Two Illinois parents who say contaminated Tylenol killed their infant son have filed a lawsuit against the company that manufactures the drug.
In 2010, the company recalled children's and infant formulas of cherry- and grape-flavored liquid Tylenol.
In their suit filed in Cook County, Malgorzata and Michael Cherry say their son Markus died after being given grape-flavored Concentrated Tylenol Infant Drops that year, and claim testing confirmed the presence of harmful, possibly fatal bacteria in the Tylenol he was administered, CBS Chicago reports. The suit alleges that Markus' medication came from a Fort Washington, Pa. manufacturing plant that had been cited for multiple quality-control violations by the Food and Drug Administration before it was temporarily shut down.
The seven-count suit claims Johnson & Johnson was aware the Pennsylvania plant had contamination problems, but deceived consumers and stealthily removed products from the market before issuing a formal recall, according to the Chicago Tribune. Information about contamination at the plant was formally released to the public and an official recall enacted two weeks after Markus' death.
The suit accuses the company of negligent manufacturing, liability for defects and failure to warn consumers, misrepresentation and consumer fraud and seeks at least $350,000 in damages, according to CBS.
Earlier this year, the company recalled a line of infant Tylenol again, this time for problems with the bottle design.
