C.R. v. HHS - DTaP, transverse myelitis (2020)

On July 3, 2018, Shauna and Cody Rhyne, parents of C.R., a minor, filed a petition for compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. They alleged that a series of vaccines administered on December 1, 2015, including diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (DTaP); hepatitis B; inactivated polio (IPV); influenza (flu); pneumococcal conjugate (Prevnar 13); and rotavirus (RotaTeq), caused their child to suffer transverse myelitis (TM).

The petition stated that C.R. experienced residual effects from this injury for more than six months and that no prior award or settlement had been made for this condition. The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, denied that the vaccines caused or significantly aggravated C.R.'s alleged injury or that the child's condition resulted from a vaccine-related injury.

Despite the respondent's denial, the parties reached a joint stipulation for compensation, which was adopted by Special Master Christian J. Moran as the decision of the Court.

The stipulation awarded a total of $168,072.00 in damages. This amount included $8,000.00 for past unreimbursable expenses, $72.11 to reimburse a Medicaid lien, and $160,000.00 for all remaining damages.

The decision was filed on November 25, 2020, and the final judgment was entered on December 22, 2020. The public decision does not describe the specific onset of symptoms, diagnostic tests, treatments, or the mechanism of injury.

The attorneys involved were Ronald C. Homer for the petitioners and Mollie D.

Gorney for the respondent.