7-year-old Kristen Spears was born with cerebral palsy. Her limbs would be contracted and spastic and Spears would receive large doses of Botox to relax her limbs. Spears died November 24, 2007, allegedly as a result of the Botox injections. Now a Texas jury says the drug maker adequately warned about Botox dangers, according to a Los Angeles Times article.
Allergan, maker of Botox, was accused of being liable in the death of Spears who died of respiratory failure and pneumonia. Lawyers for the family said that Allergan did not adequately warn doctors about using the higher doses sometimes used in pediatric cerebral palsy cases. This case was closely watched as it’s the first time the botulinum toxin-based drug is accused of contributed to a death. Botox is best known for smoothing out wrinkles, but doctors sometimes prescribe it “off label” to be used in children with limb spasticity.
The jury took two days to decide that although Botox did pose a risk of substantial danger that regular customers would not know about, Allergan did not breach its duty to warn of those dangers. They never got to decide whether Botox contributed to her death after finding the warnings were adequate. Essentially they decided that Kristin died from the progression of her disease.
