Philadelphia Inquirer 07/25/2006 $5 million jury award in death of year-old boy: "Posted on Tue, Jul. 25, 2006email thisprint thisreprint or license this$5 million jury award in death of year-old boyThe family administered highly concentrated Infants' Tylenol to him without a doctor's orders. The jurors found the manufacturer negligent.
By Dawn Fallik
Inquirer Staff Writer
A jury yesterday awarded a Philadelphia family $5 million in the death of their 1-year-old boy, who died after his parents gave him Infants' Tylenol.
Marquis Dunson died in March 2002, just 12 days after his first birthday. The official cause of death, according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office, was acetaminophen toxicity.
His parents, Lisa and Martin Dunson, said they did not realize Infants' Tylenol was concentrated - three times the strength of regular Children's Tylenol.
'The important thing is that parents know there are potential problems with Infants' Tylenol, and they have to be super careful,' said A. Roy DeCaro, the attorney who represented the Dunsons.
Marquis fell sick with a cold on March 16, 2002. His parents gave him Infants' Tylenol. The box states that parents should call their doctor before giving the medication to any child younger than 2, but their doctor had recommended Infants' Tylenol before.
They gave him two droppers every four hours. Marquis got sicker and sicker, but it did not occur to them that it was the Tylenol that was causing the problem, DeCaro said. DeCaro said the child should have been getting half a dropper as needed.
They had used the drug with their other four children without incident.
The Dunsons took Marquis back to the doctor on March "