Jamie L. Holmes v. HHS - Tdap, left shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2025)
Case summary [AI summaries can sometimes make mistakes]
On September 14, 2021, Jamie L. Holmes filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging that she suffered a left shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) after receiving a Tdap vaccine on June 11, 2020.
The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, contested the statutory severity requirement, which mandates that the injury persist for at least six months. The public decision, issued by Chief Special Master Brian H.
Corcoran on March 14, 2025, dismissed the case. Holmes, a 43-year-old registered nurse, received the Tdap vaccine in her left deltoid.
Within seven days, she experienced left shoulder pain and limited range of motion, diagnosed as SIRVA. She sought treatment including physical therapy and steroid injections, and took a leave of absence from work.
Medical records indicated improvement by early October 2020, with regained range of motion, stability, and strength, and she met physical therapy goals. While Holmes claimed ongoing pain and difficulty with certain movements, the court found that contemporaneous medical evidence did not support the injury's persistence for the required six-month period.
Her medical records during the alleged period of residual injury primarily focused on right-sided arm complaints and potential neuropathy, with limited objective findings for the left shoulder. Although she presented later evidence from a new provider in October 2023, the court found it lacked probative value due to the time elapsed and the focus on intervening right-sided issues.
The court noted that the witness statements offered were less compelling as they did not acknowledge her intervening right-sided complaints. Consequently, the court dismissed her claim for failing to establish the statutory severity requirement.
Petitioner was represented by Patricia L. Hall of Williams McCarthy LLC, and Respondent was represented by Ryan Pohlman Miller of the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Theory of causation
Petitioner Jamie L. Holmes alleged a left shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) following a Tdap vaccine on June 11, 2020. The claim was dismissed by Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran on March 14, 2025, for failure to meet the statutory severity requirement under 42 U.S.C. § 300aa-11(c)(1)(D)(i), which requires the injury to persist for at least six months. Contemporaneous medical records indicated significant improvement by early October 2020, with regained range of motion, stability, and strength, and Petitioner meeting physical therapy goals. Post-October 2020 medical records primarily focused on right-sided arm complaints and potential neuropathy, with limited objective findings for the left shoulder. Later evidence from a new provider in October 2023 was deemed to have questionable probative value due to the time elapsed and focus on intervening issues. Witness statements were considered less compelling as they did not acknowledge the right-sided complaints. Petitioner was represented by Patricia L. Hall, and Respondent by Ryan Pohlman Miller. No specific mechanism of injury or expert testimony was detailed in the public decision, and no award was made due to dismissal.
Source PDFs
USCOURTS-cofc-1_21-vv-01850