$10 Million Stevens Johnson Award Upheld

February 7, 2013, 8:00AM. By Heidi Turner

Philadelphia, PAAn award of $10 million in a Stevens Johnson Syndrome lawsuit has reportedly been upheld. The SJS lawsuit, filed against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare, alleged patients were not adequately warned about the risk of Stevens Johnson syndrome associated with Children’s Motrin. The plaintiff developed life-threatening Stevens Johnson syndrome symptoms, but survived her ordeal.

The plaintiff, Brianna Maya, was only three-years-old when she was given Children’s Motrin alternated with Children’s Tylenol every three hours to treat a fever. She reportedly developed Stevens Johnson syndrome - a severe allergic reaction to medication - after taking the medications, and was hospitalized. What started out as a rash and redness near her eyes turned into blisters inside and outside her body. Her injuries included open wounds over more than 80 percent of her body, organ damage, blindness in one eye and scarring over her skin.

Since her ordeal, Brianna has had multiple eye surgeries and developed seizures due to Stevens Johnson syndrome.

The family filed a lawsuit against McNeil Consumer Healthcare (owned by Johnson & Johnson) claiming that if they had known the skin rash was a sign of a serious complication of the medication, and a reason to stop using Children’s Motrin, they would have stopped using it right away, potentially preventing Brianna’s life-threatening reaction.

In 2011, a jury awarded the plaintiff $10 million in compensatory damages, finding that Johnson & Johnson did not adequately warn about the risk of Stevens Johnson syndrome. According to ABC News (6/3/11), doctors who treated Brianna blamed Children’s Motrin for the allergic reaction. When Brianna developed the fever, the label for Children’s Motrin did not mention Stevens Johnson syndrome or Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis.

Johnson & Johnson appealed the award but a Philadelphia judge found that there were no errors of law in the $10 million award and therefore the verdict should not be overturned, The Legal Intelligencer (1/24/13) reports.

Stevens Johnson syndrome, and its more severe form, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, can occur in reaction to a variety of medications, including medications that have not previously caused a reaction in the patient. They are life-threatening, and patients who survive their ordeal often face permanent injury including scarring, damage to the eyes, damage to internal organs and repeated infections.