The reason the mother is more susceptible is not necessarily because her immune system is compromised, but because the bacteria that got into her placenta are infecting her,” said Anna Bakardjiev, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher with Daniel Portnoy, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley. “The miscarriages that result from these infections may be a natural defense mechanism to dispel this source of infection.”
For further reading, see “Listeria Infections May be Serious Early Miscarriage Threat.”
Do I Have a Lawsuit?
You may have the right to file a lawsuit for compensation. You can call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) to talk to one of our lawyers about your case. You can also fill out our free online consultation form. Find out if you can sue a corporate wrongdoer for your loss.
