Marie Brown v. HHS - Influenza, Guillain-Barré syndrome (2021)

Marie Brown, born in 1955, filed a petition on June 4, 2018, alleging that an influenza vaccine caused her to develop Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). The public decision does not specify the date of the vaccination.

Ms. Brown alleged that her GBS occurred within 42 days of the vaccination, which aligns with the Vaccine Injury Table's timeframe for flu vaccines and GBS.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services conceded that Ms. Brown's GBS occurred within the Table's timeframe.

However, the Secretary proposed alternative causes for her GBS: a significant infection and a surgery she underwent approximately six weeks before her GBS symptoms began. The Secretary presented expert opinions from Dr.

Dara Jamieson and Dr. Kedl, suggesting that the infection and surgery were more likely causes than the flu vaccine.

Dr. Jamieson opined that Ms.

Brown's GBS was likely triggered by her prior gastrointestinal infection and extensive surgeries, citing that GBS is often a post-infectious disorder and that recent surgical procedures have been shown to increase the risk of GBS. Dr.

Kedl also concluded that the infection and surgery were considerably more likely to have caused her GBS than the flu vaccine. Ms.

Brown argued that the Secretary's reliance on statistical evidence to support alternative causation was impermissible under precedent like Knudsen v. Secretary of Health & Human Services, which held that the bare statistical fact that more encephalopathies are caused by viral infections than by DTP vaccines is not evidence that in a particular case the encephalopathy was caused by a viral infection and not the vaccine.

Special Master Christian J. Moran agreed with Ms.

Brown, finding that while the Secretary's experts established that infections and surgeries can cause GBS, they did not meet their burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the infection or surgery actually caused Ms. Brown's GBS.

The Special Master noted that the experts' reasoning, which relied on the fact that infections and surgeries are more common causes of GBS than flu vaccinations, resembled the reasoning rejected in Knudsen and Hart. Therefore, Ms.

Brown was found entitled to compensation. On April 30, 2021, Special Master Christian J.

Moran issued a decision awarding Ms. Brown $208,277.05 in damages.

This amount included a lump sum of $208,277.05, representing compensation for life care expenses in the first year ($25,126.35), pain and suffering ($180,000.00), and past unreimbursable expenses ($3,150.70). The award also included an amount to purchase an annuity for future life care needs, providing payments for the life care plan as long as Ms.

Brown is alive. Petitioner's counsel was Leah V.

Durant of the Law Offices of Leah V. Durant, PLLC.

Respondent's counsel was Linda S. Renzi for the entitlement ruling and Kimberly Davey for the damages decision.