In the midst of an extensive discussion about vaccines and autism and how the two have come to be linked in the public consciousness, as noted by Dr. Paul Offit in his recently published book Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, here comes a court decision from the Georgia Supreme Court. The decision allows Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari to proceed with a civil lawsuit against vaccine maker American Home Products Corp. As noted in today’s Athens Banner-Herald, this is a “first-of-a-kind ruling by an appellate court that had drawn fierce opposition from the …read more

Regular reports are coming in about the vaccine court (here’s Left Brain/Right Brain on some expert witnesses and, if you’re in the mood for some Swiftian “monkey business” about what some proponents of a vaccine-autism link consider newsworthy research, go here). And, courtesy of the National Law Journal, here’s some background about some of the lawyers representing families in “vaccine court.”
The small Boston-based firm of Conway, Homer & Chin-Caplan has 1200 cases alleging that vaccines cause autism and some 200 other vaccine-injury cases. The five-lawyer firm has “transformed itself from the products liability firm” that once housed Jan Schlichtmann’s toxic …read more