ABC news, among others, has reported on the recent $10 million award given to a young Pennsylvania girl that was left burned and blind after using Children’s Motrin to reduce a temperature.
The girl, 3 at the time of the incident, won the award from Johnson & Johnson for the company’s failure to properly warn consumers of a rare, yet nearly fatal, skin reaction.
B.M., suffering with a cough and temperature above 101.5 in November 2000, and was given alternating doses of Children’s Motrin and Children’s Tylenol every three hours – as her pediatrician had advised.
Within a few days B.M. developed a fine rash on her body and a mild redness grew around her eyes. She was now suffering from a rare, and painful side effect – one that burned and blistered her 3-year-old body from the inside out.
She was transported to a burn unit, at Shriners Burn Hospital in Galveston, Texas, a thousand miles from her home.
B.M.’s mother, A.M.D., 34, said, “It was like something you see in a science fiction movie.”
Doctors at Shriners told A.M.D. that her daughter’s reaction was triggered by her use of the Children’s Motrin.
Children’s Motrin is a brand of ibuprofen, which is a popular anti-inflammatory drug.
A.M.D. told news reporters, “I was astounded. They were telling me it was caused by this medication that her doctor told me I should give her to make her feel better and treat a fever. I know that there's a danger with any drug, but when you think of an over-the-counter medication, you always think of them being the safer ones because you don't need a prescription. You just go to CVS or Walmart or Rite Aid, and pick one off the shelf.”
A Philadelphia jury ordered Johnson & Johnson McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the company that manufactures Children’s Motrin, to pay $10 million to the family because they failed to effectively warn their consumers about the possibility of toxic skin reactions.
B.M.’s diagnosis, of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis syndrome (the latter is also referred to as Tens), was not mentioned on the Children’s Motrin packaging. A.M.D. read the 2000 label and found neither syndromes, nor their symptoms listed.
The Stevens-Johnson syndrome manifests with the break down of mucus membranes of the cornea, mouth, rectum, vagina and urethra. Tens manifests more severely and affects the skin and mucus membranes.
One to eight in a million are affected by Stevens-Johnson and Tens.
For the last ten years B.M. has had several eye surgeries, infections to her eye and lungs, seizures from the oxygen-deprivations she suffered while ill, and vaginal scarring that will prevent her from engaging in normal sex and, ever bearing children.
Marc Boston, a company spokesman said, “While we are sympathetic to the pain and hardships suffered by (B.M.) and her family, McNeil-PPC Inc. strongly disagrees with the verdict, and we are considering legal options.”
If you or a loved one has been injured in any way by the use of an over-the-counter medication, or prescription drug, contact a personal injury lawyer to file a lawsuit.