Sabrina Johnson, a California girl, reportedly developed an allergic reaction to the popular Children's Motrin. Parents claim their daughter suffered pain and blindness after they gave her recommended doses of the drug in 2003.
The case filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court alleged that the company failed to label the over-the-counter pain drug with a warning that it could lead to a rare, but potentially lethal allergic reaction – the Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare illness affecting only two to three cases per million people annually, is a serious disorder affecting the skin and mucous membranes. Though usually considered a type of allergic reaction in response to medication or infection, the exact cause is not known.
Typical symptoms include signs of facial swelling, blisters on the skin and mucous membranes, especially in the eyes, nose and mouth.
However, the verdict voted 9-3 against liability maintaining that though J&J failed to adequately warn of risks of contracting Stevens-Johnson syndrome, but the lack of a warning wasn't a factor that caused Sabrina Johnson lose her sight.
"It's so rare it's difficult to determine what causes it," Christy Jones, J&J's lawyer marked. "Johnson also was diagnosed with herpes and chicken pox, which may have caused an immune-system reaction that resulted in the syndrome," Jones said.
Reacting to the court’s judgment, Browne Greene, attorney of girl's family said, "The jury found in this case that Johnson & Johnson and McNeil, their wholly owned subsidiary, knew of the dangerous risk of side effects inherent in this drug. It found they failed to warn adequately of these risks and yet found the failing to warn had nothing to do with the injuries. In other word they found that a better warning would not have made a difference."
The lawsuit sought $14 million in actual damages, $103 million for pain and suffering the family and girl went through and $950 million for punitive damages.
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