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News- Page 9
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Law : PARENTS WILL CHALLENGE WITHDRAWAL OF LEGAL AID TO FIGHT MMR BATTLE
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (17:01:20)
The Guardian, 07/10/2003
Hundreds of British parents who claim their children were damaged by the MMR triple vaccine are to challenge the decision to withdraw legal aid funding for their court battle.
Jeremy Stuart-Smith QC, representing the lead cases in a group action involving around 1,000 claimants, told Mr Justice Keith at the High Court in London on October 6 that an action was being launched to challenge the decision of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to withdraw support. The judicial review application will go ahead only if the commission grants legal aid for the action against itself.
Stuart-Smith said the trial to decide whether the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine caused childhood autism could no longer go ahead next April. He asked for the case to be stayed pending a decision on funding.
The barrister mother of one of the affected children stood up at the back of the court and offered to represent other claimants. Jennifer Horne-Roberts said she wanted to pursue the claim whether there was funding or not.
The LSC withdrew funding after reviewing the scientific evidence in the case, which has cost an estimated £15 million, and could cost up to £10 million more to bring to trial.
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Law : BRITISH PARENTS FORCED TO CALL OFF COURTROOM BATTLE OVER MMR JAB
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:52:15)
The Guardian; The Daily Telegraph; The Western Mail, 02/10/2003
The British courtroom battle over whether the triple MMR vaccine can trigger childhood autism - which would have pitted the scientist behind the theory, Dr Andrew Wakefield, against public health experts - was called off on October 1 after the parents involved lost their legal funding.
An estimated £10 million has been spent on the cases of 1,000 children in the past 10 years. On October 1, campaigners said they could not understand why the Legal Services Commission (LSC) had decided to withdraw public funding, just six months before eight test cases were due to come to court.
JABS, the British group fighting for the right of parents to choose single vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, had co-ordinated the action against three drug companies. Their spokeswoman, Jackie Fletcher, called the decision to halt legal aid illogical and perverse.
"The decision to halt the cases, following the provision of new evidence, will only confirm the view that the combined powers of government and drug companies are working against vaccine victims receiving justice," she said.
Lawyers for the parents gave new evidence to the commission on September 30 in support of their appeal against its decision to withdraw public funds. But within hours, they heard they were unsuccessful.
The eight children whose cases were to have been heard next spring were patients of Dr Wakefield when he worked as a consultant gastroenterologist at London's Royal Free hospital. His suggestion of a link between MMR jabs and bowel disease and autism, caused a furore when it was published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, in 1998.
The government asked the Medical Research Council to review the research. A science panel concluded there was no evidence to support a link, but national MMR immunisation rates plummeted.
The chances of the parents having their day in court fell in July when two mothers were ordered to allow their children to receive the MMR vaccination. One of the judges branded the anti-MMR evidence "junk science."
But JABS said the withdrawal of legal aid - upheld on appeal on "served no public interest."
Jackie Fletcher, its national co-ordinator, whose 11-year-old son developed epilepsy after having the jab, said the decision had dealt a serious blow to parents seeking justice for their children.
"These families believe their children are vaccine-damaged and need to know why their lives changed so dramatically within such a short time of the MMR vaccine being given, if it wasn't the vaccine," she said. "The court cases were vital, not only to the families involved in the pursuit of justice for their children, but for all parents concerned about whether the vaccines they are giving their healthy children are safe."
Fletcher said that in America, the government and drugs companies recognised that "vaccine damage" did occur, and that the American National Vaccine Compensation programme provided a "no fault" compensation system.
The LSC said it recognised that the children suffered from a series of serious medical conditions, and that the matter was of sufficient public interest to justify the £15 million invested in the case. But the failure of any medical body to prove a concrete link between the MMR jab and these health problems meant the case had little chance of success.
"I appreciate that this decision will come as a great disappointment to the parents involved," said Clare Dodgon, the LSC chief executive. "I sympathise with their situation. Their children are clearly ill and they genuinely believe the MMR vaccine caused their illness. However, this litigation is very unlikely to prove their suspicions."
Alexander Harris, the solicitors' firm representing the families, said it was "deeply disappointed" and "very surprised" at the decision.
The Health Department said it hoped the LSC's decision would "draw a line" under the MMR issue
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Law : FLORIDA PARENTS OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN SUE VACCINE COMPANIES
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (16:22:53)
Palm Beach Post, 30/09/2003
A Port St. Lucie couple and single mother filed lawsuits on September 29 claiming that their autistic children had suffered mercury poisoning injected in childhood vaccines during the first three years of their lives.
Thomas and Debbie O'Neal - the parents of Brandon O'Neal, 13, and Laura Miller, mother of Andrew Miller, 9, and Sarah Miller, 7 - filed separate suits on behalf of each child against seven companies which made and distributed vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative found in children's vaccines.
The suits also accuse 10 additional unnamed companies of negligently contributing to their children's illnesses and two Stuart paediatricians who administered their children's vaccines.
A Miami attorney, Steven Savola, who has filed similar suits for parents in Miami-Dade County, is representing the O'Neals and Miller in the suits filed in Martin Circuit Court.
In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a notice to its members recommending thimerosal-free vaccines in light of concerns that the mercury was hazardous to infants' health, Savola said. Manufacturers had stopped putting mercury in vaccines in 2000, he said.
The Martin County suits accused the companies - including Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, Smithkline Beecham Corp., Merck & Co., Spectrum Laboratory Products and Eli Lilly and Co. - of failing to warn parents that the mercury-laden products could injure their children.
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Law : SCHOOL DISTRICT 'DID NOT VIOLATE TEASED AUTISTIC BOY'S RIGHTS'
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (15:34:35)
USA - Associated Press, 09/09/2003
A federal appeals court has affirmed a judge's finding that the Federal Way School District did not violate the rights of a six-year-old autistic boy by failing to put a stop to merciless teasing from other children.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the staff at Mark Twain Elementary School had had no meaningful chance to correct the problem because the boy's parents had pulled him out of kindergarten just five days after seeing other kids mock and malign him.
Bob Millen, president of the Federal Way School Board, said that last week's ruling would not weaken the district's strong commitment to prevent harassment. "Our policies can always be more stringent than the law," he said.
The September 2 ruling means that the district will not have to repay the parents of the boy, identified in court papers only as M.L., for private school costs.
Jim Lobsenz, the attorney for the boy's parents, said on September 8 that he had not yet decided whether to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court.
Bill Dusseault, a Seattle attorney and special-education expert, said that the decision set a poor standard for schools throughout Washington. "It tells the district in this case that it was OK for one group of kids to pick on another kid. That should never be OK," Dusseault said. "It tells the other students that it is acceptable to tease students who are different."
However, a Seattle University law professor, Jim Rosenfeld, said he thought the ruling would not have much of an impact. "I don't think it establishes any standard," he said, noting the lack of evidence that the teasing had actually harmed the Federal Way boy.
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Law : GRANDMOTHER LAUNCHES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST MMR VACCINE MANUFACTURER
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Posted by sylvia on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 (14:03:58)
London UK - Evening Standard, 26/08/2003
A British grandmother has launched a legal action against a drugs company, claiming the combined MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine has ruined her grandson's life.
Kieran Doyle had the triple injection seven years ago, when he was two. His grandmother, Dorothy Sawyer, claims he now faces a life of autism and learning difficulties. She has issued a writ against United States drugs giant, Merck and Co., claiming damages of at least £50,000 which she wants to put into a trust fund for his future.
The case, lodged at the High Court in London, accuses the company of causing personal injury to the boy under the Supreme Court Act of 1981. Kieran's family claim that within months of the vaccination he turned from a happy, normal boy into a subdued child, reluctant to make eye contact.
He now attends a special school in Portsmouth and needs constant care for learning difficulties, a speech and language disorder - dyspraxia - which affects his perception, and autistic symptoms.
Mrs Sawyer, who shares care of Kieran with his father, said: "It built up slowly, and at pre-school you began to notice his behaviour gradually becoming obsessive and repetitive."
She believes the triple vaccine, following his earlier jab against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, overloaded a system already weakened by allergies and stomach upsets.
Once Kieran was diagnosed, Mrs Sawyer started research into the MMR jab and its possible effects as well as seeking legal advice. "Something clearly happened which just stopped his development, and I believe the MMR jab was responsible," she said. "If we can prove the case, it would stop this happening to anyone else. We have tried to get answers, but if it means going to court, David taking on Goliath, then so be it."
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