Vaccine Injury Lawsuits Slow to Settlement, Sometimes Dismissed
While stricter vaccine requirements for employees, schools and day care centers spread across the United States, families continue to file vaccine injury claims in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Recent published reports indicate that the government’s system in place to field these claims is a grueling, bureaucratic process, while two out of three…
California Legislator Joins Big Pharma Via “Revolving Door”
In December 2015, Assemblyman Henry T. Perea publicly announced that he was resigning from the California Legislature and moving on to a new job with the pharmaceutical industrye. On Jan. 4, 2016, Perea began leading political operations in Arizona, California and Nevada for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade group…
Virginia, Your Vaccine Exemptions are Safe For Now
Word spread quickly in several of my online groups that Delegates in the Commonwealth of Virginia had introduced a vaccine bill. Like other vaccine bills that have popped up in other states, HB1342 was a bad bill. Word spread quickly in several of my online groups that Delegates in the Commonwealth of Virginia had introduced a vaccine bill. Like other vaccine bills that…
Legally Censoring Speech on Vaccines and Autism: A Response
In a recent guest column [in Jurist], Professors James G. Hodge, Jr. and Doug Campos-Outcalt explore ways to limit presidential candidates’ speech about a link between vaccines and autism. Noting recent comments by Trump, Carson and Paul associating vaccines and autism, the authors decry the politicians’ “free pass” to “spread such public health lies.” They even suggest…
New Law Aims to Expose Big Pharma Influence on Physicians
It is no secret that the medical field is heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. For many decades, health care professionals and pharmaceutical companies have enjoyed cozy financial relationships. Pharmaceuticals continuously interact with medical doctors (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs), the two types of physicians who are licensed for prescribe…
Jacobson v. Massachusetts: State Police Powers Affirmed
In its 1905 precedent setting split decision in the case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 7-2 vote, ruled that state legislatures could use police powers to force a minority of dissenting citizens to use smallpox vaccine for what medical doctors and government officials judge to be the greater good of the majority. Those voting with the majority were…