W.G. v. HHS - Influenza, Bell's palsy, hearing loss and neuropathy (2024)

W.G., an adult, received influenza and hepatitis B vaccines on September 19, 2017. He filed a petition alleging these vaccines caused him to suffer Bell's palsy, hearing loss, and neuropathy.

The court found that these conditions are not listed on the Vaccine Injury Table, requiring W.G. to prove causation-in-fact under the Althen standard. W.G. presented expert testimony from Dr.

M. Eric Gershwin, who theorized that a T-cell mediated immune response to the vaccines, triggered by molecular mimicry, caused inflammation in the facial nerve, leading to Bell's palsy.

Dr. Gershwin also suggested that W.G.'s pre-existing diabetes made him more susceptible to this vaccine-induced injury.

The respondent presented expert testimony from Dr. Thomas P.

Leist, who opined that W.G.'s poorly controlled diabetes was the likely cause of his Bell's palsy, citing the high prevalence of diabetes in Bell's palsy patients and evidence of microvascular compromise in W.G. predating the vaccinations. The court assumed, for the sake of argument, that W.G. met the first and third Althen prongs (medical theory and temporal proximity).

However, the court found that W.G. failed to establish the second prong (logical sequence of cause and effect). The court noted that Dr.

Gershwin conceded that W.G.'s diabetes likely damaged his facial nerve and that Dr. Leist persuasively argued that W.G. provided no evidence to distinguish vaccine-induced inflammation from the undisputed ischemic nerve damage caused by his diabetes.

Furthermore, the court found that even if the burden had shifted to the respondent, Dr. Leist's evidence strongly supported diabetes as the cause.

Ultimately, the court concluded that W.G. had not preponderantly demonstrated that the vaccines caused his injury and dismissed the case.