But more to the point, a fund not only exists to compensate those injured by vaccines, but it is regularly needed. In fact, one report from May 2015 said the federal Injury Compensation Program, which most people do not know exists, had more than $3.5 billion in it.
And a 13-year-old boy who was permanently disabled by a chicken pox vaccine will soon be compensated by the fund.
As reported VacTruth, it took a number of years but a young claimant known only as “RD” due to his young age was recently awarded compensation in the United States Court of Federal Claims Vaccine Court after sustaining injuries following the administration of the hepatitis A and varicella (chicken pox) vaccines in 2009.
After five years of litigation, the federal Health and Human Services—which is always the respondent in such cases because it is the agency that manages the vaccine injury fund—finally conceded that RD’s injuries were caused by the varicella vaccine, which left him stricken with traverse myelitis, leaving him a tetraplegic (also known as quadriplegic, the partial or total loss of use of all four extremities and the torso).
In November 2014, HHS attorneys conceded that the vaccination caused the young boy’s injuries, though even with the concession the case dragged on another year while the court decided the damages that would be awarded. During that period, VacTruth noted, both parties continue to haggle over the award amount for RD. He was eventually compensated, but it’s a monetary award that will never fully compensate him for the lifetime of suffering and debilitation he will experience due to his vaccine injury.
At the time of his injury, RD was just 13 years old. During a routine well-child visit in 2009, his doctor told his parents RD would be receiving the hep A and chickenpox vaccines. His parents complied and allowed the shots to be given.
His mother would later report that, at the time of those vaccines, her son had already received one dose of the varicella vaccine, which was all that was required. It wasn’t clear why his physician believed that another dose was warranted, but the vaccine court eventually ruled that the second dose caused the boy’s horrific injuries. VacTruth reported that his parents were not aware at the time that a second chickenpox dose was not required.
About two weeks later, the report said, the boy began experiencing a great deal of pain shooting throughout his body, accompanied by numbness and tingling, with some paralysis, of his limbs. Following extensive testing and a number of invasive procedures, doctors determined that RD was suffering from transverse myelitis, an inflammation of both sides of a section of the spinal cord.
At some point following the diagnosis and the realization that their son did not need two doses of the varicella vaccine, RD’s parents filed a case in the vaccine court, beginning the five-year legal odyssey in which the HHS appeared to do all in its power to keep from having to compensate a suffering patient who was so obviously injured by a vaccine.
In its ruling, the court found that “a preponderance of evidence establishes that petitioner’s transverse myelitis was caused-in-fact by the administration of his August 12, 2009 varicella vaccine,” as cited by VacTruth.
“The injuries that RD suffered from this vaccine are severe and lifelong. Even though he has received a significant award as far as the awards in the Vaccine Court go, no amount of money will ever compensate him for what he has lost,” said the boy’s attorney, Patricia Finn.
“But RD is an amazing young man who has not let this injury stop him in any way. He has graduated high school with his class, attends a Tier 1 college, and has great aspirations that I know he will achieve despite the challenges he faces because of his injuries,” she added.
Still, while the outcome was favorable for RD and his parents, it appears to have been a long time in coming—far too long, in fact
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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