Zenoria Phillips Deloatch, As Personal Representative Of The Estate Of Moshella F. Roberts v. HHS - HPV, death (2016)

Zenoria Phillips DeLoatch, as personal representative of the Estate of Moshella F. Roberts, filed a petition on March 19, 2009, alleging that an HPV vaccine administered on April 1, 2008 caused the death of Moshella Roberts, born October 26, 1987.

Ms. Roberts was found dead on April 5, 2008 — four days after vaccination — in a home where she worked as a home health aide.

An autopsy performed on April 6, 2008 concluded that the cause of death was undetermined. The autopsy found focal nodular hyperplasia in her liver but determined that this condition could not account for her sudden death.

The case was initially assigned to Special Master Moran, then reassigned to Special Master Dorsey in 2013, and reassigned to Special Master Millman in January 2015. In the six years the case was pending, petitioner was unable to obtain expert medical support for her allegations.

Special Master Millman set successive deadlines for the filing of an expert report; petitioner obtained three extensions but never filed a supporting expert report. Petitioner retained a pathologist, Dr.

Douglas C. Miller, who reviewed histologic slides and concluded that there was no demonstrable cause of death and that the cause of death was not knowable to a reasonable medical probability — confirming the autopsy report.

Respondent's pathologist, Dr. Mark T.

Curtis, agreed that the cause of death was undetermined and characterized the death as a sudden death in a young adult. Neither expert supported a causal connection to the HPV vaccine.

On February 2, 2016, petitioner filed a Motion for a Ruling on the Record, acknowledging the absence of expert medical support. Special Master Millman granted the motion on February 3, 2016, and dismissed the petition for failure to make a prima facie case of causation in fact under the Vaccine Act.