Last month, a Pennsylvania appeals court upheld $10 million in damages to be paid by Johnson & Johnson in the ongoing Children’s Motrin Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) lawsuit. This SJS lawsuit was filed in a Pennsylvania state court by the family of a young girl who allegedly developed SJS, a painful and often fatal skin condition, after taking J&J’s Children’s Motrin.

Back in 2011, the plaintiff Brianna Maya, who at 3 years old allegedly suffered burns and skin necrolysis on 84 percent of her body and eventually became blind in one eye after taking Children Motrin, was awarded the damages verdict by the participating Philadelphia jury.

In response to this verdict, Johnson & Johnson raised arguments that the SJS lawsuit verdict should be overturned, alleging that there was insufficient evidence presented in court to link Maya’s SJS injuries to the Children’s Motrin product, specifically the lack of warning on its label concerning the risk of contracting Stevens Johnson Syndrome. The Pennsylvania Superior Court rejected J&J’s arguments and upheld the $10 million damages award verdict.

During the appeals process, McNeil, the J&J subsidiary that manufactures Children’s Motrin, alleged that there were several problems during the SJS lawsuit trial proceedings. McNeil claimed that the plaintiff’s attorneys catered to the jury’s sympathies by overemphasizing the case as a battle between a little girl and multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company.

However the three jury panel rejected McNeil and J&J’s arguments in this regard. According to statements made by the defendants counsel, J&J and McNeil are still reviewing other legal options.

Maya is not the only child who has allegedly suffered from SJS due to consuming a prescription or over-the-counter medication. During this year alone, hundreds of families have filed Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) lawsuits after a loved one allegedly developed this harmful condition.

The Children’s Motrin Steven Johnson Syndrome (SJS) Lawsuit is Maya v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., Case No. 002879, in the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

What is Stevens Johnson Syndrome?

Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and the closely related condition called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) are painful, harmful, and potentially fatal skin conditions that occur as an allergic response to certain sets of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

When an individual develops SJS, the top layer of skin cells, also known as the epidermis, separates from deeper dermis skin layers, exposing the sensitive mucous membrane to infection and blistering.

SJS victims suffer extreme pain and sensitivity when they develop this skin condition. Because of the trauma sustained, SJS sufferers must be hospitalized for weeks or months at a time for treatment and monitoring. In extreme cases of SJS, a patient may die from the trauma sustained by the body.

According to the Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation, some symptoms of SJS include:

• Painful blistering of the skin and mucous membrane involvement.
• In many cases it is preceded with flu like symptoms and high fever.
• As it evolves the skin literally sloughs off.
• Ocular involvement includes severe conjunctivis, iritis, palpebral edema, conjunctival and corneal blisters and erosions, and corneal perforation.

Medications with SJS Side Effects

While various types of prescription and/or over-the-counter medication can cause SJS and TEN, certain drugs have a high prevalence rate of consumers developing SJS. These drugs include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• Antibiotics
• Anticonvulsants
• Sulfa based drugs
• Bactrim
• Septra
• Acetamenophin
• Amoxicillan
• Azithromycin (Zithromax)
• Barbiturates
• Ibuprofen-Motrin
• Penicillin
• Naproxen