Scott Woodring v. HHS - Influenza, acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) (2016)

Scott Woodring filed a petition alleging he suffered a severe neurological injury, likely an inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy, after receiving an influenza vaccine on September 23, 2011. He claimed this injury was causally connected to the vaccination.

The case was assigned to the Special Processing Unit. Woodring filed his petition without all relevant medical records due to the statute of limitations, later filing a motion for a decision on the record without a medical expert.

Respondent argued for dismissal due to insufficient proof of causation. The medical records indicated Woodring had prior high cholesterol and was a smoker.

His first complaint of back pain traveling down his leg occurred on February 8, 2012, approximately 138 days after vaccination, initially diagnosed as a pinched nerve. Later, in March 2012, he was diagnosed with acute demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), a variant of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), and later diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP).

The court found that while Woodring had established the alleged injury, he failed to prove causation. Specifically, he did not provide a medical theory connecting the vaccine to CIDP, nor a logical sequence of cause and effect, and the onset of symptoms (at least 100 days after vaccination) was outside the medically acceptable timeframe for inferring causation.

The petition was dismissed for insufficient proof.