Polio Vaccine Victim Wins Lawsuit Against Big Pharma

Tenuto became paralyzed from the disease and ended up spending months in intensive care, breathing through a hospital ventilator. Even after two years of rehabilitative therapy, he remained partially paralyzed and to this day cannot get around without a wheelchair. Because the Wall Street office where he worked was not wheelchair accessible, Tenuto lost his job. In 1981, he filed a lawsuit against Lederle.

Shortly before the verdict came down, Lederle offered Tenuto a $10 million settlement agreement, which he rejected upon the advice of his lawyers.

After one day of deliberation, the jury ruled that Lederle had not only made a vaccine that was unreasonably dangerous, but that it had also failed to sufficiently warn doctors about the vaccine's risk. It ordered the company to pay Tenuto $5 million for medical and rehabilitation expenses and lost earnings, and $17.5 million for past and future pain and suffering.