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Supreme Court Accepts Appeal Over Vaccine Safety
In what could have huge implications for the vaccine industry the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear in a case which will decide if parents can sue vaccine makers. Parents who say that a range of preventive vaccines given their young children can cause serious health problems will have their appeal heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The justices Monday agreed to decide whether drug makers can be sued outside a special judicial forum set up by Congress in 1986 to address specific claims about safety. The so-called vaccine court has handled such disputes and was designed to ensure a reliable, steady supply of the drugs by reducing the threat of lawsuits against pharmaceutical firms. The questions in the latest case are whether such liability claims can proceed, if the vaccine-related injuries could have been avoided by better product design, and if federal officials had approved another, allegedly safer drug. Oral arguments in the dispute will be held in the fall.
The lawsuit was brought by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, a girl from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. They said she was in fine health as an infant in 1992 when given a series of DPT shots — a combination of vaccines to prevent diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. After the third series, according to court briefs, the child began having seizures and became disabled. Now a teenager, Hannah continues to suffer what is described as “residual seizure disorder.”
The Bruesewitzes alleged Wyeth Laboratories failed to adequately warn them and other parents of the risks associated with the vaccine. The vaccine court rejected the initial claim, so the family tried to revive the lawsuit in the federal courts. Their lawyers said the 24-year-old law does not ban all lawsuits, especially those filed when the harmful side effects were avoidable.
A federal appeals court eventually ruled for Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer Inc., concluding that all design-defect claims were barred under statute. Despite that victory, the company urged the high court to hear the case, saying it seeks final resolution on broader legal questions. The Obama administration also urged review and is supporting the company and the federal law in question.
Wyeth and other drug manufacturers say their products are generally safe, but side effects can occur in very rare cases. They also say that the vaccine industry is generally not profitable, but that the health benefits for society in general have kept them in the business. For that, they say, legal protection provided by Congress is essential to ensure such drugs are widely available and affordable.
The high court did not act immediately on a another related, pending appeal. The Georgia Supreme Court last year became the first appeals court in the U.S. to allow families to sue outside the special vaccine court. That case involved Atlanta-area parents who said their son Stefan Ferrari suffered severe neurological damage 12 years ago from booster shots, by Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline, containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Now 12, the boy is unable to speak, say his parents, Stefano and Carolyn Ferrari. The preservative has since been taken out of nearly all standard vaccines.
Despite winning at the state level, the family has since withdrawn its case, but the liability on drug companies resulting from that decision remains in force in Georgia.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act was passed to establish a nationwide strategy to ensure a secure vaccine supply, promote safety and future research, and compensate innocent victims. Those goals were listed at the time as a “top public health priority.”
Lawmakers acknowledged the vaccine supply was suffering under rising company costs from potential liability claims. Despite Food and Drug Administration approval for the vaccines, companies said they were being driven out of the market. The special federal court created under the legislation was a liability shield, designed to be a reliable, relatively quick, no-fault solution to various claims. Unresolved over the years is whether and when certain exceptions to liability should be in play in specific cases.
The case accepted is Bruesewitz v. Wyeth (09-152). The pending case is American Home Products Corp. v. Ferrari (08-1120).
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/08/vaccine.dangers/
Little Women with Big Voices Expose HPV Vaccine Dangers
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/little-women-big-voices-expose-hpv-vaccine-dangers/
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My daughter was disabled by Gardasil. This vaccine should be taken off the market but we can’t do anything because of the Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act. Companies such as Merck should be held accountable for their actions. To see the many girls harmed and killed by Gardasil, visit http://WWW.TRUTHABOUTGARDASIL.ORG.
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I am so happy to read this! On the same day that numerous newspapers and newscasts picked up on our fight against Gardasil. (http://www.truthaboutgardasil.org).
One step closer to helping all that have been injured by dangerous and unsafe vaccines. My 16 year old daughter is one of THOUSANDS that has been injured by Gardasil.
It just makes me sick to know of the conflicts of interest between Big Pharms and the FDA and CDC. Vaccines is just a big money making profit machine for Big Pharm…while our innocent children are harmed or killed by them.
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Ann Green Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 7:42 am
I cannot thank you enough for passing this information on for others to smarten up! I’ve known for years our government was wrong in passing laws for inoculations to be mandatory with children. Nobody has the right to tell you what you HAVE to put into your body. Our bodies are created by God and only He knows best. It’s absurd that we are conditioned to put foreign materials into our bodies and not have a recourse when side effects or even deaths happen. I am totally against all inoculations due to what can happen to anyone receiving them.
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We have documented so far 200 miscarriage cases after the administration of the H1N1 vaccine. Is there a contact that we can submit this to the attorneys. We would be glad to do that. We already have 10 signed affidavits and notations on the amount of thimerosal to body weight of the fetus.
Although the CDC has reduced or removed thimerosal in the children’s vaccine program, the flu shot, seasonal and H1N1 has high levels of thimerosal in the multidose and trace in the single dose.
If the question is whether the drug could have been better….it could have NOT contained Thimerosal. See our documentation:
http://www.progressiveconvergence.com/H1N1-RELATED%20miscarriages.htm
Eileen Dannemann
Director, National Coalition of Organized Women
ncowmail@gmail.com
http://www.ProgressiveConvergence.com
917 804-0786
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I’m so glad the day has come that courts are revisiting the dangers of vaccines. There must be consequences for the lives Big Pharma has destroyed with their toxic garbage. Our immune systems were not designed for the extreme assaults that vaccines deliver – especially to the developing fragile immune systems of children. My heart goes out to all of you with family members whose lives have been destroyed through the greed of Big Pharma.
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When due process is translated into what benefits the many ought to triumph over the rights of the few we will have become no better than those civilized nations who slaughtered innocents in the belief the masses would be better served by it. We all know the fallacy of that ritual behavior. When science can destroy in any proportion to what it can advance it is no better than a ritual. Sound advancement is not anything less than reaching perfection and so liability is indeed the only proper recourse for claiming it and equally the force to continue to strive for perfection. Preservation of life is not a percentage based social program and if it should be there will be no protection for those who are in any minority by nature and so become the oppressed in the most heinous of criminal acts, human sacrifice.
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I got the impression from this article that the courts were hearing this case so that the vaccine company can be relieved of any pressure. I don’t get the impression that this is going to go well for parents.
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We must all take on corporate interests and take this country back from coprporations and give it back to the people.
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It’s about time for someone to stand up for the people’s rights. No medical procedure should be able to be forced on anyone at any age or any time. Parents should have the right to decide for their children (unless there is an obvious immediate threat of death from such decision) and adults should be able to have the freedom of choice with their own lives independent of any outside agency interference. No medical procedure should be mandatory on anyone.
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You may want to go to garynull.com for further information concerning vaccine safety.
As I recall, he said something on the air about methyl mercury and/or thimerasol still in many vaccines along with a toxic soup of preservatives etc.
He also has won many awards for his videos: One called AUTISM MADE IN THE USA, and the other VACCINE NATION.
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