US Gov't Asks Court to Seal Vaccine Records

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US Gov't Asks Court to Seal Vaccine Records

 

 

> Reuters, 26 Nov 2002

>

> US Government Asks Court to Seal Vaccine Records

> Tue November 26, 2002 10:47 AM ET

>

> By Todd Zwillich

>

> WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Attorneys for the Bush Administration asked

a

> federal court on Monday to order that documents on hundreds of cases of

> autism allegedly caused by childhood vaccines be kept from the public.

>

> Department of Justice lawyers asked a special master in the US Court of

> Federal Claims to seal the documents, arguing that allowing their

automatic

> disclosure would take away the right of federal agencies to decide when

and

> how the material should be released.

>

> Attorneys for the families of hundreds of autistic children charged that

the

> government was trying to keep the information out of civil courts, where

> juries might be convinced to award large judgments against vaccine

> manufacturers.

>

> The court is currently hearing approximately 1,000 claims brought by the

> families of autistic children. The suits charge that the

> measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which until recently included a

> mercury-containing preservative known as thimerosal, can cause

neurological

> damage leading to autism.

>

> Federal law requires suits against vaccine makers to go before a special

> federal " vaccine court " before any civil lawsuit is allowed. The court was

> set up by Congress to speed compensation claims and to help protect

vaccine

> makers from having to pay large punitive awards decided by juries in state

> civil courts. Plaintiffs are free to take their cases to state courts if

they

> lose in the federal vaccine court or if they don't accept the court's

> judgment.

>

> The current 1,000 or so autism cases are unusual for the court. Because it

> received so many claims, much of the fact-finding and evidence-gathering

is

> going on for all of the cases as a block.

>

> Monday's request by the Bush Administration would prevent plaintiffs who

> later go to civil court from using some relevant evidence generated during

> the required vaccine court proceedings.

>

> Plaintiffs' attorneys said that the order amounted to punishment of the

> families of injured children because it would require them to incur the

time

> and expense of regenerating evidence for a civil suit.

>

> " Wouldn't it be a shame if at the end of the day our policy would be to

> compensate lawyers, " said Jeff Kim, an attorney with Gallagher Boland

> Meiburger & Brosnan. The firm represents about 400 families of autistic

> children who received the MMR vaccine.

>

> Kim accused the government of trying to lower " a shroud of secrecy over

these

> documents " in order to protect vaccine manufacturers, who he said were

" the

> only entities " that would benefit if the documents are sealed.

>

> While federal law clearly seals most documents generated in individual

> vaccine cases, it has never been applied to a block proceeding like the

one

> generating evidence in the autism cases.

>

> Administration lawyers told Special Master George Hastings that they

> requested the seal in order to preserve the legal right of the Secretary

of

> Health and Human Services to decide when vaccine evidence can be released

to

> the public.

>

> Justice Department attorney Vincent Matanoski argued that to let

plaintiffs

> use the vaccine court evidence in a later civil suit would confer an

> advantage on plaintiffs who chose to forgo federal compensation.

>

> " There is no secret here. What the petitioners are arguing for are

enhanced

> rights in a subsequent civil action, " Matanoski said of the plaintiffs.

> " They're still going to have unfettered use within the proceedings. "

>

> Hastings would not say when he would issue a ruling on whether to seal the

> court documents, but did say that his decision would be " very prompt. "

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

> US Gov't Asks Court to Seal Vaccine Records

 

I need a link to this. Thanks.

 

Victoria