18-Year-Old Student Suing E-Cigarette Company Juul After He Is Told He Has Lungs of 70-Year-Old: Report
An Illinois teenager is suing e-cigarette maker Juul, claiming he suffered lung damage through vaping that left him with the lungs of a 70-year-old and nearly killed him, CNN reported.
Adam Hergenreder of Gurnee says he is a victim of deceptive marketing, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
“To put it mildly, Adam didn’t stand a chance to avoid getting hooked on these toxic timebombs,” Hergenreder’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, said, according to WFLD.
“I first started vaping just to fit in, because everyone else was doing it,” Hergenreder said at a news conference to announce the filing of the suit. “It didn’t taste like a cigarette. It tasted good.”
Hergenreder also said he liked the buzz he got from the nicotine.
VAPING LAWSUIT: A Lake County teen who was recently hospitalized for severe lung damage linked to vaping is suing major e-cigarette company Juul and a north suburban retailerhttps://t.co/QxTm5JV8St
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) September 13, 2019
Although he was underage and not legally allowed to buy e-cigarettes, he found that his local gas station did not card him when he went to buy the Jull products he used. He claims the e-cigarettes were a gateway to using tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, which is the main active ingredient in marijuana.
“It was scary to think about that — that little device did that to my lungs,” Hergenreder said, according to WGN.
“He would wake up in the morning and would puff on that Juul and then cough,” Polly Hergenreder, Adam Hergenreder’s mother, said.“He would hit it several times throughout the day. My son was going through a pod and a half every other day, or a day and a half.”
Over time, Hergenreder said he developed shivers and couldn’t control them. Then, the vomiting began.
“I was just nonstop throwing up every day for three days,” he said. “Finally I went to the pediatrician.”
It took a while before doctors asked about vaping.
“I answered honestly,” Hergenreder said. “I said I was.”
An X-ray that followed revealed the bad news.
“That’s when they saw the full damage,” Hergenreder said. “If I had known what it was doing to my body, I would have never even touched it, but I didn’t know. I wasn’t educated.”
A doctor who treated Hergenreder said the teen was severely ill.
“If his mom had not brought him to the hospital within the next two to three days, his breathing could have worsened to the point that he could have died if he didn’t seek medical care,” said Dr. Stephen Amesbury, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Advocate Condell Medical Center.
“It was severe lung disease, especially for a young person. He was short of breath, he was breathing heavily. It was very concerning that he would have significant lung damage and possibly some residual changes after he heals from this,” Amesbury said.
Polly Hergenreder said the bottom line after her son spent six days in the hospital was simple. “The doctors did tell us that if we did not bring Adam in when we brought him in, his lungs would have collapsed and he would have died,” she said.
“I was a varsity wrestler before this,” Hergenreder said, “and I might not ever be able to wrestle because that’s a very physical sport and my lungs might not be able to hold that exertion. … It’s sad.”
Juul said in a statement that it has “never marketed to youth” and has ongoing campaigns to combat underage use. It said its products are designed to help adults transition away from traditional cigarettes, which Juul called “the deadliest legal consumer product known to man.”
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