Equate Acetaminophen Lawsuit Filed By Mother Who Says Wal-Mart Painkiller Led to Child’s Autism Diagnosis

A mother from Missouri has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, indicating that Equateside effects of Equate actaminophen caused autism for her child, after she used the store-brand version of Tylenol during pregnancy.

Danyelle Jackson filed the complaint (PDF) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on November 9, pursuing damages on behalf of herself and her child, identified only with the initials C.J. since they are still a minor.

The Equate acetaminophen lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart knew or should have known that use of the active ingredient in Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children, yet concealed information about the risk from federal regulators, doctors and expecting parents, who were led to believe that Tylenol was safe during pregnancy.

Jackson joins dozens of other families nationwide pursuing similar Tylenol autism lawsuits against drug manufacturers, indicating that children were left with long-term developmental disabilities and problems that could have been avoided if adequate warnings or instructions had been provided about the risks associated with prenatal exposure to acetaminophen.

According to the lawsuit, Jackson began using Walmart’s Equate-brand acetaminophen in January 2014, when she was pregnant with C.J. and she indicates that the pain medication was used throughout her pregnancy at least once a week to treat headaches, since she believed it was safe.

C.J. was born in September 2014, and two years later he was still non-verbal. In 2017, the child was diagnosed with autism, which the lawsuit alleges was a direct result of prenatal exposure to acetaminophen in Equate-brand version of the pain medication.

The lawsuit notes that there have been numerous studies that warned about the risks of acetaminophen for unborn children for years, however more than 65% of women in the United States still use acetaminophen during pregnancy, since Wal-Mart and other companies fail to provide warnings.

“Defendant entirely failed its duty to adequately warn of the hazards of prenatal exposure to (acetaminophen), which was a direct and proximate cause of Plaintiffs’ injuries and associated damages,” Jackson’s lawsuit states.

Studies Linking Acetaminophen and Autism

In October 2019, a study published in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry found that children with the highest levels of acetaminophen metabolites in their blood at birth had the highest risk of the developmental disorders.

According to additional research published in the European Journal of Epidemiology in June 2021, children exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy were 19% more likely to have autism spectrum disorders and 21% more likely to have ADHD symptoms compared to non-exposed children.

Due to the potential acetaminophen risks for pregnant women, researchers from Columbia University warned that doctors should re-evaluate the role of the pain medication during pregnancy in 2020, after finding that prenatal exposure may lead to impaired neurodevelopment in the fetus.

December 2022 Wal-Mart Equate Acetaminophen Autism Lawsuit Update

As of November 15, 2022, there were at least 92 acetaminophen autism and ADHD lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system, which have all be centralized as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation since they involve common questions of fact and law. However, given the widespread use of Tylenol during pregnancy, it is widely expected that tens of thousands of claims will be filed in the coming months and years.

They Walmart Equate acetaminophen autism cases are consolidated with other lawsuits brought against other drug manufacturers and retailers, including CVS, Walgreens, Costco and other companies.

Senior U.S. District Judge Denise Cote is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings in the Southern District of New York, where a small group of Tylenol autism lawyers have been appointed to service in leadership positions, where they will take certain actions that benefit all families and argue motions before the court. However, each family will still retain their own lawyer to establish that their child’s autism was caused by acetaminophen in Equate, Tylenol or another products.

As part of the MDL proceedings, it is expected that Judge Cote will establish a “bellwether” program, where a small group of representative claims involving children diagnosed with autism are scheduled for early trial dates, to help gauge how juries are likely to react to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims. However, if Tylenol autism settlements are not reached to resolve claims, each individual claim may later be remanded back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for separate trial dates in the future.