Maureen Miller v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2022)

Maureen Miller filed her petition on February 13, 2020, after receiving an influenza vaccination on August 24, 2017 and alleging that the injection caused a shoulder injury related to vaccine administration, or SIRVA. The public record identifies the case as a Vaccine Program claim handled by Special Master Christian J.

Moran. Miller was represented by Timothy J.

Mason of the Law Office of Sylvia Chin-Caplan. Respondent ultimately conceded entitlement.

In the Rule 4(c) report filed in the case, respondent agreed that Miller had suffered a shoulder injury meeting the Vaccine Injury Table's SIRVA requirements and that the statutory prerequisites for compensation were satisfied. On November 9, 2022, the Special Master found Miller entitled to compensation.

The publicly available damages decision is brief and does not describe Miller's first shoulder symptom, the onset interval, treatment course, imaging, injections, physical therapy, work limitations, or day-to-day impairment. The victim's medical story is therefore limited in the public decision to the core facts of the Table injury: she received the influenza vaccine on August 24, 2017, alleged a vaccine-related shoulder injury, and respondent conceded that the injury qualified as SIRVA.

No competing expert testimony, alternative diagnosis, or detailed causation analysis appears in the public damages text. The parties resolved damages by proffer.

On December 6, 2022, Special Master Moran adopted the joint proffer as reasonable and awarded Miller a total of $46,575.40. The award consisted of $45,000.00 for pain and suffering and $1,575.40 for past unreimbursable expenses.

The entire amount was ordered as a lump sum payable to Maureen Miller.