SO THERE ARE MORE HANNAH POLINGS WE JUST DON'T KNOW ABOUT? GOTCHA, JUDGE.

(Managing Editor's Note: Schafer Autism Report has just run this letter they received:)

We Were Compensated, too

      We were also compensated by the Federal Government in 2002.  Our child suffered the same diagnosis after her routine immunizations.  Encephalopathy with autistic like symptoms.  I am not sure why people think this is the first case?  Maybe they are just the first to go so public.  I wonder how many other families have been compensated for the exact same symptoms?  When we settled with the government I did not get the impression that we were that unique; quite the opposite as I spoke to the Special Master (the judge for the compensation program).  - Misty Hiatt  Read their story here.

By Dan Olmsted

Thanks to Michael Belkin for passing on this quite remarkable passage from an AP story (HERE) on the Poling settlement: "The case may not be a first," said Gary Golkiewicz, chief special master for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

He oversees the special 'vaccine court' which rules on requests for payments from the vaccine injury fund. 'Years ago, actually, I had a case, before we understood or knew the implications of autism, that the vaccine injured the child's brain caused an encephalopathy,' he said. And the symptoms that come with that 'all [fall?] within the broad rubric of autism.'

And there are other somewhat similar cases, Golkiewicz says, that were decided before autism and its symptoms were more clearly defined."

Two thoughts on that: We've known the symptoms of autism since exactly 1943. And since the vaccine court is known to be gruesomely stingy, it's quite some admission to say there were other, earlier cases. Maybe some of our befuddled colleagues in the mainstream media ought to find out more about those cases that, according to the top judge, resulted in brain injury and fall "within the broad rubric of autism."

It's also worth pointing out that the AP writers spin this comment into the following pay-no-attention lead: "ATLANTA - For those convinced that vaccines can cause autism, the sad case of a Georgia girl, daughter of a doctor and lawyer, seems like clear-cut evidence. The government has agreed to pay the girl's family for injury caused by vaccines. But it turns out it's not that simple — and maybe not even a first."

Meanwhile, my head is spinning from the illogic of the whole thing.

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[Laura]

What the heck good is the VAERS program if no neurologist admits that vaccines caused an "injury". Injury as we found out, means
that a rat bastard neurologist will claim that your child who was healthy at his well child appointment and then became deathly ill after vaccines is ruled as a coincidence. Yeah, those seizures, sleep movement disorders, encephalitis, bowel problems, sleep apnea,
trouble swallowing must have just been a strange coincidence. WTH??? Our son was not retarded and did not die, therefore no injury
was done to him, according to the neurologist. Our son is eight and still suffers from seizures. We have no epilepsy or autism in any of our families' histories--so the genetic link bullsh*t doesn't fly!
Has our son ever been looked at for mitochrondrial disorder that was worsened by vaccinations? Do we parents have to be doctors ourselves in order to prove that our kids were indeed damaged? The Polings' case surely had to have been pending more than three
years--the statute of limitations to file for injury is three years. We have suffered as a family and our son endured great pain that
I don't wish upon anyone. We are supposed to just forget what caused it and never be represented because of the time limit.

[Mary H.]

As a parent who chose NOT to vaccinate my children based on just the ingredients alone (in an insert label provided by a nurse friend), I am
appalled that parents I talk w/never ask to see what's in a shot, but instead transfer all responsibility to their doctors. As a young child in 1st grade, I had absolutely no allergies or asthma until I had a set of shots. Within months, I was allergic to most foods, animals, grass, dust, pollen, etc. I also had chronic asthma to go along w/food/pet reactions. As a teen, I had a reaction to the polio vaccine and almost died. You would have thought my parents could see the connection, but they were dissuaded by our family doctor that there was no relation.

I have and will always do whatever possible to safeguard my children's health and have become a self-educated advocate for the rights of parents NOT to vaccinate. The propaganda machine is alive and well, and too many people are like sheep and go along to get along. It's unfortunate, but true that many people realize, too late, that they should have done their homework and stood their ground re: the dangers of vaccines and choosing not to vaccinate their
children as a result. I come from a background of doctors and nurses, so you
can imagine the pressure to vaccinate my children. I stood fast to the knowledge I had, at the time, and chose to buck the system and safeguard my children's health against these vaccine zealots. I am glad I did as my children are now teens and are among the healthiest of children.

$91 million was paid out in compensation in 2007 to families of vaccine-injured children, many among them who died as a result. Close to $2 billion
since Congress enacted the Vaccine Injury Compensation Act in 1986, which
is just the tip of the iceberg in that the majority of vaccine injuries are
never documented w/only 1% finding relief through the courts.

And by the way, vaccines are NOT mandatory for school admittance, as the
school nurses and 'health' depts. would have you believe. Every state has
philosophical, medical and religious exemptions available, and you need to
know which of them, (or all), are allowed in your state. Know your rights,
or you don't have any. Stand for something, or fall for anything. Just say
'no' to vaccines.

[sophya_lauren]

The government should compensate EVERY family with a child that presents with any type of vaccine damage. EVERY FAMILY OF EVERY CHILD.

[Lindy]

My son is 17, became very obviously Autistic within DAYS of his 18 month vaccinations, diagnosed at age 22 months. Paul also lost ALL speech at the age of 3 within days of a tetanus shot.He still has no speech or academic skills, although a digital EEG revealed that at age 11 he had the brainwaves of a college educated adult.
The connection of vaccinations/autism was not made until 1998-99? My son was past the "statute of limitations". After speaking with Dr. Bradstreet during one of my son's appointments back then, I went home and dug out all of his baby pictures and realized that there INDEED was a definite difference within days of his 18 months vaccinations. I took alot of pictures when my kids were young,and always dated them. I made collages of "before and after" vaccinations, which as they say...photos tell it ALL. They are very compelling. I would like to send them to anyone interested to view. Please email me reverseautism@yahoo.com Lindy

[Bob Moffitt]

At one time, prior to 1999, these people may have been "guilty" of nothing worse than having "good intentions" go awfully awry. However,in the moments DURING that Simpsonwood meeting, those attending crossed the line between "correcting an honest mistake" and "conspiring to commit a crime" against humanity.

In other words, true justice will not prevail until the guilty stand before a federal judge, in federal criminal courts, prosecuted for violating the same RICCO laws that put organized crime families behind bars for decades.

[Jenny Webster]

Oh look, there is a leak in the dam... someone quick... go get some bubble gum!!

[Rob]

What about MY son?
Fifteen years ago, he was diagnosed with "static encephaelopathy" and "PDD" and we found out way, way too late about VAERS to file a claim (god knows our ped nor our neuro would ever share this with us). I suppose without pro-bono assistance (and a big bucket of money) to challenge the statute of limitations we're out of luck.

[timezup]

I get the feeling that when the 5000 cases are resolved there will be some triumphs and others tragically lost.
Even with any kind of sweep, this only covers the few that knew to apply during the short window provided by VICP.
We filed knowing we have a snowball's chance in hell but applied on principle that we had to contest this awful damage to our son.
No one wins here really, until the CDC has a reformed "childcentric" vaccine policy. Driven by safety standards and precaution.

[Gayatri]

"Comments made on Tele conference for media March 6th 2008 by CDC...Media availablility on Vaccine Safety
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/2008/t080307.htm"

Tim, thanks for this link above. I read it quickly and found that a Dr. Ed Trevathan has made a bunch of circuitous statements regarding the connection between mitochondrial disorders and autism. My son was given a diagnosis of PDD-NOS by this medical team of 8 or 9 people at Kaiser Permanente. We were subsequently treated to a limited number of sensory integration and speech sessions and my son was definitely echolalic, which we know is a hallmark of autism. After his 2003 regression accompanied by horrific seizure episodes, he continued to worsen and 2 years later, in 2005, was moved from an OHI (Other Health Impairment) status to an Autism (perceived mild by us and moderate by the school) categorization by the school's special education team. One thing definitely overlaps with and led to another, they are NOT separate entities.

In fact, if parents of kids with autism compare their lab test results with the characeristics of mitochondrial dysfunction, they will find that they all do indeed have the markers as per this Rossignol-Bradstreet paper here:

http://www.scipub.org/fulltext/ajbb/ajbb42208-217.pdf

As per Dr. Amy Yasko, methylation is impaired in autism and impacts the Krebs cycle through fumarate and the urea cycle through aspartate. Ammonia can impact fumarate levels negatively as well. Finally, you can have difficulty getting around the Krebs cycle because of a lack of ATP, NADH, or riboflavin. In fact if you take a look at this website below, all the supplements listed for mitochondrial disorder are the ones that the ASD population uses. The way I see it, every kid on the autism spectrum would be a candidate for mitochondrial dysfunction just by virtue of having the ASD diagnosis.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2003_Feb-March/ai_97994370/pg_4

[anon.]

You can't give life to Frankenstein's monster and expect it to stay downstairs.