Woman suffers ‘life-threatening bowel injury,’ will have diarrhea forever after using Ozempic: lawsuit
An Ozempic user will suffer from diarrhea for the rest of her life after sustaining a serious bowel injury — allegedly brought on by injections of the wildly popular weight loss drug.
The unidentified woman is one of a dozen people who have filed lawsuits against Novo Nordisk, parent company of Ozempic and sister drug Wegovy, since November, according to a report published Saturday by the Daily Mail.
All plaintiffs claimed the jabs caused gastroparesis — a rare condition that affects the spontaneous movement of the stomach muscles.
Gastroparesis leaves patients with nausea, bloating, and severe abdominal pain, per the Mayo Clinic. It can also cause vomiting, weight loss and malnutrition.
According to the suit, the woman was diagnosed with a “life-threatening bowel injury” after using Ozempic, prompting surgeons to subsequently perform an eight-hour operation in the hopes of repairing her colon.
While she managed to survive the scary medical episode, she was said to have been told by doctors that she will be in pain “for the rest of her life’ and “will never have a solid bowel movement again.”
The woman is now accusing Novo Nordisk of “failing to properly warn about the risk of gastroparesis on the drugs’ packaging.”
It’s unclear whether she was using the drug for weight loss or the treatment of diabetes. It is also unknown how long she had been using medication for before the bowel injury.
Both Ozempic and Wegovy were initially designed for people with Type 2 diabetes, before being prescribed by doctors to help patients lose weight.
Injected once per week into the stomach, thigh or arm, the drugs are semaglutides, which help the pancreas release the right amount of insulin when blood sugar levels are high.
“Semaglutide is produced while we eat; it tells the brain that we are full,” Dr. Katherine H. Saunders, a New York City physician, previously told The Post.
“It helps people to feel less hungry, to feel full faster, and to stay full longer — but it does so when we are actually less full.”
While the jabs have helped thousands of users slim down super-quick, a separate suit obtained by the Daily Mail alleges that one Wegovy user went a week without a bowel movement.
The plaintiff was rushed to hospital where doctors diagnosed her with gastroparesis.
The Post has contacted Novo Nordisk for comment on the multiple lawsuits,
Meanwhile, weight loss jabs manufactured by other pharmaceutical giants have allegedly caused similar issues.
A third lawsuit seen by the Daily Mail was purportedly filed against Eli Lilly, the maker of Mounjaro, another injectable that works in a similar manner to Wegovy and Ozempic.
According to the legal documents, a woman who used both Ozempic and Mounjaro was “diagnosed with gastroparesis which caused her to vomit so much that some of her teeth fell out.”
At least 9 other lawsuits have been filed against Eli Lilly, per the report.
A rep for Eli Lilly told The Post in a statement: “Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority, and we actively engage in monitoring, evaluating, and reporting safety information for all our medicines.”
“Our FDA-approved label clearly warns that Mounjaro may be associated with gastrointestinal adverse reactions, sometimes severe,” the statement continued. “The label further states that Mounjaro has not been studied in patients with severe gastrointestinal disease, including severe gastroparesis, and is therefore not recommended in these patients.”
“These risks were communicated to and widely known by healthcare providers. We will vigorously defend against these claims.”
Florida attorney Cameron Stephenson told the Daily Mail that his firm “currently has around 100 clients who were diagnosed with gastroparesis” after using the injectable drugs. He believes the current suits will be the tip of the iceberg.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are going to be thousands of cases,” he declared.
Mom-of-two Brea Hand, 23, is one Ozempic user who has filed a suit against Novo Nordisk.
She says she was left with gastroparesis after being prescribed Ozempic for weight loss and the treatment of pre-diabetes last May.
The Oklahoma native allegedly suffered from nausea, vomiting and constipation before ending up in intensive care on her fifth visit to the hospital.
“They said my body was so acidotic that if I would have waited one more day that I wouldn’t have made it through,” Hand declared in her suit. “It was scary. It was painful. I have not ever experienced that kind of pain in my entire life and I do not ever want to go through that again.”
She urged the pharmaceutical company to be more transparent about the potential side effects of the super popular drug.
“I think they should definitely advertise more of the risks it does have,” she wrote.
Hand is represented by Morgan & Morgan who were the first firm to file suit against Novo Nordisk in Aug. 2023. They are currently investigating thousands of similar cases.
Morgan & Morgan attorneys Paul Pennock and Jonathan Sedgh told The Post in a statement: “Our clients put their trust in these companies to manufacture a safe product, and instead have endured ongoing gastrointestinal problems that in many cases are severe, debilitating and disabling.”
They added: “We look forward to continuing these cases and seeking justice for anyone who these drugs may have injured.”
