Your Questions About the Autism Vaccine Trials Answered by a Lawyer for the Plaintiff
Bjorklund is one of 10 attorneys from around the country on the Executive Steering Committee for the Petitioners (plaintiffs) in the Court of Federal Claims: Office of Special Masters, a special panel of three federal judges. The three judges will hear arguments pro and con about the controversial hypothesis that mercury in vaccines and/or the live-virus measles-mumps-rubella shot causes autism or autism-like symptoms in American children.
Bjorklund, who is representing 23 families, and more than 60 attorneys from around the country are working on behalf of all plaintiff families against the defendants, or “respondents” at the US Department of Health and Human Services, represented by US Justice Department attorneys.
Here are the questions I asked, along with Ms. Bjorkland's responses:
If the courts determine that one or more of the test cases is legitimate, and awards families compensation, what does that mean for other families with similar claims? What kind of recompense is the court likely to award, and in what form? (cash money? services?)
If the court determines that the test cases prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it is more likely than not that the thimerosal in childhood vaccines and in this particular test case, the MMR vaccine have combined to cause autism and other issues, then the families would need to prove their degree of damages related to the vaccine injury. Awards under the National Vaccine Injury compensation Act are in the form of money. Awards are to cover unpaid past and future medical expenses related to the vaccine injury, past and future pain and suffering, and loss of earning capacity. Other families would still need to present the specific facts of their child's case, the court would need to determine that they are eligible for compensation and they too would need to prove their degree of damages.
If the courts determine that none of the test cases is legitimate, what does that mean for families who believe their children are vaccine-injured?
If the petitioners lose, there are a couple of avenues. They can appeal to the Judges of the Court of Federal Claims or they can go out to the civil court (state/federal) and bring their claims directly against the vaccine manufacturers.
Who are the 4800 families who are also part of this case? How do the test cases impact these 4800?
The families are from all around the country. They have on their own or through legal representation have petitioned the Court of Federal Claims, under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act for compensation. This test case will only affect a portion of these families. It represents one of three theories of causation. For those families who are claiming the combined effect of thimerosal and the MMR have caused injury to their child, their case will be evaluated against the test cases for eligibility for compensation. For the cases in which the theory is that thimerosal alone has caused their child's injury, they will wait a little longer. Those test cases are scheduled to go to hearing in late 2007 or early 2008.
If a family feels that they are in the same situation as the 4800 named in the trials, can they join the suit? If so, how would they do so? Or would they be better off going to civil court?
Any claim under the NVICP must be brought within 3 years of the onset of first symptoms or the manifestation of onset of the vaccine injury. If a family believes they may have a claim, they can contact the Court of Federal Claims or a lawyer who handles these cases. The Court of Federal Claims can give them a list of such lawyers.
Do you think this case will have a significant impact on how Americans view and administer vaccines overall?
This case is not anti-vaccine. It is a case in which a small number (%-wise) of children who were injured because they followed the recommendations for childhood vaccinations are seeking compensation under a program specifically established by Congress to accomplish that end.
What happens after these trials are over? Is this the end of the vaccine trials, or is there more to come?
There are more to come. The additional test cases will be heard within the next 9-12 months. Depending upon the outcome, there will be additional hearings as the individual claims of the 4800 petitioners are heard.
Comments
You asked some very good questions!
I have some more questions, but maybe for the other end.
1) what will it mean if the preponderance of the evidence is less likely? can they appeal?
2) if the courts decide the preponderance of the evidence is less, does that then mean they need more research? does this mean this is the final word?
3) and lets say the preponderance of the evidence is more likely, isn’t it true the vaccine makers will not be the ones liable, but the consumer? More or less meaning a hike in insurances rate.
4) isn’t it true that the MMR combination with other vaccines is a relatively newer theory?
1. VCIP denial, opens the door for parents to go after manufacturers.
2. the research is there, plenty of it, infact when you see urine porphyrins testing of a vaccine injured child, the mercury damage is blatantly obvious, no disputing that. Also, when treated, the mercury and aluminum from the vaccines POURS out of these kids in their urine.
3.No it wont mean further insurance increases. We are already paying $1.00 per shot to cover these issues. There is currently $750 billion dollars in teh fund to cover vaccine injuries. 4.In autism circles No, the combination of MMR and thimerosal vaccines theory is not new, it has been around for quite a while, just that this issue never makes mainstream press. Too many pharma controls on press for that to happen.
well, that theory is new since the Wakefield study. back then there was hardly mention of Thimerosal, until it was debunked (and it was) also, it still does not explain why autism is 4 times higher in boys than girls. that’s also an interesting question when researching autism causes.
if this case wins, it’s written the price of each vaccine will increase, regardless of what consumers are already paying extra due to a potential out come of a lawsuit. the key here is consumer, and insurance companies much like vaccine companies, filter their added expenses to us, the consumer.
mercury can be obtained from many sources. if parents have tattoo’s, some of the ink contains heavy metals including mercury. of course studies need to rule out all other potential sources.
Since 1934, aluminum hydroxide has been used as an adjuvant to boost the immune response from vaccines. it doesn’t make it right nor makes sense. maybe it’s the aluminum and exposure through vaccines and other products also result in Alzheimer’s.
Sandy, The concentration of mercury in the Hepatitis B vaccine was 25,000 parts per billion (ppb) mercury. This was injected into newborns only in the United States. This level of mercury is 125 times higher than what the EPA classifies as hazardous waste. Children received 3 of these plus 8 vaccines that contained 50,000 ppb Hg in the 1990’s. Aluminum is a catalyst for mercury and makes it much more toxic. Mercury from other sources are negligible compared to the injection of high doses of organic mercury into babies and pregnant women. This is not safe! Boys have a much harder time with mercury. I don’t care if the cost of a vaccine exceeds $10,000. I will never get one again!
Please don’t mistake my questions as not knowing content amounts, or actually believing vaccines is not a factor. I can pull up information just as easily as the next but that’s really not the point nor part of my questions. However aluminum hydroxide has been in vaccines about as long as thimerosal as. And I honestly feel it wouldn’t take a mass of these vaccines to do harm; you’d only need one to do that harm. Also, boys have a much harder time with mercury is not an answer and then would more point to a genetic marker. Not sure about anyone else, but why more boys than girls is a question I have.
Most pediatric vaccines come in doses of 0.5 mL (one-half milliliters) so most concentrations are reported “per 0.5 mL.” Because thimerosal is half mercury, a vaccine with 0.01% concentration of thimerosal
= 0.005% concentration of mercury
= 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL of vaccine.
Thimersoal
0.0002%
0.0002%
Mercury
0.5 µg/0.5 mL dose
1µg/1 ml dose
About the 4:1, boy:girl autism ratio: around 2002, Dr. Boyd Haley of the University of Kentucky exposed neuronal cell cultures to thimerosal in combination with other substances. He found that aluminum, the antibiotic neomycin, and testosterone all increase the rate of cell death in combination with thimerosal. Cells died 100 times faster in the thimerosal-testosterone combination than with thimerosal alone. He also found estrogen slowed the rate of cell death when combined with thimerosal.
both the testosterone theory is interesting with or without the thimerosal aspect,as well Haley’s studies (which his studies also include suggestive findings within Alzheimer’s)
but that doesn’t answer my question
thanks
My questions would be:
1. Who is deciding the decision maker on this first case? The original Special Master, George Hastings, or now all three of them? How are they qualified?
2. It’s my understanding, from reading the VICP’s website, if a family doesn’t agree with the offer from the VICP, they can take it to a civil trial. Is that correct?
3. Wouldn’t we be better off having this decided by a jury than three judges?
4. If the decision comes down in our favor – won’t there be a sudden flood of applications to join the lawsuit? I’m not sure of the total numbers of affected children out there, but 4,800 – 5,000 claims seems awfully low. Also, weren’t they going to extend the period to file to longer than three years?
5. Can we require the second a decision is made, that national legislation is automatically introduced banning mercury in all vaccines? Including the prohibition of exporting them to other countries.
6. Will each family have to testify is some fashion – or will it merely be a review of the medical records?
7. Are attorney’s fees taken from any award or are they paid directly from the fund like they are now? (If so, at least the incentive a civil trial offers would make them more aggressive to go after the largest possible settlement. Just look at how much they got paid in the tobacco settlement.)
I have a son who is 6 1/2 yrs. old is it to late to file on his behalf
right in thr article:
If a family feels that they are in the same situation as the 4800 named in the trials, can they join the suit? If so, how would they do so? Or would they be better off going to civil court?
Any claim under the NVICP must be brought within 3 years of the onset of first symptoms or the manifestation of onset of the vaccine injury. If a family believes they may have a claim, they can contact the Court of Federal Claims or a lawyer who handles these cases. The Court of Federal Claims can give them a list of such lawyers.
The vaccine side effects are not 100% disclosed to the doctors who administer these vaccines. I doubt even the makers of these shots even know all the side effects before pushing them. As a mother of an autistic son whose problems showed up less than one month after the MMR shot which was given to him at fourteen months old I have no clue at whose side to be on. I do know this many parents like myself have to live with the heartache and frustration of not hearing our children say their first word until four years old or maybe not hearing it ever. If this could have been prevented would you not want justice for your child. Ask yourself this, If that was my child would I not protect them by getting all the information I could about their required shots and other medications given to them? Believe me I would file if I could but he has had these symptoms for 3 1/2 years. So gather everything you can about these people and hold them responsible for all the testing they did not do before they brought their product to market
Paul Offit in his Boston Globe editorial said we should be seeing a decline in autism since thimerosal was phased out of vaccines more than six years ago and the numbers of autism diagnosis have only increased. The fact is that the current number of cases are based on 8 yrs olds who were diagnosed in 1998-99 when thimerosal was not even starting to be phased out. Our pediatrician’s office in Cary, NC was still using thimerosal preserved shots for all of their DTaP shots as of May, 2005 (even though the the doctors told me they had been out of the shots since 2001–they obviously did not know what was going on in their own practice)when I specifically checked with a nurse there and of course, many if not most flu shots still contain thimerosal as of this posting. For specific information about the flu shot and the case against thimerosal as well as environmental mercury go to http://www.safeminds.org and for information about a possible CDC coverup go to http://www.putchildrenfirst.org. For information on biomedical treatments go to to http://www.advocates4children.com. Our son was diagnosed with autism, nonverbal and tested as severely retarded two years ago at almost three years of age. Now he is testing in the middle of the normal range of intelligence, is talking “up a storm” and is no longer thought by professionals to have autism. For us the GFCF (and eliminating other “reactive foods”) has made a huge difference along with other educational inverventions. I hope this information helps other families.
I see that the statue of limitations for a claim against the vaccine fund is 3 years. If Michelle Cedillo’s autism was noticed before two and she is now 11, how can they go to trial. Has the case been 6 years in the making? Am I missing something?
To Matt–you simply have to file the complaint within three years. The Cedillo’s trial was postponed due to the recent emergence of scientific evidence linking autism and thimerosal. I believe the plaintiffs or “petitioners” as they are called asked for at least some of the delays so that they could prepare their case with the latest research evidence.
In reguards to the question as to why more boys than girl?The response is called testrosterone excute my spelling but it enhances mercury. Since boys are born with this they are prone to the heavy metal insult.
Dear Amanda i also have a child who was vaccine injured. My heart goes out to you my son lost all speech by 3 years old and his life has been hell. I had to place him. That was the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. You have nothing to prove to any one. Hope fully my son and others will help your son so you wont have to file and he will get the help he needs. God bless kathy
I don’t know how You gies worked it out the ratio. I think it will help me If I know how Some interpretations idealism seem That Aspergers is A bad thing to have Thats why some of my comments are still under review from this web page!!ERR.argument against excessive immunizations should be: “Do we really need so much of a good thing?”. I wholeheartedly agree that immunizations changed the world in regard to measles, polio, rubella, etc., but I think the pharmaceutical industry is pushing unnecessary and potentially dangerous vaccines on the public thay are still puting stuff in to our breed now for crying out load here in newzealand .we do think in a difrent way not like others in fact we are thinking in a higher reality thats all and know more about everthing.I have a qustion
why give Psychiatric medications to Asperges when it”s not a Psychiatric Disorder its olny a neotipical disorder perduice with extraplated infomation or was it worked out on a sesional ratio ???I think some of you are (off the right track )But
I like where I am on clould 9 na. I’m veary normel I think even got a peice of paper saying Im am normel with above heigh IQ just ask some weard qustions to others. I really need ancers to so no one give up great web site.oh by the way that ratio is out dated now lets move on.please Respond and conceal my Autistic Qustions written from David rs Greer With Aspergers.