The Autism Omnibus Proceedings (OAP) are the “Vaccine Court trial” that is deciding whether autism can be legally considered a vaccine injury. The OAP were held as a series of “test cases” which would allow the Court to consider the proposed theories of how vaccines might cause autism. Each “test case” was a hearing on a single individual, as would normally occur in the Court of Federal Claims, but with a lot more expert testimony than is standard.

That said, the first “test case” was the case of a young girl, Michelle Cedillo. It was heard in the Spring of 2007. And it may be coming to a close.

The docket for the Cedillo case has some recent entries that point to a decision being reached. On October 30th, the family filed notice that Petitioners Notice to Waive the 14−day “Waiting” Period. This is followed by an entry (for the same date, October 30th) concerning Petitioners Consent to Disclose.

Rule 18(b) of the Vaccine Rules states,

Decisions of Special Masters and Judges. When a decision of a special master or of the court is filed with the clerk, each party will be afforded 14 days in which to object to the public disclosure of any information furnished by that party

In other words, when a decision is given to the petioners (the Cedillo family in this case) and the respondents (the Department of Health and Human Services), both sides have 14 days in which to say, “I don’t want this made public in whole or in part”.

Since the Cedillo family have given consent to disclose, it sounds like this entry is in response to a decision. There isn’t anything in the docket for the 14 day period before October 30th, like a motion, that they could be responding to.

That was 10 days ago. Given that they waived a 14 day waiting period, one would expect that any decision should have already been disclosed.

It turns out that the HHS requested an extension of time to “respond or reply”. They filed this on November 3rd, and the motion was granted on the 6th.

As a check, a 14 day waiting period is mentioned in Rule 20(b)

(b) Responses and Replies. Unless otherwise provided by the special master or the court, any response or objection to a written motion shall be filed within 14 days after service of the motion, and any reply shall be filed within 7 days after service of the response or objection.

So, things are not so clear. The Cedillos could be responding to a motion (seems unlikely given their wording, using the word “disclose”). Also, the HHS could be responding to the decision (if that is what it is), and this could mean a delay before the decision becomes public.

More on the Autism Omnibus can be found in this summary by Every Child By Two.