Man Waited Too Long to|Sue Over ‘Wart Vaccine’

(CN) - An 18-year-old waited too long to sue a doctor for allegedly injecting him with a bogus "famous Swiss wart burner vaccine" when he was 12, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled.

J.K.M. sued Dr. Kenneth Dempsey for inserting an 18-gauge needle into his right butt cheek to inject what Dempsey called a "famous Swiss wart burner vaccine" to rid his hand of warts. He claims the doctor later told his mother that the purported "wart vaccine" was merely a saline solution used for the placebo effect.

J.K.M. said the placebo shot caused him to suffer "physical injury, severe emotional distress, depression, great indignity, humiliation, nervousness, anxiety and worry."

J.K.M. accused Dempsey of fraud and deceit, but the trial court ruled that he did not pursue the case properly as a medical claim.

Judge Don Burrell agreed that the case should be dismissed for failure to file a health care affidavit within 180 days. J.K.M finally filed the affidavit more than a year after he filed suit.

"Plaintiff's petition avers that Plaintiff went to Defendant's medical practice to obtain medical treatment for various conditions, including warts," Burrell wrote.

"Because the true nature of Plaintiff's claim was that he suffered personal injury as a result of defendant's rendering of health-care services, the trial court did not err in finding that plaintiff was required to file a health-care affidavit," the court concluded.

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