Family of vaccine injured child to appear on Larry King Live tonight.

[mzmolly]

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/06/family-says-government-has-conceded-autism-vaccine-link/">ATLANTA (CNN)

— The parents of a 9-year-old girl with autism said Thursday that their assertion that her illness was caused by childhood vaccines has been vindicated by the federal government’s decision to compensate them.

“We are very pleased with the government’s decision,” Hannah Poling’s father, Dr. Jon Poling, a neurologist in private practice in Athens, Ga., told reporters Thursday. “It has been eight difficult and heartbreaking years since our daughter’s injury.”

A federal program intended to compensate victims of injuries caused by vaccines concluded last November that Hannah Poling’s underlying illness that had predisposed her to symptoms of autism was “significantly aggravated” by the vaccinations she received as a toddler and that her family should therefore be compensated.

The decision had been sealed and was made available to the public only recently.

More about the family from www.ageofautism.com

From what I’ve been told, the government could not have picked a more credible couple to whom to make their first concession. Dr. Poling graduated from Boston University with a masters and undergraduate degree in biology and a GPA of 3.90. He received his M.D. and Ph.D from Georgetown University and did his neurology internship at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Neurology. ... the mother, Terry, is an attorney and a nurse.

More about Larry King Live tonight

Do childhood vaccinations cause or contribute to autism? That's the question at the center of a case involving an Atlanta girl. The answer may come today. Meet the 9-year-old and her family who are challenging medical and government experts. A Larry King Exclusive!

Plus, some political power hitters have their say: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and two men who know a thing or two about running for president, John Kerry and Mike Huckabee. Another Larry King Live exclusive!

Edited to add video link - http://www.cnn.com/video/ See baby's descent into Autism.

[KamaAina]

1. "Descent" into autism?

It's not like it's heroin addiction or something. Would anyone in their right mind say "descent into gayness", for example?

K-A, who "hit bottom" around 40 years ago :hi:

[mzmolly]

2. I think this is the term because she was developing normally?

Hey KA :hi:

[KamaAina]

3. In the autism world (subculture?), we have coined a word "neurotypical"

sometimes shortened to "typical", which covers the category of "people who don't have autism" without defining them as "normal" (and by extension, us as "abnormal").

[mzmolly]

4. I have a child with a neurological condition,

so I understand. However, I do think there is a distinction between Aspergers and more advanced cases of Autism in which children and adults need constant care?

Thanks for the interest in this thread. I think most people are still in denial given all the hog wash by our Government in this regard for so long? It will be interesting to see what language is used to finally embrace the available evidence.

:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. This is illuminative

The piece by kirby on HuffPo did not explain that the father of the girl is himself a doctor.

Here's my theory: Dr Poling knew that obtaining a settlement on behalf of his daughter would be nearly impossible if it were acknowledged that the vaccines caused actual autism, so he encouraged her doctors to avoid that diagnosis in lieu of something else. An autism diagnosis is ordinarily given to any patient who displays a predetermined number of a set of symptoms defined in DSM IV, unless another lab-testable diagnosis can better explain the symptoms (features) of the disorder.

The court case indicates that she had many of the features, certainly enough to lend plausibility to an autism DX.

[mzmolly]

6. Regardless of the technical dx,

it's going to be increasingly difficult for the US Government to continue to deny that certain vaccines impact "some" children in this manner. What it seems they'll continue to do is deny a link using their misleading terms and the dismissive straw man > "vaccines don't cause ausism".

[mzmolly]

7. .

[mzmolly]

8. .