$3.78 Million Settlement Over SJS Death of Nine-Year-Old Girl

New York, NYA heartbreaking case of Stevens Johnson Syndrome that resulted in the death of a nine-year-old girl has culminated in a $3.78 million settlement with the manufacturer of Dilantin and Flagyl. The settlement approval with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was filed October 8th following a hearing before Judge Judith H. Gische of the New York State Supreme Court.

Jesse Nichols Jacobson was nine years old when, in 2004, she was given Pfizer's Dilantin, an anti-seizure medication, together with Flagyl, an anti-fungal also made by Pfizer. As outlined in an October 11th release by PR Newswire, it wasn't long before the child developed a severe form of SJS known as toxic epidermal necrolysis or TEN, which causes a severe rash and leads to the loss of 30 percent to 100 percent of a patient's skin, often followed by infections, blindness or death.

In Jacobson's case, the child died in June 2004—less than a month after receiving the drugs.

TEN and Stevens Johnson Syndrome skin disease is often triggered by a reaction to medication, as it proved to be in this case. Dilantin is reported to be one of the most commonly prescribed anti-seizure drugs in the US, and is reported to have been on the market since 1936. However, according to one of the Stevens Johnson Syndrome lawyers representing the family, a pharmaceutical company survey of clinicians conversant with seizures concluded that Dilantin should virtually never be used as a first-line anti-seizure drug for children.

The attorney claimed there is no mention on Dilantin labeling with regard to the survey outcome. It was also noted that a study compiled by 15 burn centers in the US revealed that more than 20 percent of TEN cases are believed to be caused by Dilantin use, with deaths reported in approximately one out of every four cases.

It was also noted that while Pfizer issues warnings to patients in Canada and other countries as to the increased risk for developing Dilantin Hypersensitivity Syndrome (which can include TEN) in patients of African ancestory, there are no such warnings to doctors for their patients in the US.

The release concluded that Dilantin has a greater potential to cause Stevens Johnson Syndrome skin disease than any other drug around the globe, yet the manufacturer has taken no such action to warn against that potentiality in the US, according to the attorney representing the Jacobsen family.