Benjamin S. Maxwell v. HHS - Influenza, seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (2025)

Benjamin S. Maxwell filed a petition alleging that an influenza vaccination he received on October 5, 2014, caused him to develop seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or significantly aggravated a preexisting condition.

Mr. Maxwell was 28 years old at the time of vaccination.

He reported experiencing flu-like symptoms, including fever and body aches, two days after the vaccination, which later progressed to joint stiffness and pain. He was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis and later seronegative RA by his treating physicians.

The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, recommended denial of entitlement. The case involved extensive expert testimony and medical literature regarding the diagnosis of seronegative RA and its potential causation by the flu vaccine.

The court considered the opinions of Dr. Eric Gershwin for the petitioner and Drs.

Chester Oddis and You-Wen He for the respondent. Ultimately, the Special Master found that while Mr.

Maxwell may have seronegative RA, he failed to establish a sound and reliable medical theory connecting the flu vaccine to his condition. The court noted the lack of supporting epidemiological data and the inadequacy of the mechanistic evidence presented.

Furthermore, the court found that the petitioner did not prove a logical sequence of cause and effect, particularly due to the consistent absence of inflammatory markers in his bloodwork over an eight-year period, despite his symptoms and treatments. Although the temporal proximity of two days for initial symptoms was deemed medically acceptable for an innate immune response, this alone was insufficient to prove causation.

The petition was denied.