Side Effects of Gardasil Vaccine Caused Death of 13-Year-Old Boy, Lawsuit Alleges

The side effects of Gardasil caused autoimmune dysfunction, leading to a fatal case of encephalitis, according to the lawsuit.

The parents of a 13-year-old boy indicate in a recently filed lawsuit that the side effects of a Gardasil vaccine caused a severe reaction, which ultimately resulted in their child’s death after just one injection.

Kelli and Clifton Foley filed the complaint (PDF) on September 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, claiming that Merck bears responsibility for the death of their son, Noah Tate Foley, since they failed to warn parents and the medical community about the risks associated with the HPV vaccine.

Gardasil was first introduced in 2006, as a vaccine for prevention of HPV infections, which can be sexually transmitted and lead to the later development of cervical cancer. Following years of aggressive marketing by the drug maker, the vaccine has been widely administered to young girls and boys before adolescence and potential sexual activity.

Although the vaccine has been widely recommended and promoted as safe, Merck now faces a growing number of similar Gardasil vaccine lawsuits alleging that teens and young adults have been left with rare and disabling injuries, such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which emerged shortly after receiving the injection.

The lawsuit indicates Noah Foley received a Gardasil vaccine injection two days after his 11th birthday in May 2018. Prior to that injection, his parents indicate that Noah had no autoimmune diseases and was extremely healthy. However, that changed shortly after receiving Gardasil, according to the complaint.

Two weeks after the injection, side effects of Gardasil started to kick in and Noah began experiencing unexplained fevers, which continued off and on for weeks before he was diagnosed with a viral infection and his white blood cell count had tripled. He experienced swollen lymph nodes, extreme weight loss, and symptoms of autoimmune disorders.

“On September 29, 2020, at approximately 12:45 pm, Noah’s left leg went numb. While Ms. Foley drove him to the emergency room, his face became numb as well, and later his tongue,” the lawsuit states. “When Noah arrived at the ER, he vomited, and by 6 p.m., Noah was completely non-responsive.”

The child was declared brain dead on October 8, 2020, and died later that day. According to the lawsuit, Gardasil side effects caused an autoimmune or autoinflammatory dysregulation process that resulted in Noah’s death from encephalitis.

September 2022 Gardasil Lawsuit Update

The lawsuit filed by the Noahs will be consolidated with dozens of similar complaints pending in a federal Gardasil MDL (multidistrict litigation), which was established earlier this month before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad in the Western District of North Carolina for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

An initial Gardasil lawsuit status conference is scheduled for October 11, at which time lawyers will meet for the first time with Judge Conrad to discuss the organizational structure of the litigation, which is expected to increase in size and scope throughout 2022.