Vaccine injury cases are horribly sad affairs, and terribly complicated for the Special Masters assigned to resolve them. Suits & Sentences would not want this work, not at all.

Having said that: U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas C. Wheeler has just slammed a Special Master.

Lisa and Steven Richardson's daughter Megan began suffering seizures after receiving a required Diptheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccination on March 26, 2001.

But in a newly unsealed decision, Judge Wheeler blasted a Special Master -- a woman whose identity is not immediately clear in the decision -- for issuing two lengthy decisions totaling 141 pages when, the judge said "a concise, single decision likely would have expedited what is now a five-year old case." More pointedly, Judge Wheeler said "the most troubling aspect of both hearings is the manner in which the Special Master conducted them."

To wit:

"The Special Master interrupted the proceedings so frequently as to preclude any coherent direct testimony. In the 37 transcript pages of Lisa Richardson’s direct testimony, the Special Master interjected
her own questions and observations on at least 113 occasions."

The judge added that the Special Master was similarly aggressive -- adversarial, even -- in questioning other witnesses. The judge ordered the underlying claim reviewed again, by someone new.