Matthew James Huston v. HHS - MMR, transverse myelitis (1997)

Matthew James Huston, a minor, received a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination on March 6, 1974, at one year of age. On the evening of March 26, 1974, his mother took him to an emergency room due to his sudden screaming and inability to stand or crawl.

His condition worsened overnight with a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit, lethargy, head bobbing, and shallow respirations. He was admitted to Memorial Hospital Medical Center on March 27, 1974, where his parents noted a family friend had been ill with headache and myalgia, and his mother reported he had an upper respiratory infection two weeks prior.

After two months of hospitalization, he was discharged with diagnoses of transverse myelitis and residual quadriplegia. A letter from his pediatrician, Dr.

P. Colin Kelly, in March 1979, stated no etiologic agent could be determined but implicated the MMR vaccination due to the timing of his illness, while also noting non-significantly elevated measles and mumps titers in spinal fluid and blood, and a low repeat measles complement fixation titer in September 1977.

Matthew James Huston filed a claim under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program on September 19, 1990, alleging the MMR vaccination caused his transverse myelitis. At an evidentiary hearing on entitlement, petitioner presented neurologists Dr.

Gregory R. Bonomo and Dr.

Kevin C. Geraghty, who testified that the transverse myelitis was a complication of a natural measles infection acquired from the vaccine or an abnormal immune response to it.

Respondent presented neurologists Dr. W.C.

Wiederholt and Dr. Barry G.

Arnason, who testified that the absence of measles virus, measles symptoms, antibody response, or evidence of immune dysfunction, along with nonspecific upper respiratory symptoms and exposure to an ill contact, pointed away from the vaccine. The Special Master, John F.

Edwards, denied compensation on May 12, 1997, finding that petitioner failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the MMR vaccination caused his transverse myelitis. The Special Master noted the lack of evidence of a measles infection from the MMR vaccination, the absence of measles, mumps, or rubella clinical symptoms, and the lack of antibody development.

Dr. Geraghty's theory of immune dysfunction was deemed speculative by the Special Master due to the inability to identify a specific dysfunction and lack of foundation in medical literature.

The Special Master also noted that the probability of vaccine defect or vaccine failure in children under 15 months was a more persuasive explanation for the lack of antibody response than immune dysfunction. Judge Stanley S.

Margolis of the Court of Federal Claims affirmed the Special Master's decision on November 25, 1997, holding that biological plausibility and temporal association alone were insufficient to prove causation-in-fact. The court found that the Special Master had a reasonable basis for rejecting the petitioner's experts' testimony and that the decision was not arbitrary or capricious, as the evidence did not establish a logical sequence of cause and effect showing the vaccine actually caused the transverse myelitis.

No compensation was awarded.