Plaintiff Connor E. of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against JUUL Labs on Oct. 21, 2019, after suffering what he claims are serious injuries due to his daily use of JUUL pods.

Pennsylvania Man Claims Juul Pods Caused Hospitalization and Injuries

Plaintiff Connor E. claims that prior to using JUUL, he did not smoke traditional cigarettes or use other vape products. After he tried JUUL in March 2018, Connor quickly became a heavy user, smoking up to one mint JUUL pod every day. One pod reportedly contains about the same amount of nicotine as a full pack of traditional cigarettes. Connor was able to smoke in his car, at work, and in his home due to the discreet vape pen.

On May 6, 2019, after a year of using Juul, Connor says he began to experience negative health side effects including weakness, fever, and a dry cough. He went to his doctor and was prescribed Tamiflu. However, Connor’s symptoms did not improve and instead began to worsen.

The plaintiff says that he began to experience difficult and labored breathing, dry heaving, and vomiting, and was unable to consume food or drink. On May 8, Connor alleges he went to the local emergency room after vomiting more than 10 times over the course of three days. He was found to have a fever of 102 degrees and was diagnosed with sepsis and suspected pneumonia.

According to physicians in the emergency who spoke to Connor’s parents, states the lawsuit, they had never seen anything like it. Connor’s condition continued to decline, and he was transferred to critical care during the night after falling into respiratory distress. Tests allegedly showed that he had diffuse ground glass in his lungs, as well as pleural effusion.

On May 10, after suffering from acute respiratory failure, Connor says he was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma. After 8 days, his doctors revived him from the coma. Although his health had begun to improve, Connor has allegedly required several months of physical rehabilitation to improve his lung health and repair nerve damage that had occurred in his left foot.

Connor claims that JUUL failed to properly assess the health dangers associated with their vaping products and that the company additionally failed to warn consumers of these potential dangers. JUUL has previously been criticized for advertising its nicotine vape pods as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, despite a lack of adequate research into the health side effects of these devices.

Additionally, Connor claims that JUUL advertising directly targets minors and young adults, including people who have never smoked traditional cigarettes. Due to the smooth vapor and teen-friendly flavors of many JUUL pods, the vape pens may be extremely addictive for young people.

In his lawsuit, Connor cited a recent FDA survey of youth nicotine use, in which 85 percent of the e-cigarette users surveyed had used flavored nicotine products within the past month, and 81.5 percent of those users indicated that the flavoring was the reason for using the vape products. Popular JUUL flavors include cool cucumber, mango, and fruit medley.

According to Connor, he continues to suffer from lasting injuries including pulmonary damage and irritation. He also claims that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to these injuries, in addition to physical pain and diminished enjoyment in life. Connor believes that his injuries were directly caused by JUUL pods, and is seeking damages for his injuries and medical expenses.

Connor’s JUUL Pods Lawsuit is Case No: 19STCV37327 in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.