Vaccine makers targeted in lawsuit
-
-
The case of Hannah Bruesewitz, 18, will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Russ and Robalee Bruesewitz use a use a DynaVox device to help communicate with daughter Hannah in their home in Mt. Lebanon.
Share with others:
On April 1, 1992, Hannah Bruesewitz was a healthy infant. She had reached all of her developmental milestones for a 6-month-old, and that morning went to get her third round of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine.
That afternoon, as Hannah sat in her seat watching her mom fix lunch, the little girl startled, and her entire body stiffened.
"I didn't realize it was a seizure at first," said Robalee Bruesewitz, of Mt. Lebanon. "Her arms would shoot out, and she would look through me."
During one episode late in the afternoon, her mother knew something was terribly wrong.
"Within minutes, she let out this horrific scream. She stiffened and turned blue."
Hannah was rushed to the hospital, but doctors couldn't help her.
"The seizures continued and continued and continued," Mrs. Bruesewitz said. "Nothing could stop them for an entire week."
Over 16 days, the previously healthy infant had 125 seizures.
Instead of getting better, Hannah progressively worsened, to the point where -- now at age 18 -- she is completely non-verbal and needs 24-hour care.
After years spent unsuccessfully fighting in a federal administrative court to recover compensation for what they believe are vaccine-related injuries, the Bruesewitz family turned to the civil court system.
They filed a lawsuit against Wyeth Inc., the DTP manufacturer responsible for Hannah's injection, but the suit was thrown out in federal court.
Last year, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision. But in March, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
It will be argued Tuesday.
At the center of the debate is whether the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 -- created to help shield vaccine makers from costly lawsuits, while at the same time providing compensation to children who suffered severe side effects from vaccines -- precludes civil litigation against vaccine manufacturers.
Under the act, a manufacturer cannot be held liable for design defects "if the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings."
Wyeth argues that the passage clearly absolves them from civil liability.
But the Bruesewitz family argues that the preclusion turns on the word "unavoidable," in the act.
First Published October 11, 2010 12:00 am
