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View Full Version : Supreme Court Rules Against Parents In Vaccine Case, You Cannot Sue .Gov or Big Pharma




HOLLYWOOD
02-26-2011, 09:07 AM
Supreme Court creating policy again? You Betcha. Free and Informed consent?

You cannot sue the US Government or Big Pharmaceutical...what this basically states in a ruling, families that believed they received defectively designed vaccines, can no longer go to a civil court or any court in the country to sue. 100's if not 1000's of vaccine related court cases can now be thrown out. Reminds me of Obama/Eric Holder 2009 policies with the FISA Act and you can no longer sue the government or corporate entities that secretly spy on you illegally. The only place for families to go is to the government vaccine compensation program.

Supreme Court rules against parents in vaccine case (Thimerosal)

Voting 6-2 in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth to uphold a law that protects vaccine manufacturers

http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/supreme-court-rules-against-parents-in-vaccine-case/article/196960/

The Supreme Court voted 6-2 in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth (http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/supreme-court-debates-vaccine-injury-case/article/181093/) to uphold a law that protects vaccine manufacturers from being sued for injuries that occur after routine childhood vaccination.
"Today's Supreme Court decision protects children by strengthening our national immunization system and ensuring that vaccines will continue to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in this country,” American Academy of Pediatrics President O. Marion Burton, MD, said in a statement. "Childhood vaccines are among the greatest medical breakthroughs of the last century.”
Instituted in 1986 the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act prevents the manufacturers of FDA-approved childhood vaccines from being sued by parents who argue that a given vaccine could have been designed differently to prevent injuries.
“[The Vaccine Act] reflects a sensible choice to leave complex epidemiological judgments about vaccine design to the FDA and the National Vaccine Program rather than juries,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scallia wrote in the decision of the Court.
A federally funded vaccine compensation program has existed since the Vaccine Act's inception to provide compensation for those who have suffered rare, but serious injuries from vaccines. Compensation may be rewarded without having to prove fault or defect with the administered vaccine.
The AAP, along with 21 other physician and public health organizations submitted amicus brief's supporting Wyeth, and noted that a ruling against the manufacturer could “precipitate the same crisis that Congress sought to avert in passing the Vaccine Act: ‘the very real possibility of vaccine shortages, and, in turn increasing numbers of unimmunized children, and, perhaps, a resurgence of preventable diseases.'”
Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ruth Bader dissented. In a dissent option, Sotomayor wrote that the ruling imposed the Justices' own "bare policy preference over the considered judgement of Congress," and in doing so “misconstrues the law and disturbs the careful balance Congress struck between compensating vaccine-injured children and stabilizing the childhood vaccine market."
Justice Elena Kagan abstained from voting, as she was involved with the case during her time with the Justice Department.
Although Bruesewitz v. Wyeth did not involve autism, the ruling may have important implications for hundreds of unrelated lawsuits file by parents that believe vaccines caused their child's autism, despite the lack of scientific link evidence and multiple court decisions that state that there is no link between the two.

Brett85
02-26-2011, 09:58 AM
I'm not sure what the correct ruling on this should've been. Many of these lawsuits are frivolous and lead to increased health care costs.

HOLLYWOOD
02-26-2011, 10:35 AM
I'm not sure what the correct ruling on this should've been. Many of these lawsuits are frivolous and lead to increased health care costs.
Yes it's a mixed bag and Thimerosal hasn't been directly proven to causing Autism. But then you have government agencies like the FDA stating allowable levels of heavy metals in foods like tuna fish, then issue warnings, which I think is just a ploy to immunize themselves from lawsuits/litigation. FDA puts an alert out for pregnant women, children restrict tuna fish intake, but if anyone eats a lot of tuna fish(more than one can), exceed all safety restriction standards. Same can go for mercury preservatives in immunizations which are mandated/forced upon all of us in I think something like a total of 70-100 shots during minor years.

Time will tell with Thimerosal being removed from immunization vaccines and more accurate diagnosis of Autism. The problem is the Supreme Court setting precedence BEFORE all the facts and trials are complete.

Anti Federalist
02-26-2011, 01:38 PM
I'm not sure what the correct ruling on this should've been. Many of these lawsuits are frivolous and lead to increased health care costs.

Well, it has to be one or the other.

In example after example, the free market solution to companies that have harmed you from a defective product, or polluted your land or what have you, is to sue.

Well, now it appears that you can't do that at least WRT vaccines.

And there are still some folks who think that vaccines should be mandatory.

erowe1
02-26-2011, 01:43 PM
“[The Vaccine Act] reflects a sensible choice to leave complex epidemiological judgments about vaccine design to the FDA and the National Vaccine Program rather than juries,” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scallia wrote in the decision of the Court.

I'd like to see things that frivolous lawsuits harder to pursue, and that cut down on emotion driven punitive damages against "greedy corporations."

But I'm really disappointed that Scalia would use that line. The FDA and National Vaccine Program shouldn't exist at all. And he must know it.

sailingaway
02-26-2011, 01:47 PM
That same provision is in Obamacare about not being able to sue the government for determinations about what should be covered. Sure was a boon to insurance companies to have that rationing issue taken off their shoulders....

Brett85
02-26-2011, 02:03 PM
I'd like to see things that frivolous lawsuits harder to pursue, and that cut down on emotion driven punitive damages against "greedy corporations."

But I'm really disappointed that Scalia would use that line. The FDA and National Vaccine Program shouldn't exist at all. And he must know it.

Unfortunately Scalia isn't as much of a limited government advocate as we would like him to be. Thomas is much better overall on the issues we care about.

TCE
02-26-2011, 02:04 PM
What goes on now is parents can sue in a "Vaccine Court" and if they win, the taxpayers pay the settlement. That is pure insanity. They don't give us money when they profit, but have to pay when they injure someone. Privatized gains, Socialized losses. This law should have been struck down in five seconds. I can't believe I agree with Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Sotomayor, but hey, a broken clock is right twice a day. This is all compounded by the fact that most state governments force kids to get vaccinated.

eduardo89
02-26-2011, 02:07 PM
Slightly off topic but has to do with vaccine lawsuits, this is an excellent episode of the Econtalk podcast series on the MMR vaccine scandal. I highly recommend it as with most of the Econtalk podcasts. They're by Russ Roberts of George mason university (an Austrian economist)

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/01/deer_on_autism.html#more

awake
02-26-2011, 02:14 PM
Vaccines (35 + by 6yrs) are always touted as the 'greater public good' , so it nearly always has a sympathetic leaning. They pull the 'mass disease outbreak / every one will die' card each and every time - a Hobbsian fallacy .

Don't let them fool you, the only people stupid enough to purchase these things in massive amounts are the government. That's why there is such a push to make them state provided and mandatory, they don't want the market to price these things. I'm sorry, but vaccines left to free market would be a much smaller money maker and possibly not sold at all. And, if I could add, there might be better ways than vaccines move to the forefront.

My curiosity lies here: Would these vaccines exist in a free market? (currently the sole buyer is the government) and in what amounts would they be bought. These are the critical questions; their answers would go along way to proving that they actually benefit anyone. The truth of the matter is being obstructed whether you are pro-vaccine or not.

TCE
02-26-2011, 06:27 PM
Vaccines (35 + by 6yrs) are always touted as the 'greater public good' , so it nearly always has a sympathetic leaning. They pull the 'mass disease outbreak / every one will die' card each and every time - a Hobbsian fallacy .

Don't let them fool you, the only people stupid enough to purchase these things in massive amounts are the government. That's why there is such a push to make them state provided and mandatory, they don't want the market to price these things. I'm sorry, but vaccines left to free market would be a much smaller money maker and possibly not sold at all. And, if I could add, there might be better ways than vaccines move to the forefront.

My curiosity lies here: Would these vaccines exist in a free market? (currently the sole buyer is the government) and in what amounts would they be bought. These are the critical questions; their answers would go along way to proving that they actually benefit anyone. The truth of the matter is being obstructed whether you are pro-vaccine or not.

Amazing, amazing post.