Senate Delays Action on Nullifying Suits

By LAURA MECKLER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Senate committee Wednesday abruptly dropped plans to move legislation nullifying hundreds of lawsuits claiming injury from childhood vaccines, raising questions about whether a bipartisan deal to move the bill was unraveling.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said action was being postponed because events in Iraq had pulled away Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a committee member and the bill's prime sponsor.

But Democrats said the postponement had more to do with objections lodged at the last minute by two of the four major manufacturers of vaccines.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who led negotiations for Democrats, said he was disappointed that the committee action was being postponed until after the upcoming Easter break.

"We have worked very hard to work out a compromise to the satisfaction of almost everyone here," Dodd said. "There may be some misunderstanding about what some of the provisions of the bill do."

Under the legislation, more than 200 lawsuits filed by families who believe their children were injured by vaccines would be sent instead to a special federal fund.

Senators led by Frist say these cases always were intended for the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, but lawyers had found a way to skirt the system.

The issue became contentious late last year when Republicans quietly slipped the change at the last minute into homeland security legislation. Under pressure, lawmakers undid the move in subsequent legislation, but vowed to try again this year using standard legislative procedures.

Childhood vaccines are safe for almost all children, but a small number are injured each year. Under current law, injured families must file claims first with the compensation fund, where cases are independently evaluated, before going to court. Average awards are just under $1 million.

If someone's claim is denied, or if the monetary award is considered unsatisfactory, a lawsuit may be filed in federal or state courts.

Some families have found a way to skip the compensation fund and go directly to court by claiming their children were harmed by a vaccine's ingredients, rather than by the vaccine itself.

Specifically, many contend their children's autism is caused by a preservative called thimerosal, which contains mercury and once was used in the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

The Institute of Medicine, which gives expert advice to Congress, reviewed the issue and said in 2001 it found no proof that autism is caused by the MMR vaccine or by thimerosal. The report did say a link between thimerosal and an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders is medically plausible.

In any case, Frist, a physician, argues that these cases should have gone through the compensation fund first, like other vaccine-related claims.

He said there are only two vaccine manufacturers in the United States and just four worldwide because vaccines produce so little profit. The threat of lawsuits will drive even more companies out of the business, he argued.

The bill improves the fund for families filing claims in several ways. It would increase maximum amounts available for pain and suffering from $250,000 to $350,000, increase the statute of limitations for filing claims from three years to six years after the onset of the injury and, for the first time, allow parents to file independent claims based on their children's suffering.

Under the deal reached late Tuesday with Dodd, Republicans agreed to give families a one-year window to enter the fund, even if they are outside the new, six-year deadline for filing claims. That includes those with court claims pending and those who never filed a case with a court or the fund.

A Democratic aide, who asked not to be identified, said that Merck and Wyeth, two of the four major vaccine manufacturers, opposed the compromise as being too generous to families. They wanted a stricter statute of limitations.

The aide added that lobbyists for vaccine manufacturer Aventis and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly supported the compromise. Lilly is the manufacturer of thimerosal and is facing several lawsuits that would be moved to the fund under this bill.

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is financed by a 75-cent fee on each childhood vaccine administered.

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On the Net: Compensation program: http://www.hrsa.gov/osp/vicp/fact(underscore)sheet.htm

2003-04-09     16:14:44 GMT