A model who has lost her leg to toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is now suing the tampon manufacturer in a bid to create awareness of the dangers associated with the sanitary products.
Lauren Wasser is suing the Kimberly-Clark Corporation and her local supermarket for being ‘negligently, wantonly, recklessly, tortuously, and unlawfully responsible in some manner’ for her hospitalisation for TSS after falling sick while using Kotex tampons.
According to Vice, the 27-year old believes the disclaimer on the tampon box was not suitably clear and alerting, claiming the guidelines ‘Change your tampon every four to eight hours, including overnight’ were confusing when it came to overnight procedures.
The then 24-year old was busy modelling, acting and taking part in athletics, telling Vice: “Everything was based on looks. I was that girl, and I didn’t even think about it.”
Lauren told how on the day she suffered from TSS, she had replaced her tampon every three to four hours, but later that night had to leave a friend’s party after starting to feel sick. Driving home she told the site how she went to bed and woke up when she heard police banging on the door but went back to sleep.
The police later returned with Lauren’s friend who found the model facedown on her bedroom floor with a fever of 107 degrees.
When the model was admitted to hospital, doctors told her that her internal organs were shutting down and she had suffered a massive heart attack.
Despite her medical team being baffled, it was only when an infectious disease specialist asked if Lauren still had a tampon in that they diagnosed her illness. When the tampon was removed, it was sent to a lab where it tested positive for toxic shock syndrome.
After being put into a medically induced coma, Lauren unfortunately lost her right leg to gangrene.
Wasser is now campaigning for government health warnings for the front of tampon boxes, similar to the health notices on the front of cigarette packaging.
She will now appear in front of Congress with New York Representative Carolyn Maloney this Autumn, where as a team they hope to pass the Robin Danielson Act, named after a woman who died of TSS in 1998. The act would ‘establish a program of research regarding the risks posed by the presence of dioxin, synthetic fibers, chemical fragrances, and other components of feminine hygiene products’.
TSS is rare today, affecting around one person per 100,000.
A representative for Kimberly-Clark said the company ‘does not comment regarding ongoing litigation.’
