Three Doses of Gardasil Vaccine Caused 40 Year Old Woman To Develop Debilitating Pain, Neurological Disorder: Lawsuit

An Indiana woman has filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of Gardasil, alleging that side effects of the HPV vaccine left her with chronic pain, fatigue, weakness and functional neurological disorder.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Monique Padfield late last month in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, indicating that Merck failed to inform recipients of the Gardasil vaccine about the risks of severe neurological damage and disorders that could result in life-altering injuries.

Gardasil was introduced by Merck in 2006, as a vaccination for both young girls and boys before sexual activity, to protect them from the development of Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, which can lead to the later development of cervical cancer. The vaccine has also been widely administered to adults, since the manufacturer has maintained that it carries few, if any, serious side effects.

However, a growing number of Gardasil vaccine lawsuits now allege that Merck provided false and misleading information to doctors, and never disclosed that the HPV vaccine may result in permanent and life-changing autoimmune complications, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), lupus, fibromyalgia, premature ovarian failure, premature menopause, idiopathic thrombocyteopenic purpora (ITP), chronic pain, brain fog, fatigue, headaches and nerve damage.

The lawsuit indicates Padfield was 40 when she received her first Gardasil vaccination in March 2021. She received her second and third doses in May and September of that year, and then began to suffer side effects that she claims are a direct result of the injections.

“After receiving the Gardasil vaccine in 2021, Plaintiff experienced severe pain and the symptoms of chronic fatigue. Plaintiff became debilitated by pain and exhaustion,” Padfield states in the complaint. “Plaintiff could no longer accomplish simple daily tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and driving comfortably.”

In 2022, her symptoms progressed to include heart palpitations and seizures, at which point she was diagnosed with chronic pain syndrome, chronic fatigue and generalized weakness. By 2023, doctors detected antinuclear antibodies in Padfield’s blood, which latch on to the nucleus of healthy cells and attack them.

Padfield was eventually diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, and myofascial pain.

“As a result of her post-Gardasil symptoms, Plaintiff has been unable to engage in activities that a normal young person would enjoy. Plaintiff is physically disabled by her injuries,” the lawsuit states. “Her goals of walking races for charity are now non-existent and requires medical treatments and a pain management plan for the rest of her life.”

Padfield presents claims of negligence, breach of express warranty, common law fraud, failure to warn and manufacturing defect.

November 2024 Gardasil Lawsuits Update

Given common questions of fact and law presented in Gardasil lawsuits being pursued throughout the federal court system, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) has been established in the Western District of North Carolina, for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings under U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell, Sr.

As part of the coordinated management of the litigation, Judge Bell is expected to schedule a series of early bellwether trials to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

Last year, the parties were ordered to select 16 Gardasil “bellwether” lawsuits for case-specific discovery, which are expected to later be narrowed down to a small group of claims that will be eligible for the first trial dates.

In late January 2025, Judge Bell will hold hearings over the admissibility of expert witness testimony, and the first federal trials are not expected to begin until at least the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.

Following coordinated discovery and test trials held in the federal MDL, if the parties fail to reach Gardasil settlements or another resolution for the litigation, Judge Bell may later establish a process to begin remanding each individual claim back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for individual trial dates in the future.