Media reports of persons hospitalized involving the 2019 vaping lung illness outbreak

On September 23, 2019, a product liability lawsuit, Charles Wilcoxson v. Canna Brand Solutions LLC et al., was filed in Superior Court of Pierce County, Washington, against makers of THC vape cartridges.[8] Wilcoxson, a peace officer, had used THC vape products between January 2018 and September 2019.[8] He bought cannabis products that included Conscious Cannabis, Rainbows Aloft, Leafwerx, MFused, and Jane's Garden.[8] All of these companies are cited as defendants, according to the compliant.[8] The supplier of plaintiff's vaporizer was Canna Brand Solutions, which was also cited as a defendant.[8] On September 11, 2019, the plaintiff was vaping and that night he was wheezing very badly.[8] By Monday morning he was taken to the emergency room and was told he has lipoid pneumonia as a result of his vaping, according to the complaint.[8] He was in the hospital for three days.[8]

In May 2019, 21-year-old Connor Evans was hospitalized for more than two weeks and was in a medically induced coma for 8 days.[9] He initially thought he had the flu.[10] His lungs were accumulating with fluid and he coughing.[9] At 19, Evans started using Juul products and eventually he had trouble breathing.[9] He purportedly developed an addiction to Juul mint pods.[11] After being discharged from a Pennsylvania hospital Evans took legal action against Juul in October 2019.[9] Juul purportedly did not disclose the dangers of what its pod system can do to people and deceptively advertised its products as being safer than combustible cigarettes, according to the complaint.[9] Evan's attorney stated that Juul is selling pods in the US with high concentrations of nicotine.[9] Juul advertises its products to intentionally entice underage individuals and young adults as well as people who are never frequent smokers, according to the complaint.[9]

In September 2019, 18-year-old student Adam Hergenreder stated his attorney took legal action in Illinois against Juul after doctors told him his lungs are like that of a 70 year old.[12] He was admitted to a hospital in August 2019.[12] He was in the intensive care unit at Advocate Condell Medical Center.[13] He was unable to breath without being given oxygen.[14] He was vaping for more than 18 months.[12] He began vaping when he was 16 and the Juul flavors he liked most were mint and mango.[14] He fell prey to Juul's misleading marketing, according to the complaint.[12] Juul used social media to target young people, according to his lawyers.[15] Juul did not inform the public what they were selling contained toxic substances, according to the complaint.[16] The gas station where he said he bought the Juul pods when he was a minor is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.[12]

In September 2019, 35-year-old Erin Gilbert from Virgin Islands has filed a lawsuit in Broward County, Florida, contending that her sickness was the result of a CBD vape oil containing mango flavor that she had purchased from a merchant in Saint Croix.[4] She had severe respiratory problems and she had multiple organ failure and deficient supply of oxygen, resulting in necrosis of her legs.[4] Both her legs had to be amputated.[4] She used the vape oil for just a few days.[4] She arrived at a Saint Croix hospital in August 2019 and was eventually airlifted to Miami.[4] She was in critical condition at the Jackson Memorial Hospital when the lawsuit was filed.[4] Just CBD was cited as a defendant.[4]

Juul e-cigarette with pods.

The illicit brand Dank Vapes.

Sherie Canada from Texas was quickly taken to the hospital in June 2019.[17] Canada was unable to hold fluids and was dehydrated.[17] She was in a medically induced coma and was diagnosed with multifocal pneumonia, sepsis, and acute respiratory failure with hypoxemia.[17] Her lungs filled with fluids and she had blood clots.[17] She had low oxygen and blood pressure readings.[17] She never smoked, though was attracted to flavored e-cigarettes.[17]

In late June 2019, 20-year-old Alexander Mitchell from Provo, Utah was admitted to a local hospital.[18] Mitchell believed the nausea, chest pains, and shortness of breath he was experiencing was caused by the flu.[18] He was given antibiotics because Mitchell's doctor had thought he had an infection, but he was taken to a hospital for further evaluation on the recommendation from his doctor.[19] His tests for bacterial pneumonia and other common diseases were all negative.[18] An exam showed that the immune cells in his lungs were not normal.[18] One of the doctors at a hospital in Provo, Utah believed his lung illness was associated with vaping after learning about similar cases in other places.[18] He was eventually airlifted to the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City in order to place him on a life-supporting system called ECMO because his lungs stopped working.[18] His heath eventually improved.[18] On July 7 2019, he was sent home.[18] He starting vaping to stop using combustible cigarettes.[20] He has since stopped vaping.[21]

In early August 2019, 19-year-old John Porter from Marion, Indiana was experiencing shoulder and back pain.[22] A week later he was seen by a doctor.[22] By that time his symptoms worsened.[22] Porter was admitted to the hospital with two collapsed lungs in August 2019.[23] Porter had four surgeries and was in the hospital for 17 days.[23] His doctors believe his ailment was triggered by his vaping.[22] Porter has since gotten rid of his e-cigarettes and vaping products.[22] In September 2019 he was focusing on recovering.[23]

In June 2019, 52-year-old Jon Doneson from New York felt sick after returning home from traveling to China and California.[24] Instead of resting he went to the gym to exercise.[24] After exercising he was vomiting and sweating.[24] He thought he was just tired.[24] In the following weeks he was coughing.[24] In August, his cough was painful.[24] He had night sweats and had a fever.[24] His doctor told him he had bronchitis.[24] The medications did not improve his symptoms.[24] He went back to the doctor and had a chest X-ray.[24] It showed he had double pneumonia.[24] He was given doxycycline because his doctor believed he had an infection.[24] Approximately ten days later, Doneson felt very sick.[24] He went to the emergency room at the North Shore University Hospital.[24] After doctors found out he visited China, he was quarantined and was tested for different types of diseases.[24] Every one of the tests was negative.[24] Infectious disease doctors and people from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived at the hospital to investigate.[24] His condition deteriorated.[24] A pulmonologist got a copy of his medical history where Doneson indicated that a few months prior, he had began vaping THC.[24] This probably saved his life.[24]

In September 2019, 45-year-old Scott Goldstein from Shreveport, Louisiana, was struggling to stay alive after he says he was sickened from a vaping-induced lung illness.[25] On September 13, 2019, it was reported that Goldstein, in his hospital bed, said, "Now I have oil and water in my lungs that my lungs can't get rid of. Making them crystallize. They're rock hard."[25] He stated that he did not have any symptoms other than not being able to keep food down.[25]

18-year-old student, Chance Ammirata from Florida was using about half a Juul mint pod a day.[notes 1][27] This is equivalent to a nicotine dose of 10 combustible cigarettes a day.[28] He was vaping for about 18 months.[29] After presenting to the hospital with intense chest pain,[30] he was found to have had a collapsed left lung and needed surgery to repair it.[29] In August 2019, he posted an image of his lungs on social media.[31] On Twitter he explained the black dots on his lungs were from strictly Juul use.[29] He cautioned others to quit vaping.[32] He said, "It's so f***ing scary."[29]

In August 2019, 18-year-old Simah Herman was quickly taken to the UCLA Medical Center after she had trouble breathing.[33] After she was hospitalized her condition worsened.[34] After being hooked up to a ventilator and waking up from a medically induced coma, Herman wrote: "I want to start a no-vaping campaign."[33] She posted a photo of herself holding up a handwritten sign that read 'I want to start a no-vaping campaign' on Instagram[35] and started an anti-vaping campaign from her hospital bed.[34] She shared her vaping story on Instagram.[36] The image of her holding up a handwritten sign has since gone viral.[36] Within 72 hours since it was posted, it had 1200 comments and more than 25,000 likes.[36] By early September 2019, it had nearly 700,000 likes.[34] She said in September 2019 that she plans on starting a campaign with her cousin to fund research into the effects of vaping.[37]

In August 2019, Herman thought she was going to die.[33] Doctors originally thought she had pneumonia.[38] She was in a medically induced coma for four days[38] and on a ventilator for almost a week.[36] She was in the hospital for almost ten days.[38] At 15, Herman started vaping and within two years her health deteriorated.[33] The smoke shop she bought the products from in North Hollywood did not ask for her ID card.[38] She told the shop she was 22, she said.[38] She was vaping everyday.[33] After leaving the hospital she has given up vaping.[38] Before ending up in the hospital, doctors were unable to tell her the reason she felt sick even though she told them she was vaping, she said.[33]

In September 2019, 16-year-old Emma Bowland from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania was admitted to the hospital.[39] Emma was vaping for approximately a year and a half.[40] She had difficulty breathing and needed supplemental oxygen.[40] She was dizzy when she stood up and subsequently was vomiting.[40] She felt pain in her stomach which turned out to be her lungs.[39] The scan of her lungs showed white spots.[39] She was in the hospital for 10 days.[39] She was sent home in September 2019.[39] She has since used a nicotine patch in September 2019.[40]

In September 2019, 22-year-old Gregory Rodriguez from Queens, New York was hospitalized for being unable to breathe that was linked to vaping.[41] He initially thought he had the flu when he arrived at the emergency room in September 2019.[42] Doctors believed he had a lung infection.[43] Earlier in September 2019 he was sent home from the Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital after doctors told him he possibly had a stomach virus.[43] He was hooked up to a ventilator, but his condition was not improving.[43] His blood oxygen had dropped so low that it could result in organ failure, or cause trauma to his heart.[43] He was hooked up to a machine called ECMO for four and a half days and his condition improved.[43] He became ill following vaping about one cartridge a day, of various brands, including the illicit brand Dank Vapes.[41] The flavors he liked included fruity pebbles and sour patch kids.[43] He was discharged from the hospital and in October 2019 is recovering at home.[41]

21-year-old Kerri Chonsky from New Jersey was in the intensive care unit for close to two weeks at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center.[44] Chonsky originally thought she had the flu or possibly pneumonia.[44] She had difficulty breathing.[44] She needed oxygen and steroids.[45] She began using combustible cigarettes when she was a teenager and then used Juul to try to give up smoking.[44] She was diagnosed with popcorn lung.[44] She was discharged from the hospital in October 2019.[44]

15-year-old Kegan Houck on September 30, 2019, felt dizzy and vomited after using his friend's vape during school at Owen Valley High School.[46] Houck went to the school nurse, and it was determined that he needed more assistance.[47] At this point, his oxygen level was at 70%.[46] At the hospital, he was diagnosed with pneumonitis which was reported as a result of vaping.[47] The vape that he used tested positive for THC, but he said that he thought it only contained nicotine.[47]

In October 2019, 16-year-old Samantha Ford from Phoenix, Arizona was found unconscious by her mother in her bedroom.[48] Her mother was unable to give her CPR because of all the blood and mucus seeping out of her mouth.[48] Her mother dialed 911 for an ambulance[49] and by the time the teenager arrived at the Phoenix Children's Hospital she went into cardiac arrest.[50] Doctors said her condition was induced by vaping.[48] Her mother did not know her daughter had been vaping for two years.[48] Her heart was working at only 30% and she was bleeding from the lungs.[50] She was placed on life support and was taken to the ICU.[49] On October 14, 2019, she was taken off life support and doctors stated she will stay in the hospital for at least the next 35 days.[50]

On October 15, 2019 a 17-year-old from Michigan received a double lung transplant.[51] This is believed to be the first of this procedure due to vaping.[52] His lungs were destroyed following vaping.[53] He was hospitalized with what was thought to be pneumonia at the Ascension St. John Hospital on September 5, 2019.[54] His condition then worsened, and he was transferred a week later to Children's Hospital of Michigan.[54] He was transferred from the Children's Hospital of Michigan to the Henry Ford Hospital.[55] The teenager who wishes to remain anonymous is breathing on his own.[56] However, his recovery is anticipated to take several months.[56] He has since stopped vaping.[56]

It was reported in November 2019, 15-year-old Zane Martin from Desert Hot Springs spent over a month in the hospital, following life-threatening injuries thought to be induced by his vaping.[57] Martin had began vaping a few months ago.[57] His symptoms began with having trouble breathing, and his symptoms continued to get worse.[57] Eventually he could not stand up.[57] He said he was vaping a wax cartridge of THC.[57] Martin said people should not vape because he does not want others to end up in the hospital like him.[57] He underwent eight surgeries and said "it doesn't feel good."[57] Several of his friends have stopped vaping after finding out Martin was admitted to the hospital.[58]