Britteny Dews v. HHS - HPV, desmoplastic small round cell cancer (2014)

Dawn Brown, as mother and next friend of Britteny Dews, filed a petition on August 12, 2013, alleging that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, specifically Gardasil, administered to her daughter Britteny Dews, caused Britteny to develop desmoplastic small round cell cancer, from which she died on August 12, 2011. Britteny Dews was born on February 1, 1989.

Vaccination records confirmed that Britteny received an HPV vaccine on January 8, 2008. The petition alleged that vaccinations administered in August and October 2009 also caused the cancer, but no proof of vaccination for those dates was filed.

Britteny died at age 22 from metastatic desmoplastic small round cell abdominal cancer. The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, filed a Rule 4(c) Report noting the absence of expert support for causation.

Petitioner's only medical expert, Dr. Leonard Worden, stated in his opinion that he was unaware of any specific cases of cancer related to the HPV vaccine.

He further stated that without further investigation, including analysis of the specific vaccine vial and tumor tissue samples for live virus or viral DNA, there would be no good faith basis to proceed with the case. Special Master Laura D.

Millman dismissed the petition on April 25, 2014. Special Master Millman found that the petitioner failed to satisfy all three prongs of the Althen standard for proving causation.

Specifically, the public decision does not describe a medical theory connecting the HPV vaccine to desmoplastic small round cell cancer, nor a logical sequence of cause and effect. Furthermore, the interval of over two years between the January 8, 2008 vaccination and the cancer diagnosis in early 2010 was found not to be consistent with causation.

Petitioner's counsel was Elaine W. Sharp, and respondent's counsel was Deborah A.

Filteau Begley. No compensation was awarded.