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Good Morning America

ABC's Good Morning America interviews the Poling family and their attorney Cliff Shoemaker regarding the government's recent concession in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Click here to watch the video.

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Home News Information for someone who thinks their child developed autism from vaccines
Information for someone who thinks their child developed autism from vaccines PDF Print E-mail

If you believe your child developed autism as the result of vaccines received, there are certain things you should know.  First, you need to determine whether you can file a timely claim...

To file a claim in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the claim must be filed within 3 years of the onset of symptoms or manifestation of onset.  It is not totally clear what this language means, and you are invited to read the Markovich decision, where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stated: "...we hold that 'the first symptom or manifestation of onset,' for the purposes of 300aa-16(a)(2), is the first event objectively recognizable as a sign of a vaccine injury by the medical profession at large."

It is probably safe to say that if your chiild's autism was diagnosed more than 3 years ago, it is too late to file a claim in the program.  If this applies to you, then we urge you to complain to your Congressman and Senators about the injustice of such a short statute of limitations.

On the other hand, if it is less than 3 years since the first symptom of autism in your child, then you need to file a claim immediately.  You can either file a short form petition by yourself without a lawyer (see instructions on this site), or you can try to find an attorney to file the claim for you.  

The gray area involves cases where the symptoms of autism began as very mild, non-specific symptoms that were not recognized by health care providers as being problems, and where it took time to realize that what was going on was not normal, and where it took even more time to arrive at a diagnosis of autism.  For cases that are in this gray area, we would recommend filing a claim pro se (without an attorney) immediately and then trying to find an attorney willing to take the case.

If you cannot find an attorney willing to take your case, your should call the Clerk of Court at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to get a list of lawyers handling vaccine claims from them.