Personal Injury Lawyer
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act provides that compensation will be awarded to individuals who undergo certain vaccines and sustain certain defined injuries as a result of those vaccines. Vaccine injury lawyers who are licensed to practice in the United States Court of Federal Claims call injuries that fall under the Vaccine Injury Act “table injuries.” The term “table injuries” comes from the fact that the injuries allowed for each vaccine are listed in the table prepared pursuant to federal law.
Vaccines listed in the table include the following: any vaccination including the tetanus toxoid (such as DTP), vaccines that include the pertussis bacteria (also included in the DTP vaccine), the measles, mumps and rubella virus vaccine (MMR), the polio vaccine, the hepatitis B vaccine, seasonal flu vaccines, H. Influenza type B (Hib), varicella vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, hepatitis A vaccine, meningitis vaccines (meningocccal vaccine), and the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. The shingles vaccine (Vostamax) is not included because the manufacturer did not pay to include it in the program.
Depending on the vaccine, table injuries may include shoulder injuries related to vaccine administration (SIRVA), Guillen Barre syndrome (GBS), anaphylaxis, and vasovagal syncope which might include fainting and subsequent injury. Transverse myelitis is not considered to be a table injury. However, vaccine injury lawyers have been successful in relating transverse myelitis and related conditions to a vaccine. Autism is not listed as a table injury, nor has it been causally related to vaccines sufficiently in the medical literature to meet evidentiary standards. So, for purposes of the Vaccine Injury Act, you cannot currently prove that a diagnosis of autism is related to a vaccine.
The Vaccine Injury Act sets forth procedures for filing claims. All claims must be filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims. Only lawyers licensed in that court are allowed to represent individuals for vaccine injury claims. There are a limited number of vaccine lawyers in the United States that are so licensed.
The damages recoverable in a vaccine injury case are set by statute, but include lost wages, medical expenses in pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are capped at $250,000. Additional damages apply when wrongful death occur occurs as a result of a vaccine.
The Vaccine Injury Act provides that the court should be generous in awarding damages. However, that is not always the case. Awards for serious SIRVA – type injuries are compensated between $70,000 and $125,000, depending on the severity of the injury. Most awards are at the lower end of that range. When encountering an individual with a shoulder injury related to a vaccine, which looks like a dead arm, you will see that the disability they have suffered deserves far more than $250,000, let alone less than $125,000.
On a positive note, all attorney’s fees are paid by the Government. So, there is literally no cost to the injured individual from bringing a vaccine-related injury case. Call a licensed vaccine injury lawyer today if you have any symptoms associated with a recent vaccine.
If you have questions about a case contact a medical mistake lawyer, like the attorneys at Mishkind Kulwicki Law Co., L.P.A., to have your questions answered and see if you have a case.