David Stachlewitz v. HHS - DTaP, encephalopathy (2014)

On March 28, 2013, David Stachlewitz filed a petition under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act on behalf of his son, H.G.S. The petition alleged that the DTaP, IPV, Hib, Prevnar, and rotavirus vaccines administered to H.G.S. on May 17, 2010, caused him to suffer a Table encephalopathy on May 19, 2010.

H.G.S. was born prematurely on January 15, 2010, at thirty-five weeks. He had spent eight days in neonatal intensive care and was discharged without complications.

At his four-month checkup on May 17, 2010, he was described as a healthy baby. On May 19, 2010, after being fed and put down to sleep on the family bed, H.G.S. was found unresponsive and cyanotic with shallow breathing.

His father administered rescue breaths and called 911. H.G.S. was taken to Arrowhead Hospital and then transferred to St.

Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, where he remained until June 10, 2010. The discharge diagnosis was hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy secondary to a near-sudden infant death syndrome event, along with dysphagia, developmental regression, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

A May 20, 2010 brain MRI showed diffuse ischemic changes across vascular territories, consistent with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and did not show inflammation. The respondent relied on SIDS specialist Dr.

Rachel Y. Moon, who concluded that H.G.S. experienced positional asphyxia after rolling into a prone, face-down position, and that his prematurity made it unlikely he could move himself out of that position.

Special Master Laura D. Millman initially considered this a Table injury case, which carries a presumption of causation.

However, the respondent defeated this presumption by identifying positional asphyxia as a known factor unrelated to vaccination that caused a lack of oxygen to the brain. The Special Master gave the petitioner multiple opportunities to file an expert report rebutting Dr.

Moon's opinion and the MRI evidence. After approximately a year, the petitioner's counsel stated that they could not provide an expert report to rebut the respondent's expert.

On September 23, 2014, Special Master Millman dismissed the petition. A subsequent decision on June 5, 2015, awarded $30,100.00 for attorneys' fees and costs only, not for injury compensation, based on a stipulation between the parties.

Petitioner's counsel was Anne C. Toale, and respondent's counsel was Ryan D.

Pyles.