Koehn v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs.

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Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA), an autoinflammatory disease, has symptoms including arthritis, fever, rash, and muscle and joint pain, caused by dysfunctional production of proteins, which cells release almost immediately after contact with an antigen. Gardasil, a vaccine against HPV administered in three doses, contains virus-like particles created from an HPV protein, and an adjuvant to generate a robust immune response. Vanessia, born in 1995, was healthy until 2008. After receiving two doses of Gardasil, she experienced an all-over rash. Days later, she had joint pain and high fever. The hospital discharged her with a presumptive diagnosis of SJIA. Vanessia’s family history included SJIA. Her rheumatologist communicated these findings to the doctor who administered Vanessia’s third dose of Gardasil on August 19. Vanessia experienced a SJIA flare on August 25. Vanessia’s Vaccine Act injury claim was rejected. Injuries that do not appear on the Vaccine Injury Table, 42 C.F.R. 100.3, require proof of a medical theory causally connecting the vaccination to the injury; a logical sequence of cause and effect; and proximate temporal relationship between the vaccine and injury. The Claims Court and Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the claim did not meet the burden of demonstrating proximate temporal relationship. View "Koehn v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs." on Justia Law