Woman Says Raw Milk Sickened Her Toddler And Led To Loss Of Unborn Baby, Sues Florida Dairy Farm

A female has sued a Florida dairy workplace linked by authorities officials to an outbreak of infections from consuming earthy milk, claiming she mislaid her unborn kid while caring for her toddler who sewage sick from nan milk.

Rachel Maddox claimed she didn’t cognize astir nan risks progressive pinch earthy beverage and her kid became earnestly sick aft consuming nan product, according to nan suit revenge Wednesday successful Seminole County.

Now she’s suing Keely Farms Dairy, a workplace successful New Smyrna Beach, which nan Florida Department of Health earlier this period said was linked to astatine slightest 21 cases of campylobacter and shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infections since January.

Of those cases, six included children nether nan property of 10 and 7 hospitalizations.

State wellness officials astatine nan clip warned astir nan imaginable risks of drinking earthy beverage — beverage that is not pasteurized, meaning it hasn’t gone done a heat-treating process that destroys bacteria.

At nan time, nan Florida Department of Health said it was moving pinch nan workplace to guarantee “effective sanitation practices are implemented consistently crossed each batch.”

In nan suit, Maddox claimed she purchased Keely Farms Dairy earthy beverage astatine Wild Hare Natural Market successful June of this twelvemonth erstwhile she was astir 20 weeks pregnant.

Keely Farms Dairy, Wild Hare Natural Market and attorneys for Maddox did not respond to NBC News requests for remark connected Monday.

She purchased nan beverage for her husband, who grew up successful Eastern Europe and had expressed “an appreciation for workplace caller milk,” nan title said.

“Unaware of immoderate imaginable dangers, she purchased it,” nan title said.

The beverage did person a explanation — successful accordance pinch Florida rule — that said it was for animal, and not human, consumption.

She inquired astir nan label, but was told it was “a method request to waste ‘farm milk’” and she didn’t mobility it further, nan title said. The title does not specify who Maddox inquired pinch astir nan label.

Maddox and her hubby began to supply nan beverage to their toddler, identified by nan initials L.U., but aft consuming nan earthy beverage connected June 8, 2025, nan suit alleges L.U. began to acquisition diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain, chills and dehydration.

They took nan toddler to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children connected June 9 “for nan first of what would beryllium 3 emergency room visits and hospitalizations successful nan adjacent respective weeks,” nan suit said.

The kid was hospitalized for terrible gastroenteritis from June 9 to 12. During that visit, L.U. was recovered to person some E. Coli and campylobacter.

Drinking earthy beverage aliases its products tin expose group to germs, including campylobacter, escherichia coli (E. coli), listeria, salmonella and different types of bacteria, according to nan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Campylobacter tin make group sick pinch diarrhea. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is simply a type of E. coli, which tin origin bloody diarrhea, terrible tummy cramps and vomiting, according to nan CDC. STEC germs successful nan astir terrible shape tin besides consequence successful hemolytic uremic syndrome, which tin lead to kidney nonaccomplishment and is peculiarly concerning for children, nan Florida Health Department said.

L.U. was discharged connected June 12, but returned to nan infirmary connected nan 14th owed to bloody stool. The toddler underwent room for intussusception — a type of bowel blockage — and was treated for imaginable hemolytic uremic syndrome. He was discharged connected nan 16th, according to nan suit.

The kid returned nan pursuing time owed to bloody stool and terrible abdominal symptom and he remained location for 2 days.

“L.U.’s aesculapian curen continues to this day,” nan title said.

Maddox says she didn’t portion nan earthy beverage herself, but by June 13 she besides sought aesculapian curen for diarrhea, vomiting, fever, abdominal symptom and chills. Testing recovered she tested affirmative for e. Coli and campylobacter, and she was told she contracted it while caring for her toddler, nan title said.

Maddox was hospitalized for 2 days because she was pregnant and dehydrated, nan title said.

On June 18, Maddox’s fetus died and she was readmitted to nan infirmary wherever she was diagnosed pinch sepsis. The title said an autopsy placed nan property of her fetus astatine betwixt 19 and 20 weeks.

She was discharged, but later readmitted to different infirmary erstwhile “her information deteriorated,” nan title said.

On June 30, nan title says Rachel had a lumbar puncture and was screened for nan onset of Guillain Barre Syndrome — a uncommon information that causes nervus harm and is astir commonly caused by campylobacter infection, according to nan CDC.

Her aesculapian curen besides continues to this day, nan filing said.

The suit accuses Keely Farms Dairy LLC and Wild Hare Natural Market of strict liability, negligence, and breach of implied warranties.

The suit alleges that nan beverage was defective astatine clip of acquisition because it contained e. Coli and campylobacter, and was truthful “unreasonably dangerous.”

It accuses nan workplace of failing to decently trial its products, failing to adequately show sanitary conditions and failing to pass nan nationalist astir contamination

As a result, Maddox suffered pain, suffering, intelligence anguish, disability, aesculapian and pharmaceutical expenses, and mislaid wages arsenic a consequence of nan incident.

The suit seeks compensatory damages and relief.