The Dublin mother of a severely mentally and physically handicapped man who is convinced his illness was caused by a vaccination he received as an infant broke down as she told an inquest yesterday about his lifelong suffering.
Ms Vera Duffy from Howth Road, Clontarf, said her son, Alan, had "died for her" when he received a series of 3-in-1 injections in the mid 1970s. but had lived on until he was 22. Alan, who was also epileptic, died from pneumonia on New Year's Eve 1995.
Dublin City Coroner's Court heard that Alan was brain damaged from an early age and that his case had been the subject of a very protracted legal dispute.
Mrs Duffy formed the Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children Association to highlight the case of her son and other families' children.
Mrs Duffy's husband, Kevin, and their two daughters attended yesterday's hearing, which was adjourned until January.
Mrs Duffy's evidence about the cause of her son's brain damage was contradicted by Prof Niall O'Donoghue, a former professor of paediatrics at Trinity College, Dublin, who treated Alan when he was a baby.
He said while there had been much debate about a possible association of the 3-in-1 injection with brain damage in the 1970s, informed medical opinion worldwide today was that there was no connection.
Mrs Duffy told the court that tests conducted on Alan after his birth showed he was normal. He was "a very happy baby" up until he was five months old. It was around this time that he received the first of a three-part series of vaccinations in an Eastern Health Board clinic.
After his first injection on October 17th 1973, Alan screeched all night. Over the next few days his face began to turn ash grey, his eyes rolled and he would jerk his arms. Following his second injection in December, his cries worsened and he began to vomit after each feed.
Mrs Duffy had visited doctors many times during this period. None of them diagnosed Alan as having any serious illness or connected his symptoms to the 3-in-1 injection. Alan had a convulsion hours after his final injection in February 1974.
Mrs Duffy said she was not questioned at the clinic about her family's medical history or about his reaction to the two previous injections. Her sister and first cousin were epileptic.
Prof O'Donoghue said his notes, taken when he first saw Alan in July 1974, showed that Mrs Duffy had said his developmental progress had always been delayed.
He concluded that Alan showed evidence of "global developmental delay without obvious cause". During this consultation, Mrs Duffy made "no mention whatsoever" of an untoward reaction to 3-in-1 vaccination.