September 9, 2010 2:14 PM

Family to Receive $1.5M+ in First-Ever Vaccine-Autism Court Award

By
Sharyl Attkisson
Topics
News

Nine-year-old Hannah Poling is shown. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, John Spink)

The first court award in a vaccine-autism claim is a big one. CBS News has learned the family of Hannah Poling will receive more than $1.5 million dollars for her life care; lost earnings; and pain and suffering for the first year alone.

In addition to the first year, the family will receive more than $500,000 per year to pay for Hannah's care. Those familiar with the case believe the compensation could easily amount to $20 million over the child's lifetime.

Hannah was described as normal, happy and precocious in her first 18 months.

Then, in July 2000, she was vaccinated against nine diseases in one doctor's visit: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, varicella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae.

Afterward, her health declined rapidly. She developed high fevers, stopped eating, didn't respond when spoken to, began showing signs of autism, and began having screaming fits. In 2002, Hannah's parents filed an autism claim in federal vaccine court. Five years later, the government settled the case before trial and had it sealed. It's taken more than two years for both sides to agree on how much Hannah will be compensated for her injuries.

Read Sharyl Attkisson's 2008 report on Hannah Poling

In acknowledging Hannah's injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder Hannah had which didn't "cause" her autism, but "resulted" in it. It's unknown how many other children have similar undiagnosed mitochondrial disorder. All other autism "test cases" have been defeated at trial. Approximately 4,800 are awaiting disposition in federal vaccine court.

Time Magazine summed up the relevance of the Poling case in 2008: ...(T)here's no denying that the court's decision to award damages to the Poling family puts a chink -- a question mark -- in what had been an unqualified defense of vaccine safety with regard to autism. If Hannah Poling had an underlying condition that made her vulnerable to being harmed by vaccines, it stands to reason that other children might also have such vulnerabilities."

Then-director of the Centers for Disease Control Julie Gerberding (who is now President of Merck Vaccines) stated: "The government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism. This does not represent anything other than a very specific situation and a very sad situation as far as the family of the affected child."

Read the newly-released decision on Hannah Poling's compensation.


  • Sharyl Attkisson

    Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News investigative correspondent based in Washington. All of her stories, videos and blogs are available here.

Add a Comment See all 224 Comments
by posys September 24, 2010 10:11 AM EDT
For those MERCURY DENIERs still WAY OUT there in flatland, who deny the role of MERCURY in obliterating & destroying human lives, this account is for you to please consider, one full of deceit and betrayal by the medical and dental "industries" both @ the leadership and practitioner levels that has become so rampant, so ubiquitous throughout the land leaving scattered wreckage and destroyed lives affecting everyone, especially the children either directly, or indirectly through the maiming of their parents, protectors, guardians, this must end, there is no cause more sacred http://MERCURYJUSTICE.ORG as this cause is the cause of all other symptoms & suffering literally, by design !!!! and would single handedly eliminate the vast majority of ALL other social ills, in one fell swoop when FINALLY ADDRESSED. We can wait no longer, act now !!


Running into the Light and then Through the Darkness:


In 1968, as a sixteen year old high school junior, Carolyn Walker ran her first and only Marathon, at the Oregon seacoast on a stormy day with 40 mph wind gusts. Her winning time broke the women's world record. Going on to college at the University of Oregon, she excelled as a student while also competing in world championship cross country races. Steve Prefontaine, Oregon's distance running legend, became her coach.


But, in her college senior year, something changed it all. She began having trouble concentrating and passing her tests. She would black out before finishing her cross country races and soon had to drop out of competitive running. She dropped out of college without finishing senior year and graduating. Only FIFTEEN YEARS LATER did she realize that the TWENTY DENTAL MERCURY FILLINGS placed in her senior year had poisoned her. In our interview, Caroline Walker tells of her struggle, her breakthroughs, and what her life is like today. SEE CAROLINE WALKER STORY, PAGE 12 of the AUGUST 2010 Issue of "DENTAL TRUTH"


http://DENTALTRUTH.ORG


Call 651-644-4572 and ask for LEO CASHMAN who can send you out a copy of this publication, with the rest of the CAROLINE's STORY which is particularly illustrative as she was very high functioning world class athlete and scholar BEFORE she received TWENTY MERCURY LADEN FILLINGS, essentially permantely installed mercury "lozenges", and then dropped off the face of the earth into a hell so vicious, that you simply must read the rest of her story to even begin to feel her suffering, like millions of others personal stories you do not know, perhaps not unlike your own, may you not be so unfortunate.
Reply to this comment
by jsarah130 September 22, 2010 4:23 PM EDT
pertussis causes an average of 25 under 5 deaths per year in the US. take a look at the fine print on the CDC website before losing your minds over 7 deaths in CA. The only reason there is a media scare going on is because 1. there is a vaccine available for a new, relatively untapped market (adults and teens, you are killing babies, better get vaccinated even though you have always been carrying this bug - we just wouldn't admit it and we still can't say vaccinating prevents transmission!!), and 2. measles is having a low cycle this year.

vaccines can and do cause autism. Just because every pharma-funded study has the conclusion written before the study begins, doesn't make it real science.
Reply to this comment
by posys September 22, 2010 10:22 PM EDT
Great points Sarah, just check out Scott Reuben's 13 years of fake studies, we CANNOT trust them:

- http://www.naturalnews.com/028194_Scott_Reuben_research_fraud.html

and this gem: http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F1EF9A81F9506751

Besides how do we know they did not just make up these statistics in CA to fear-monger people into getting injected with their unknown concoctions ?

They could easily do this, make up the numbers, hiding behind "confidentiality" ploys where it benefits them, just as they use so called "trade-secrecy" to prevent ANYONE from knowing what is REALLY in their NAZI DEATH CAMP Engineered Concoctions they POISON the public with:

- http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/rockefeller.html
- http://******/MedicineMen

Worse yet, how do we know they did not intentionally infect people as was done in the past with Smallpox infected blankets given as "gifts" to indigenous populations to reduce their numbers, or the Fort Dix "Swine Flu" "outbreak" of 1976 as exposed on 60 minutes:

- http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E6EF57B0AB55675D


http://MercuryJustice.org
by theorigprobe September 28, 2010 1:54 PM EDT
You are playing with numbers in such a poor manner that you are easily caught. Assuming your claim is correct, i.e. that there are 5 deaths in the US per year as a result of pertussis, California is reporting 9 deaths in three months due to pertusssis. The increase is quite dramatric, when you consider all the facts, not just the cherry picked ones. As for the vaccine for the more mature, the fact is, even having pertussis does not confer life long immunity. Infected mature people are the disease vector for those children who are too young to be vaccinated.

And, every study, regardless of who funds it, does not conclude as yu claim. That is like saying that your mind is made up before you read new information. OOPS! It is obvious that you did.


NOTE TO THE CBS/SHARYLL ATKISSON CENSORS: Grow up, honor the First Amendment, and be thankful YOU can post your garbage.
by posys September 21, 2010 4:08 PM EDT
Despite all the desperate harangues and "whitewash" studies listed below by the Neo-FlatEarther-GeoCentrists, i.e. todays version, the MERCURY DENIERS, their emotional appeals to FUD fear uncertainty and doubt, to get you to massively inject yourself and children @ birth with unknown just-trust-us substances, know that no study is necessary to tell you the Sun is up in the Day, and that MERCURY CAUSES SEVERE NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE and AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE, not some of the time, but every time over time.

This is something we have known for centuries, just as everyone always knew slavery was wrong, that smoking was deadly despite TOBACCO SCIENCE telling us we just did not know what we are talking about, or the EUGENICISTs still insisting that SLAVERY really is justified, or if not, that certain races of people really are weeds and unnecessary then if we cannot use them as slaves, so there, as they pout, why cant we just kill them, they are only 3/5 human anyway, that is what it still says in our Constitution, right ?

All the information showing the undeniable SCIENCE linking MERCURY to MISERY as well as links to others, can be found here:

- http://MERCURYJUSTICE.ORG

including this video which will walk you through many very important studies that you can pull up for yourself:

Blockbuster Expose of Global Eugenics via Mercury Agenda with STUDIES

- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6890106663412840646#

RFK's suppressed Speech exposing CDC coverup of Mercury Vaccines & Autism with STUDIES:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Af0ar7gE4
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ysbUM5jk54

Of course the MERCURY DENIERS will say only their science is real, and that only their "special" extra-judicial courts presided over by "special MASTERS" matter, Courts of FACT, not law, hence extra-judicial, outside of law, i.e. OUTLAW Courts, which are precisely constituted on the basis that it is already decided upon before hand, i.e. just your presence in this species of court tacitly indicates you agree that the facts are already decided, that MERCURY is NOT the CAUSE, similar to how "tax" courts, also presume guilt, and only question how much is owed, what would you expect them to say after they have maimed and killed millions ?

Remember the Warren & 911 Commissions are also official lies, just like all the NAZI DEATH CAMP BipPigPharma NEXUS Deniers, they are all covering for something.

These Biostitutes and Captured Agencies will say anything but the truth to hide the truth.

No one can convince you, you must convince yourself.

For those who say the truth cannot be known, i.e. the obfuscators and FUDists, the MERCURY DENIERS, who say we do not know the cause of all this mayhem, yet we are 100% certain it is not X, i.e. they want it both ways, consider the following:

Truth must exist, for those who deny it, cannot speak it in their denial of it, it is just not possible from any number of perspectives, all true.

If as they say truth does not exist, how do we know that that statement is true, according to them it cannot be, therefore of course truth exists.

Be well friends, this fraud will fall just as all others have, and with your advocation of the truth, it will fall sooner, as the truth is that powerful, it is enough.

For latest in covert religion posing as Pseudo-Science please read:
http://TeamInfinity.com/COMMUNICAE-Building-a-Religion.shtml
Reply to this comment
by RickK101 September 20, 2010 10:46 PM EDT
For those that prefer hard data over hype and emotion, here are some useful references:

California study: "The DDS data do not support the hypothesis that exposure to thimerosal during childhood is a primary cause of autism."
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/65/1/19

Independent testing of Wakefield's MMR/autism hypothesis - test failed to support Wakefield's conclusions. Has links to several other supporting studies:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145218.htm

Italian study looking at kids who received different levels of thimerosal, comparing their brain development 10 years later.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/475

Danish study of 440,000 kids who got MMR and 97,000 who didn't. No significant different in autism and ASD rates.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa021134#t=abstract

Japanese study to see if switching from MMR to single-dose vaccines affected autism rates. It didn't.
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/Vaccines/noMMR.html

Montreal study of 27,000 children actually found somewhat LOWER rates of developmental disorders in the children exposed to thimerosal.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818529

2010 Detailed study of 250 ASD kids versus 750 controls. No relationship between ethyl mercury exposure and ASD:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837594

Comprehensive list of science-based resources on vaccines and autism:
http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/vaccines-and-autism/
Reply to this comment
by DrTharnish November 18, 2010 10:44 PM EST
Many of your resources listed are for limited vaccines and not the numerous ones our government recommends/pushes for U.S. children. Studies done outside of this country aren't as valid as a result. In those countries children aren't being exposed to as much as in this country. It's easy to find documentation to support your view in this debate, but much harder to look at all the information objectively. Be careful of slinging "hard data" around.
by mystic71-2009 September 18, 2010 9:47 AM EDT
"First, the Armenian Genocide was perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and the Kurds. Last time I checked, they were not Jewish" (theorigprobe)

The Holocaust of Armenian Christians was perpetrated by crypto Jews of the Ottoman Empire (the Donmeh),who still dominate the military of present day Turkey. Every attempt has been made tp deny that these Jews perpetrated the Holocaust, but save for the Turkish government, a few American academics holding professorships funded by Turkey and the shameful denials of the Israeli government, there is today not a soul who doubts the nature or the extent of this genocide. Even in the 1920s,Winston Churchill himself called it a "holocaust". The hypocrisy of Israel being apoplectic about deniers of the Holocaust of the Jews in WWII while they themselves still deny the Jewish perpetration of the Armenians is astounding.By denying the Armenian Genocide, Israel morally undermines its own credibility and standing in the world.

http://groong.usc.edu/fisk3.html
http://www.jewishracism.com/Jewish_Genocide_Enlarged.pdf
Reply to this comment
by Torren1 September 18, 2010 12:22 AM EDT
While I posted much of this below, I believe it may be buried, so I am adding it again here. Apologies if you are annoyed at seeing it twice.

If I may add an observation/suspicion, I believe we are seeing a lot of posters here who have autistic children. Of course, as a parent you are struggling, and wish the very best for your children, and with that drive, you seek answers for what caused the problem, because often, unless you know the cause, its hard to know the cure.

Unfortunately, to be brutally honest, the scientific community really doesn't have a firm understanding of what causes autism, not yet anyway. So searching for your answers, you will not find reliable answers. However, you will still find answers, its just, they are all unreliable at this point. But they are something, and that helps people cope... but alas, it actually ends up hurting the very cause you are working towards: to find a cure or a path to a better life for your children and a way of ensuring others don't have the health problems your children are suffering through.

We are actually all on the same side. Its just that the side of factual research has no good answers at this time for you. It can rule out causes in very precise and accurate ways. It has without a doubt ruled out an autism/vaccination link, but it has not figured out what IS the cause yet. Meanwhile, there are misconceptions parading as truth, and as they are the only store in town offering answers, they tend to draw a crowd.

Please consider this, everyone on both sides of this issue.
Reply to this comment
by RickK101 September 18, 2010 12:04 AM EDT
This whole discussion has been hijacked by crazy talk about secret conspiracies and Nazi death camps, and raging emotional appeals.

But we're still talking about kids.

Kids are being diagnosed with autism. And kids are dying from vaccine-preventable diseases. So we, the adults, are DOING IT WRONG.

Let's turn down the emotion. If you want to find the truth in a courtroom trial, you examine the evidence. If you want to discover how something works in the natural world, you examine the evidence and do experiments.

The evidence shows no link between vaccines and autism in study after study.

The evidence shows that yes, vaccines are not 100% safe. No medical treatment is 100% safe. But children die from the diseases that our vaccines prevent, so we as a society must take the course of action that minimizes suffering and death of children.

Does that mean we should be satisfied with the current vaccines and not bother to find ways to make them safer? Of course not - NOBODY is saying that. Hannah Poling and others who've had severe reactions to vaccines should prompt investigations in to the details. Maybe we need a test for mitochondrial disorders before vaccines are given. Maybe that will further reduce an already small risk.

But just declaring that vaccines are evil WILL do more harm than good.

And it is supremely irresponsible to advocate strongly that "vaccines are causing the autism epidemic". The data raises serious questions as to whether there IS an epidemic. And there is now enormous amounts of data to indicate there is no link between vaccines and autism.

Whoever you are, your position on this issue is not important. What is important is not winning a blog argument. What is important is using the evidence to find the truth, and then using that truth to do the best we can for our children.

This is the most comprehensive single link I've found for original studies and original data. If you scroll down to "Summary of Key Research", you'll find the conclusions of scores of studies - pages and pages of real data, all of which can be confirmed on PubMed or in the original publications.
http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/vaccines-and-autism/

This is the real deal, folks. If you ignore this kind of information, then you're just here to emote and argue, and you're not really committed to doing what's right for our kids.
Reply to this comment
by mystic71-2009 September 17, 2010 10:09 PM EDT
"I am deeply offended at your repetitive use of the Holocaust"
(theorigprobe)

I am confused: Are you referring to the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis or the holocaust of the Palestinians and Armenians by the Jews? Is one OK but the other not? Please elucidate.
Reply to this comment
by notgivingup September 17, 2010 3:35 PM EDT
Wow it is sad how closed minded you are... Jenny McCarthy told her story - from her paoint of view and shared how she helped her son - and not she is to blame for 7 children dying in CA - I can't believe you really said that....
Reply to this comment
by posys September 21, 2010 10:45 PM EDT
Agree with you, that was incredibly mean spirited thing to say, just showing how emotional this issue has been ramped up to be by the fear-mongers, both the well meaning ones and their controllers/manipulators, Josef Goebbels style, still works apparently.

Just how do we know the pro-maim-&-kill-shot architects, not their kind yet clueless-to-the-big-pic-and-history supporters, are not behind this outbreak to drum up support for their agenda, just how can we know ?

How do we even know what the real numbers are when they control all the information as well as the ingredients in the vaccines !!!, and could be lying to us, never mind the FACT that they have never proven there is even ONE vaccine preventable disease, thats right not even ONE !!! As hard as this may be to accept, it is true, you must see the box they created, like alice in wonderland, everything is true in the book itself, but not in the real world.

It is all bluster and fear mongering, but we do know the HOLOCAUST did happen, this much we do know, and STALIN and MAO, and many others, this we know for sure.

We know for sure that otherwise reasonable people were easily convinced, including "scientists" to load men women and children in ovens ALIVE and conduct some of the most hienous "medical experiments" on them, i.e. that ROCKEFELLER actually funded NOTORIOUS NAZI "doctor" Josef Mengele's ghastly twins studies to differenitate genetic vs. environment issues, we know this thanks to Edwin Black's book "War Against the Weak", the National Archives, etc etc.

- http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html
- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9014940408212321489#

How can we just "trust" them, especially considering the NAZI DEATH CAMPS Architects & Deal Makers & their like-minded descendants and replacements were NEVER brought to justice, only their prepositioned fall guys like HITLER were, by design.

We KNOW for a fact that this sort of wicked highly organized "behavior" is possible, it just happened recently in NAZI GERMANY less than 2 generations ago as the test bed for BigPharma !!! There is no separating the two BigPharma = NAZI Medical Experimentation for population control, exploitation, obscene profits.

That is where they began and it is one smooth uninterrupted continuum from there to today, and people's health was never a concern @ the architecture level, oh contraire just the opposite, there is no money in healthy people, vaccines are to get you into the system, and everything else is to "manage" the diseases they gave you via the vaccine that bypassed and destroyed your immune system, it really is that simple.

Stop arguing inside the box, they have nothing good to offer you, nothing. You have to be outside the box to see the box.

Thanks for the great points you have made.

http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/rockefeller.html

http://******/MedicineMen

http://www.autismhelpforyou.com/HG%20IN%20VACCINES%20-%20Simpsonwood%20-%20Internet%20File.pdf

http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nssm/nssm_200.pdf

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6890106663412840646#

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PCAAB500.pdf

http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F1EF9A81F9506751 <-WHISTLE-BLOWER

http://www.naturalnews.com/028194_Scott_Reuben_research_fraud.html

http://www.stephenallen.org.uk/mercury%20article%20for%20CAM.pdf

it goes on and on, be well, get the truth out, that is all you need do, it is that powerful and good enough for everyone, we all deserve the whole healing truth.
by RickK101 September 16, 2010 11:53 AM EDT
Do vaccines cause autism?
---------------------

Some parents claim they do. But there are many many studies that show no link between vaccines and autism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy#Recent_studies

Also, many parents have stopped vaccinating, or are vaccinating less over the past 10 years
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immunization29-2009mar29,0,3148179.story

but the rate at which autism is diagnosed is still climbing, unchanged:
http://www.fightingautism.org/idea/autism.php

If autism was caused by vaccines, and if many parents (as many as 40% in some wealthy California districts) are choosing to not vaccinate, shouldn't we see SOME change in the rate of autism diagnosis?

Also, there is very strong evidence that autism is genetic:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-autism29-2009apr29,0,4441598.story


Is there an autism epidemic?
-----------------------

It sure seems like it, doesn't it? You never used to hear about it, then came Rain Man, then came Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, Larry King and Oprah, and now everyone knows an autistic kid.

So if autism is rising, all things being equal, then we should see more kids applying for special education assistance in school, right?

But we don't. We see about the same number (as a % of population) getting special attention in school that we saw 10 years ago. But more of them are diagnosed as having "autism spectrum disorder" and fewer are diagnosed with other disorders.
http://www.autismstreet.org/weblog/?p=297

Also, what constitutes "autism" has changed dramatically as each generation of DSM has been updated. And remember, before the ADA and IDEA acts, schools didn't have an obligation to accommodate kids with severe learning disabilities. So autistic kids would be less visible in the community.

When you apply today's diagnostic criteria to adult populations, you find about the same rate of autism that we see in children. In other words, the rate of ACTUAL autism hasn't changed much.
http://***********/lx8auq

Whether the actual rate of autism has changed at all is still a very good and important question. But it is clear that the media has really overblown the "autism epidemic".


How did this vaccine-autism thing start?
----------------
In 1998 Dr. Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free Hospital in England concluded, based on a study of 12 kids, that there was a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Since then, it has been learned that:

what he said about the kids medical histories was not true;
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece

10 of the 12 doctors who co-authored the study removed their names from the study and published a retraction saying: "We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between MMR vaccine and autism as the data were insufficient.";
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_enterocolitis#.22Retraction_of_an_interpretation.22

While they were criticizing the MMR vaccine, Wakefield and the Royal Free Hospital were filing patent applications for an ALTERNATIVE VACCINE!
http://briandeer.com/wakefield/vaccine-patent.htm

In addition, Wakefield was paid by lawyers who made their money filing claims of autism damage.

The Lancet medical journal has now fully retracted Wakefield, and he now faces professional misconduct charges.

Yes, Wakefield is charismatic. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that his results have not been repeated, his data was flawed, and he had multiple personal financial incentives to find the conclusions he published. This is a bad guy.



Is it really possible that this is all just hype??
-------------------------------------------

Over the past 6 years, Americans convinced themselves that (1) it was just fine to give mortgages to people who had no down payment and no income; and (2) these mortgages became valuable assets when repackaged and sold by banks.

The entire premise is absurd, yet we ALL fell for it, and our economy fell into shambles.

Yes, it's possible for people to get fooled by hype, fooled in MASSIVE numbers. We're in a period where science=unnatural=bad. After all, sticking a needle into a baby seems grossly unnatural, and unnatural is bad, right? So blaming vaccines for SOMETHING just feels right.

But that is bad logic. Diseases are all natural, and they are bad. Very bad.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010978.html

If you want a good site to link, try this:
http://antiantivax.jottit.com/


Humans realized long ago that they could be fooled, and they started coming up with ways to keep from being fooled. That's where the scientific method, and controlled, blinded studies came from - a desire to not be fooled.


Comprehensive list of evidence against vaccine/autism link, including relevant studies:
http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/vaccines-and-autism/
Reply to this comment
by sschigirl September 16, 2010 8:11 PM EDT
Well stated. I am so sick of the hype. We can thank Jenny McCarthy for the return of whooping cough which killed 7 infants in CA this summer.
by jncmom0710 September 16, 2010 10:12 PM EDT
RickK101... THANK YOU for your clear, rant-free, post!!!! You have argued the case better than I EVER could have! If everyone posted as intelligently as you, maybe we could actually hear what is being said instead of assuming we heard and trying to come up with a better sound-byte than the next guy! All your posts here are RIGHT ON! Thank you!
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