Lawsuit alleges girl went blind from allergic reaction
DOWNTOWN — A 7-year-old Topanga girl filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson Tuesday, alleging that the drug manufacturer should have warned her that ingesting Children’s Motrin could cause her to go blind.
Sabrina Brierton Johnson, who is being represented by the Santa Monica law firm Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP., claims that an allergic reaction to Children’s Motrin caused her to contract Stevens-Johnson Syndrome in 2003.
The product liability lawsuit, which was filed in the Compton division of Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that the drug maker’s failure to warn the public about possible health risks makes Children’s Motrin unsafe and dangerous to consumers. Johnson’s complaint for damages alleges strict product liability, negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, and deceit by concealment.
On Sept. 8, 2003, Johnson, then 6, came home from school complaining of a fever, according to court documents. Her parents twice that day gave her Children’s Motrin, according to the instructions. The next morning, Johnson still didn’t feel well and was taken to see her doctor, according to the lawsuit.
After being examined by her pediatrician, she was hospitalized and isolated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with a high fever, a redness of the sclera — commonly known as the white of the eye — a sore throat and a rash covering her back, trunk and other parts of her body, the suit contends. On Sept. 10, 2003, Johnson’s eyes could only be forcibly opened by an ophthalmologist, causing her excruciating pain, according to the suit.
Within two months, Johnson was completely blind. It was later discovered that she suffered a severe, adverse skin reaction known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome as a result of ingesting Children’s Motrin. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is an allergic reaction to ibuprofen that can result in serious gastrointestinal problems, blindness or death. Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and is sold over the counter under such brand names as Children’s Motrin, Motrin, Advil, Midol 200, Nuprin and PediaProfen. Johnson continues to have ongoing medical problems as a consequence, the suit alleges. She is unable to independently open her eyes and has had nearly 20 eye surgeries in a continued effort to restore her vision, the suit alleges.
“In the name of children everywhere, our family wants Children’s Motrin taken off the market until it carries a warning label about the risk of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and describes its symptoms,” said Sabrina Johnson’s mother, Joan Brierton Johnson, in a prepared statement issued Tuesday. “Had there been appropriate warnings on the Children’s Motrin that we gave Sabrina, we would have known what to look for and would have known to stop giving her the drug and call a doctor.
“Johnson & Johnson and the other defendants never gave us that opportunity, and our precious little girl now lives literally and figuratively in the dark.”
The suit also names McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of McNeil-PPC, Inc.; McKesson Corporation; SAV-ON Drug Stores, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Albertsons, Inc.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; and Ralphs Grocery Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Kroger Company.
The suit contends that since the 1980s the defendants knew about the connection between Children’s Motrin and allergic reactions. Johnson also alleges that the defendants knew from their own clinical trials of Children’s Motrin that it caused cases of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/TENS. The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants warned consumers about Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/TENS in their drug package insert for the prescription form of the drug before Children’s Motrin was distributed and sold over the counter to the public in 1995. The warning label has been omitted in the packaging since then.
“Johnson & Johnson made a reckless, callous decision when it decided not to tell the public that Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is one of the adverse side-effects of taking Children’s Motrin,” said Sabrina Johnson’s father, Kenneth Johnson. “The pharmaceutical industry owes a duty to consumers to warn them of any and all potential risks in taking their drugs, whether they are prescription or over the counter.
“Not a day goes by that Joan and I don’t say to ourselves, ‘If we had only known, if we had only known.’ We hope that this lawsuit will put an end to their indifference.”
Bonnie Jacobs, a spokesperson for McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, the parent company of Johnson & Johnson, said the corporation is aware of Johnson’s case and condition.
“As a maker of Children’s Motrin products, we are deeply concerned by all matters relating to our product,” she said. “We are investigating the situation.”
The other companies named in the lawsuit were either unavailable for comment Tuesday or declined to comment.
Kathy Pinckert, a spokeswoman for Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP., said a child’s family recently settled with Johnson & Johnson in San Jose Federal Court after she died of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome as a result of ingesting Children’s Motrin.
Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP., located at 100 Wilshire Blvd. specializes in product liability cases. In 1999, the firm won the highest product liability verdict in history, a $4.9 billion award against General Motors. A jury in Los Angeles found that General Motors was negligent in its fuel tank designs for its vehicles. Six burn victims were awarded the money after the GM car they were riding in burst into flames after being hit in a rear end collision. The law firm also is representing more than a dozen victims in civil lawsuits resulting from the July 16, 2003 Farmers’ Market crash in Santa Monica.
Monetary damages aren’t specified in the firm’s latest lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, but it demands that the drug company suspend sales of Children’s Motrin until warning labels are provided.
“This lawsuit is the only warning label that the public is going to get until Johnson & Johnson re-labels Children’s Motrin so that it carries a warning about the dangers of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome,” said Browne Greene, who is representing the Johnsons, in a prepared statement. “We hope that families around the world will take heed and toss out any Children’s Motrin that’s in their medicine cabinets and demand that stores pull it off their shelves.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 29, 2004. Read the original PDF.