Alleged Fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceedings

Have you heard about the alleged fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings?

Alleged by who?

Guess?

Alleged Fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceedings

Yup. The usual suspects.

Most folks remember that the Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceedings were a series of cases that were used to test theories that vaccines could contribute to or cause autism.

The conclusion?

Vaccines are not associated with autism.

So what’s the problem?

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chairman of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), and Rolf Hazlehurst, parent of a vaccine-injured child, petitioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Senate and House Judiciary Committees today to investigate actions taken by federal personnel during the “Vaccine Court” Omnibus Autism Proceedings (OAP).”

Kennedy and Hazlehurst claim to have evidence of “obstruction of justice and appallingly consequential fraud by two DOJ lawyers who represented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2007.”

What evidence?

Kennedy and Hazlehurst claim that “that the leading HHS expert, whose written report was used to deny compensation to over 5,000 petitioners in the OAP, provided clarification to the DOJ lawyers that vaccines could, in fact, cause autism in children with underlying and otherwise benign mitochondrial disorders.”

Who is this expert?

It is Andrew Zimmerman, MD, a pediatric neurologist.

There is also a claim that Dr. Zimmerman, along with Dr. Richard Kelley, who was also an expert witness in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceedings, served as expert witnesses in a medical malpractice case against a pediatrician who vaccinated a child, supposedly causing him to become autistic.

Which child?

Yates Hazlehurst, who was the second test case in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings.

Confused?

Dr. Zimmerman admits that there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, but also believes that there are some exceptions, and that vaccines can cause regressive autism in some kids with mitochondrial disorders.

Dr. Zimmerman also clarified that it is not just immunizations, but infections, fever, and other inflammatory responses that can lead to regressive autism.

And Dr. Zimmerman would have testified to it in the Cedillo case (the first test case in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings), if he had been allowed to.

Except that upon review of the Cedillo case, Dr. Zimmerman had concluded that “there is no evidence of an association between autism and the alleged reaction to MMR and Hg, and it is more likely than not, that there is a genetic basis for autism in this child.”

Apparently, he had changed his mind later, even though he continues to say that all evidence points to the fact that vaccines don’t cause autism.

“Dr. Zimmerman subsequently submitted a second expert opinion on behalf of Hannah Poling, which in effect states that she suffers autism as a result of a vaccine injury. The same government officials, who submitted and relied upon Dr. Zimmerman’s first expert opinion as evidence in the O.A.P., secretly conceded the case of Hannah Poling and placed it under seal so that the evidence in the case could not be used in the O.A.P. or known by the public.”

Memorandum Regarding Misconduct By The United States Department Of Justice And The United States Department Of Health And Human Services During The Omnibus Autism Proceeding As To The Expert Opinions Of Dr. Andrew Zimmerman

But what about the “second expert opinion” from Dr. Zimmerman?

According to Poling’s mother, “Dr. Zimmerman was not an expert nor was he asked to be an expert on Poling’s case. The government conceded her case before ANY opinion was rendered or given.”

What about Dr. Richard Kelley?

“As noted above, an important consideration for treatment of AMD is that “normal” inflammation can impair mitochondrial function. Although most infections cannot be avoided, certain measures can limit the risk of injury during infection or other causes of inflammation… We believe it is much better to immunize with DTaP than risk infection with highly inflammatory and potentially damaging community-acquired pertussis.”

Dr. Richard Kelley on Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Autism and Mitochondrial Disease

While he seems to believe that vaccines can trigger regressive autism in some kids with mitochondrial disease, he admits that other kinds of inflammation can do it too, including vaccine-preventable diseases.

“We believe it is much better to immunize with DTaP than risk infection with highly inflammatory and potentially damaging community-acquired pertussis.”

Andrew Zimmerman

And again, so does Dr. Zimmerman, to the point that in many cases, he thinks that even kids with mitochondrial disorders should be vaccinated.

“…the MMR vaccine has been temporally associated, if rarely, with regressions — with regression in AMD and other mitochondrial disease when given in the second year. Doubtless some of these regressions are coincidental, since the usual age for giving the MMR falls within the typical window of vulnerability for AMD regression.”

Andrew Zimmerman

If rarely associated…

Coincidental…

That doesn’t sound very convincing.

Although a lot of Dr. Zimmerman’s deposition makes it into J.B. Handley’s new autism book, what’s missing is that there were many other experts that testified against the idea that vaccines could be associated with autism during the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings and that their testimony and their reports were relied upon more than Zimmerman’s.

“The undersigned has reviewed and considered the filed reports from these experts and finds that the opinions of the experts lend support to the conclusions reached in this decision. In reaching the conclusions set forth in this decision, however, the undersigned relies more heavily on the testimony and reports of the experts who were observed and heard during the hearings.”

Hazlehurst v. Secretary of HHS

So where is the fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings?

Is it that the Poling case files have been kept under seal and hidden from public view?

“Finally, and perhaps for purposes of Rolf’s request that Poling’s records be released to the public, Jon and I have not allowed the release of Hxxxx’s records nor will we ever willingly allow third parties to tear apart her medical history which includes other close family members as well as things that should have never been in the record to begin with.”

Terry Poling

While we should all care about fraud in our court system, we should all also care about folks who push misinformation about vaccines and try to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids, especially when they use autistic kids to do it.

Don’t believe them.

It is telling that Dr. Zimmerman, the hero in this story, discredits the other heroes of the anti-vaccine movement, from the Geiers to Andrew Wakefield.

“I do think that — that there was much information — misinformation brought about by Dr. Wakefield and it’s — this has set the field back. I think that — that we — we have worked very hard to try to reassure the public  and I agree with doing that because I am very supportive of vaccinations, immunizations in general.”

Andrew Zimmerman

While Dr. Zimmerman truly believes that future research might find a way to identify a very small subset of kids with mitochondrial disorders that worsen after they get their vaccines (or infections or other types of inflammation), this doesn’t apply to the great majority of autistic kids or even the great majority of kids with regressive autism.

Even Dr. Zimmerman only seems to speak of an “uncommon relationship” that “is not evident in studies that have been done to date.”

And none of the researchers he mentions, including Richard Frye, Shannon Rose, Joe (Jill?) James, or Dmitriy Niyazov seem to have actually studied vaccines, only possible relationships between autism and mitochondrial conditions.

“The claims by RFK Jr. and Handley draw on something that was not, in fact, a fraud, that is misrepresented as having a dramatic impact on the Omnibus Autism Proceedings when it had little to no effect.”

Plus ça change – anti-vaccine activists revive the Hannah Poling case

So there is nothing really new here.

And while it might be news to folks like Bob Sears, vaccines are safe and necessary and still don’t cause autism.

More on the Alleged Fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings

• Plus ça change – anti-vaccine activists revive the Hannah Poling case
• Omnibus Autism Proceeding | US Court of Federal Claims
• Court Clarifies: Hannah Poling case “does not afford any support to the notion that vaccinations can contribute to the causation of autism”
• Andrew Zimmerman Deposition
• Rolf Hazlehurst On VICP at Congressional Briefing
• Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Autism and Mitochondrial Disease
• The Omnibus Autism Proceeding: effectively over
• Using and Misusing Legal Decisions: Why Antivaccine Claims About NVICP Cases Are Wrong
• Critiques of Holland et al., Unanswered Questions From The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
• 2 ½ Studies: Autism Prevalence and the “Hidden Horde”
• Decisions in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding
• Rulings in cases testing MMR/thimerosal-autism link
• Court Clarifies: Hannah Poling case “does not afford any support to the notion that vaccinations can contribute to the causation of autism”
• Vaccines and Autism Revisited — The Hannah Poling Case
• Court Rulings Don’t Confirm Autism-Vaccine Link
• Why Was Hannah Poling Compensated?
• Vaccine Critics Claim Court Paid for Autism Cases
• MMR and Autism Rises from the Dead
• Is The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Covering-Up An Autism-Vaccine Link?
• Autism Omnibus: Hazelhurst appeal denied
• An Open Letter To The Poling’s
• Andrew Zimmerman Finally Speaks
• David Kirby on mitochondral autism
• Politics of Mitochondrial-PDD
• Evidence of Misinformation
• Vaccines, Autism and the Concession
• Is the end of the Omnibus Autism Proceeding near?
• Another appeal heard in the Autism Omnibus
• Omnibus: the decisions are decisive
• Are you a petitioner in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding?
• Daubert and the Autism Omnibus
• Omnibus Expert: Patricia Rodier
• Stephen Bustin: Why There Is no Link Between Measles Virus and Autism
• Dr. Johnson testifies in the Autism Omnibus Hearing
• Elizabeth Mumper – Autism Omnibus, Dwyer vs HHS
• Omnibus Autism hearing: Dr. Lord on autism and regression
• Autism Omnibus: Vera Byers the, uh, expert
• Autism Omnibus – Vas Aposhian
• Autism Omnibus – Liz Mumper
• Omnibus Autism Proceeding: More of the closing statement by Mr. Matanoski
• Alexander Krakow – The Next Bombshell
• Omnibus Expert: Patricia Rodier
• Dean Jones PhD- oxidative stress and the Omnibus Autism hearing
• Dr. Brent – Toxicologist at the Autism Omnibus hearing
• Autism Omnibus and David Kirby
• Dr. Rust testifies in the Autism Omnibus Hearing
• Autism Omnibus: Snyder appeal denied
• Autism Omnibus and shrinking hypotheses
• Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Autism and Mitochondrial Disease