Panel rules MMR jab made Katie deaf – but not enough for payout
A WOMAN has won her fight to prove she was left deaf by the MMR jab – only the second time it has been linked to disability.
But a medical assessment panel ruled Katie Stephen, 21, will not receive compensation because she is not considered disabled enough.
Katie was given the measles, mumps and rubella jab in 1991 when she was 15 months old.
But she developed a fever and irreparable damage to the nerve between her brain and ear, and is deaf on her left side. Officials at the Vaccine Damage Payment Unit accepted the vaccine was the likely cause of her hearing problems. But the body, run by the Department for Work and Pensions, ruled out compensation as she was only ‘20 per cent disabled’.
Katie, of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, said: ‘If my disability can be cast aside so easily, why have I suffered so many difficulties in my life as a consequence? This has put me in a negative place.’
She was part of a group action. However, her case was never heard because the lawyers only pursued cases involving children with autism. An alleged link with the condition has since been discredited.
The family is now involved in a new group action being brought by Blacks Solicitors, pursuing their ex-lawyers for professional negligence.
A spokesman for the DWP would not comment on the case.