Drawing on more than three decades of experience as a lawyer, Michael Lin Baum serves as the senior managing partner of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman located in Los Angeles, California. In this role, he is in charge of the firm's management as well as mass tort litigation, which includes faulty or toxic pharmaceutical medications. As an attorney, Michael Lin Baum’s current lawsuit work includes representing those who have been harmed by the Gardasil HPV vaccine.

In 2006, the United States Food and Drug Agency approved the HPV vaccine Gardasil. On entry to the market, the drug was used by teenagers and younger children whose parents intended to reduce their chances of being susceptible to the debilitating consequences of HPV infections. Examples of the complications of HPV infections include cervical cancers and cancers in parts of the reproductive system.

A decade later, numerous personal injury claims have been aimed at Gardasil manufacturers. Some of the most commonly reported issues are autoimmune illnesses, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and reproductive disorders.

According to professionals with knowledge in the vaccine’s clinical trial process, Gardasil was fast-tracked. Normally, the FDA approves fast-tracking of drugs that are intended to solve high-priority public health issues, such as a pandemic. HPV infection is far from a pandemic so fast-tracking the vaccine was unnecessary. Rather than performing thorough clinical trials to ascertain the safety of the drug, Gardasil’s manufacturer Merck & Co. allegedly presented false data that deceived the FDA into believing that Gardasil was an urgent solution.