N.A. v. HHS - MMRV, death following fever and seizure (2023)

On December 29, 2017, Brian and Karen Anklam, as legal representatives of the estate of their deceased daughter, N.A., filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. They alleged that an MMRV vaccine administered to N.A. on June 23, 2016, caused her to develop a fever, which triggered a seizure leading to her death on June 30, 2016.

Petitioners argued that N.A. had a family history of febrile seizures and potential hippocampal abnormalities, making her vulnerable to a vaccine-induced fatal seizure. Respondent argued against compensation, stating the case was not appropriate under the Vaccine Act.

The Special Master considered the testimony of medical experts for both sides. Petitioners' experts, Dr.

Douglas C. Miller and Dr.

Marcel Kinsbourne, opined that the MMRV vaccine caused a fever and a fatal seizure, citing N.A.'s family history of seizures and alleged hippocampal abnormalities. Respondent's experts, Dr.

Hart G.W. Lidov, Dr.

Sara O. Vargas, and Dr.

Christine McCusker, countered that there was no evidence of a seizure, no definitive fever threshold, no physical evidence of a seizure, and that alleged hippocampal abnormalities were not significant or were normal variants. The Special Master found that Petitioners failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that N.A. suffered a seizure or that she had significant hippocampal or medullary abnormalities.

The Special Master also noted that the experts' opinions relied on statistical likelihoods and theories extrapolated from epilepsy cases, which were not sufficiently supported for this case. While a temporal relationship between the vaccine and the death was established, the Special Master concluded that Petitioners failed to prove the first two prongs of the Althen test for causation.

Therefore, the petition was denied and dismissed.