摘要：Hannah Bruesewitz was born on October 20, 1991. Her pediatrician administered doses of the [diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DTP)] vaccine according to the Center for Disease Control’s recommended childhood immunization schedule. Within 24 hours of her April 1992 vaccination, Hannah started to experience seizures. She suffered over 100 seizures during the next month, and her doctors eventually diagnosed her with “residual seizure disorder” and “developmental delay.” Hannah, now a teenager, is still diagnosed with both conditions. In 1995, Hannah Bruesewitz’s parents embarked on an unsuccessful fifteen-year odyssey through the courts. Claiming that Hannah suffered vaccine-related injuries for which she was entitled to compensation, her parents litigated her case in every available forum, culminating in their recent loss in the U.S. Supreme Court. Hannah’s parents first sought compensation, as they were required to do, under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (Vaccine Act), a pioneering no-fault federal tort reform law that took effect two decades ago. The statute, preempting state product liability laws, mandates that all claims for compensation for injuries caused by the vaccines routinely given in the United States must first be brought and litigated in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the respondent. After exhausting this remedy, petitioners have the option of filing a civil action in state or federal court, on grounds not foreclosed by the Vaccine Act, against the manufacturer of the vaccine or the healthcare provider who administered it. After the Court of Federal Claims rejected Hannah’s parents’ petition for compensation, her parents filed a civil tort suit against the vaccine’s manufacturer. The complaint was dismissed in large part by the District Court, which held that the Vaccine Act’s preemption clause forbids a claim against a vaccine manufacturer based upon a design defect, which was Hannah’s parents’ most promising remaining ground for relief. On February 22, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal. Hannah’s case highlights a number of problems with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (Vaccine Program or Vaccine Compensation Program) today. The program represented a legislative compromise involving the major interest groups working in the vaccine area, including vaccine manufacturers, physicians’ groups, healthcare providers, federal health agencies, and parent groups advocating on behalf of injured children. Now that the Vaccine Program has been operating for more than twenty years, we can reach several broad conclusions about its successes and failures in
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