Jackson Couple Blames Vaccines for Son's Autism

November 24, 2007

By: The Jackson Sun

Yates, 7, loves his chewing gum. He'll go through every compartment in a purse looking for it intently. He doesn't give up unless he's distracted with something else.

He loves to flush the toilet, and once he put tennis balls down the toilet so it overflowed and he could watch the water run. He's also shut the bathtub drain and turned the water on.

"We've replaced our ceiling four times," said Angela Hazlehurst, sighing and laughing at the same time. "You have no idea...." They live in their dream home, a lovely two-story yellow brick home in a quiet subdivision lined with tall old trees and children's laughter tinkling like wind chimes on the breeze.

Yates, who is loved and cherished, is autistic.

But he wasn't when he was born. His parents describe a beautiful, smiling baby who was ahead in development for his age.

The Hazlehursts, Angela, a pharmaceutical sales rep and former Mrs. Tennessee, and Rolf, a Jackson attorney, are a well-educated, attractive couple able to struggle to provide a good life for their first-born child.

Angela said they've been through the stages of asking God "why?"

"You grieve," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I said, 'I know you're there God, but I'm mad at you.' But I kept telling myself there has to be a reason. I think I finally have my 'why.'"

The Hazlehursts filed a lawsuit alleging that the vaccinations Yates received within his first year of life caused his gastrointestinal condition and his autism.

From Oct. 15-18, they testified in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Charlotte, N.C. The cases were heard by the Honorable Patricia Campbell-Smith, Special Master.

They had agreed to permit their case, Hazlehurst v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Case No. 03-654V, to be chosen as the second test case in the joint proceeding known as the Omnibus Autism Proceeding, or OAP. "The OAP is an efficient method of proceeding on the nearly 5,000 individual vaccine claims filed by families on behalf of their children who have autism or a similar condition," according to the court.

Dr. Vernessa Davis-Tharpe, pediatrician at East Jackson Family Medical Center, said she understands some parents' fears regarding vaccination.

"I usually tell parents that there's no scientific evidence that vaccines cause autism. I vaccinated all my children and I wouldn't do that unless it were safe," she said. "But I also tell them, 'You have to make your decision for your child.' I tell them the benefits and the risks. But if they make it clear they are not going to do it, then I will work with them. There are some pediatricians in town who will expel them from their practice."

Davis-Tharpe also said if the child goes to school, "I can't sign off on their refusal as a religious exemption or a medical exemption when school starts."

That issue has arisen in news stories recently as Judge Philip Nichols in Upper Marlboro, Md., ordered parents to get their children vaccinated or go to jail from 10 to 30 days.

Source: Jackson Sun