Vaccines "gave" girl Autism. $1.5 million paid out

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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-2 ... 91695.html

The first court award in a vaccine-autism claim is a big one. CBS News has learned the family of Hannah Poling will receive more than $1.5 million dollars for her life care; lost earnings; and pain and suffering for the first year alone.


In addition to the first year, the family will receive more than $500,000 per year to pay for Hannah's care. Those familiar with the case believe the compensation could easily amount to $20 million over the child's lifetime.


Hannah was described as normal, happy and precocious in her first 18 months.

Then, in July 2000, she was vaccinated against nine diseases in one doctor's visit: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, varicella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae.

Afterward, her health declined rapidly. She developed high fevers, stopped eating, didn't respond when spoken to, began showing signs of autism, and began having screaming fits. In 2002, Hannah's parents filed an autism claim in federal vaccine court. Five years later, the government settled the case before trial and had it sealed. It's taken more than two years for both sides to agree on how much Hannah will be compensated for her injuries.


In acknowledging Hannah's injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder Hannah had which didn't "cause" her autism, but "resulted" in it. It's unknown how many other children have similar undiagnosed mitochondrial disorder. All other autism "test cases" have been defeated at trial. Approximately 4,800 are awaiting disposition in federal vaccine court.


Time Magazine summed up the relevance of the Poling case in 2008: ...(T)here's no denying that the court's decision to award damages to the Poling family puts a Chinese -- a question mark -- in what had been an unqualified defense of vaccine safety with regard to autism. If Hannah Poling had an underlying condition that made her vulnerable to being harmed by vaccines, it stands to reason that other children might also have such vulnerabilities."


Then-director of the Centers for Disease Control Julie Gerberding (who is now President of Merck Vaccines) stated: "The government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism. This does not represent anything other than a very specific situation and a very sad situation as far as the family of the affected child."

It probably will ignite the 'debate', but I still think that that isn't enough reason to deprive the few children who did get adverse effects a voice and a means of compensation.

And the judge was very careful to say that the vaccines didn't cause the autism.

I am curious though why exactly compo was awarded; I thought it was only if the company was in the wrong (i.e. faulty vaccines or misinformation). If it's a freak mitochondrial mutation, then isn't that just an act of god kind of thing? Unless she had a history of bad allergies to vaccines and the doctor never picked up on it.

This girl had an actual vaccine injury - vaccine injuries are rare but they do happen which is why the vaccine court was established. The court was careful to not say that vaccines caused her to have autism and described it as autism-like symptoms. In this case, it's the vaccine court working exactly as it should - which won't stop anti-vaxxers from promoting it as "proof" that vaccines cause autism.

I voted that I believe this will ignite new debate. My belief? I believe autism is genetic. Those are important comments by Celoneth and Lene. I would like to add the exact quote from the article which I believe is crucial to understanding this particular case:

"In acknowledging Hannah's injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder Hannah had which didn't "cause" her autism, but "resulted" in it. It's unknown how many other children have similar undiagnosed mitochondrial disorder."

I am open-minded with people's opinions on things like this, although I do not believe vaccines cause autism. But, I do believe my inherited autism genes were "turned on" by a trigger. My trigger may have been the oxygen deprivation I experienced immediately before birth. Many autistic people experienced complications with birth.

It's hard to say whether this mitochondrial problem might have come up if she hadn't been vaccinated, or if she'd caught any one of the actual diseases which were covered by the vaccines. I remember feeling sick after vaccinations, and I can imagine the immune response, which may include fever and generally feeling ill, might cause a child to be irritable, to scream, to not want to communicate or not want to eat for perhaps a week or more. Then again, even NT children are known to have screaming fits. How can they be sure the child was not already autistic before the vaccines?

ZOMG, I JUST NOTICED... I'VE TURNED AUTISTIC! NOW WHERE'S MY MONEY?!

I have every reason to believe that the same thing happened to me. I was normal until those blasted needles. I hate to come off as one of those conspiracy theorists, but if you'll look at what Wakefield's (I think that was his name) contributions from his linkage between the two, the medical establishment has enacted a few protective measures against autism if there's a family history, for example having the MMR vaccine delayed if there is something there.

In short, I'm not a zealot against vaccines, and I have zero regrets about what I am now (a proud Aspie), but in a few cases, it's entirely possible that there is a link, and I have every reason to believe that was the case in me.

I have every reason to believe that the same thing happened to me. I was normal until those blasted needles. I hate to come off as one of those conspiracy theorists, but if you'll look at what Wakefield's (I think that was his name) contributions from his linkage between the two, the medical establishment has enacted a few protective measures against autism if there's a family history, for example having the MMR vaccine delayed if there is something there.

In short, I'm not a zealot against vaccines, and I have zero regrets about what I am now (a proud Aspie), but in a few cases, it's entirely possible that there is a link, and I have every reason to believe that was the case in me.

I think this will reignite the debate, and that as a result, there will be more pertussis(whooping cough) epidemics, and epidemics of other vaccine-preventable diseases. I think autism is genetic myself, but I think the thing that triggered it for me was probably birth trauma, as I didn't cry right away. The doctor also used forceps because he was getting impatient, and it was too late to do a C-section.

I do realize that vaccines aren't perfect, as despite being fully vaccinated, I had mumps as a child, but it was a pretty mild case.

once again, typical NT behavior, you can't get AS from a vaccine, you get it when you are born, any idiot knows thatjavascript:emoticon(':roll:')