Amber Franklin v. HHS - MMR, encephalitis (2016)
Case summary [AI summaries can sometimes make mistakes]
On August 15, 2013, Amber Franklin filed a petition on behalf of her minor child, S.F., under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The petition alleged that S.F. developed encephalitis as a result of receiving diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), inactivated poliovirus (IPV), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), and/or varicella vaccines.
The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, denied that the vaccines caused or aggravated S.F.'s encephalitis or any other injury. The parties subsequently filed a joint stipulation for damages, agreeing that compensation should be awarded.
Special Master Thomas L. Gowen reviewed the stipulation and found it reasonable, adopting it as the decision of the Court.
The stipulation awarded S.F. $35,000.00 to reimburse a State of Michigan Medicaid lien, payable jointly to petitioner and the State of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Third Party Liability Division. Petitioner agreed to endorse this payment to the State.
Additionally, S.F. was awarded a lump sum of $45,000.00, payable to petitioner on behalf of S.F., representing compensation for all remaining damages. The total award amounted to $80,000.00.
The Special Master approved the requested compensation amount, and judgment was ordered to be entered in accordance with the terms of the stipulation. Scott W.
Rooney represented the petitioner, and Ryan D. Pyles represented the respondent.
The decision was issued on December 7, 2016.
Theory of causation
Petitioner alleged that S.F. developed encephalitis as a result of receiving diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP), inactivated poliovirus (IPV), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), and/or varicella vaccines. Respondent denied that the vaccines caused or aggravated S.F.'s encephalitis or any other injury. The parties filed a joint stipulation for damages, agreeing to an award of $80,000.00, comprising $35,000.00 for a State of Michigan Medicaid lien and $45,000.00 for all remaining damages. The public decision does not describe the specific theory of causation, medical experts, onset of symptoms, diagnostic tests, treatments, or the mechanism of injury. Special Master Thomas L. Gowen approved the stipulation on December 7, 2016. Petitioner's counsel was Scott W. Rooney, and respondent's counsel was Ryan D. Pyles.
Source PDFs
USCOURTS-cofc-1_13-vv-00582