ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 21, 1997 TAG: 9704210156
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO.
SOURCE: TONY RIZZO KANSAS CITY STAR
Their lives changed the day their baby received a routine vaccination.
The vaccine was supposed to keep Taylor Simmons healthy. Instead it damaged her brain and destroyed her chance for a normal life.
The girl, now 4, is so hyperactive and oblivious to danger that she cannot be left alone for a second. She will require round-the-clock care for the rest of her life.
``She's certainly one of the most extreme behavior cases I've seen,'' said Colorado rehabilitation specialist Mark Litvin, who designs programs to care for children like Taylor.
Acknowledging the severity of Taylor's brain damage, attorneys with the U.S. Justice Department agreed this week to a settlement that could pay almost $50 million to Taylor and her family over her lifetime. A department spokesman said he could not discuss details of the settlement.
The money comes from a fund set up by Congress in 1988 to compensate people injured after receiving childhood vaccinations. Most claims, like Taylor's, involve adverse reactions to vaccinations for pertussis. The disease, commonly called whooping cough, can lead to convulsions, pneumonia, brain damage or death.
About 5,000 claims have been filed, and the fund has paid out more than $750 million, according to the National Vaccine Information Center in Virginia.
``As a result of these vaccinations, Taylor's quality of life was totally destroyed,'' said Olathe lawyer Greg Kincaid, who represents the Simmons family. ``Her parents have not had a reasonable night's sleep since this happened.''
Taylor is an inquisitive whirlwind of motion. She gets into and out of everything and sleeps only three or four hours at a time.
``The day she got that shot, our lives died,'' said Steve Simmons.
Taylor was 4 months old when she was vaccinated. She immediately passed out and remained semiconscious for the rest of the day, Steve Simmons said. At 3 a.m. the next day her parents found her having seizures and called for an ambulance.
Doctors assured them that the seizures were prompted by a high fever, a not uncommon problem for children.
Things were fine until Taylor was 7 months old, when she had another seizure and quit breathing. Doctors prescribed drugs to control the seizures.
The seizures started coming once a month and increased in frequency until she was having up to 15 a day. Some lasted for more than an hour.
All along, her parents suspected that the vaccination had something to do with Taylor's problems, but doctors told them that wasn't the case.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB