--- title: "Woman Says Her Colon Had to Be Removed After Taking Ozempic" description: "A woman prescribed Ozempic and Wegovy is now suing the company that makes it after losing her colon from complications caused by the drugs. " date: "2024-09-06" modified: "2024-09-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/woman-colon-removed-ozempic" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "colon" - "novo nordisk" - "ozempic" - "semaglutide" --- # Woman Says Her Colon Had to Be Removed After Taking Ozempic ![A woman prescribed Ozempic and Wegovy is now suing the company that makes it after losing her colon from complications caused by the drugs. ]() *\Image: Michael Siluk / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty\* A woman prescribed Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight is now suing the company that makes the drugs after losing her colon from complications she says they caused. As [*CBS News* reports](), 62-year-old Juanita Gantt was first prescribed Wegovy, a weight loss injectible, and later the diabetes drug Ozempic. The active ingredient in both is semaglutide, which falls under the class of medications known as GLP-1s made by the Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk. Because she was considered obese and at risk for diabetes — though [some reporting indicated ]()the woman had already been diagnosed as a diabetic — her doctor told her she was a good candidate for the semaglutide-based drugs. (It's unclear whether Gantt was switched from Wegovy to Ozempic or if she'd been prescribed both concurrently, which would [probably not be safe]() because they're simply different doses of the same substance.) Initially, Gantt said she felt fine and was happy with the weight she'd lost — but in October 2023, several months into her semaglutide journey, her husband found her collapsed and unconscious on the floor. "I had no idea what had happened to me," the Pennsylvania woman told *CBS*. As she learned at the hospital, part of Gantt's colon had died and had to be removed. When she was recovering from surgery, she went into cardiac arrest, leading the hospital to call her daughter, telling her that her mother might die. "Breaks my heart that my daughter got that phone call," the woman told the news broadcaster tearfully. "Horrible." Gantt now has to wear an ileostomy bag to collect waste — and she believes Novo is to blame. Though semaglutide comes with a laundry list of moderate-to-severe gastrointestinal side effects, including an [FDA warning]() issued a month before Gantt's collapse about its potential to cause intestinal blockage, the woman says she's suing because she was not properly advised about the drug's potential to harm in that way. "I had no warning that this was even a possibility," she said. As Gantt's lawyer Parvin Aminolroaya suggested to *CBS*, Novo has favored profits over safety. "\[Novo has\] put a lot of resources into marketing the drug, hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the market get new patients for the drug," the medical injury attorney said, "but it hasn't spent that money on warning patients of the risk of \[the stomach paralysis syndrome\] gastroparesis, ileus, small bowel obstruction, and the fact that these injuries can be severe, even if it's in a rare case." While doctors can and should advise patients about the potential risks of any medication, Novo has drawn criticism by [paying millions of dollars to doctors]() that have advocated for its drugs. In a statement to *CBS*, the Danish pharmaceutical company said that Gantt's claims are "without merit" and noted that the drugs' FDA-approved warning labels do include lists of their "known risks." **More on GLP-1s:** [*Researchers Say There's Something Fishy With All These Studies Showing Huge Health Benefits From Ozempic-Like Drugs*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()