From the U.S. House of Representatives Downloadable U.S. Code
[uscode.house.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 5, 1999]

[CITE: 42USC300aa-13]

 
TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
    CHAPTER 6A - PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
    SUBCHAPTER XIX - VACCINES
    Part 2 - National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
    subpart a - program requirements
 
-HEAD-
    Sec. 300aa-13. Determination of eligibility and compensation
 
-STATUTE-
    (a) General rule
      (1) Compensation shall be awarded under the Program to a
    petitioner if the special master or court finds on the record as a
    whole -
        (A) that the petitioner has demonstrated by a preponderance of
      the evidence the matters required in the petition by section
      300aa-11(c)(1) of this title, and
        (B) that there is not a preponderance of the evidence that the
      illness, disability, injury, condition, or death described in the
      petition is due to factors unrelated to the administration of the
      vaccine described in the petition.
    The special master or court may not make such a finding based on
    the claims of a petitioner alone, unsubstantiated by medical
    records or by medical opinion.
      (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ''factors unrelated
    to the administration of the vaccine'' -
        (A) does not include any idiopathic, unexplained, unknown,
      hypothetical, or undocumentable cause, factor, injury, illness,
      or condition, and
        (B) may, as documented by the petitioner's evidence or other
      material in the record, include infection, toxins, trauma
      (including birth trauma and related anoxia), or metabolic
      disturbances which have no known relation to the vaccine
      involved, but which in the particular case are shown to have been
      the agent or agents principally responsible for causing the
      petitioner's illness, disability, injury, condition, or death.
    (b) Matters to be considered
      (1) In determining whether to award compensation to a petitioner
    under the Program, the special master or court shall consider, in
    addition to all other relevant medical and scientific evidence
    contained in the record -
        (A) any diagnosis, conclusion, medical judgment, or autopsy or
      coroner's report which is contained in the record regarding the
      nature, causation, and aggravation of the petitioner's illness,
      disability, injury, condition, or death, and
        (B) the results of any diagnostic or evaluative test which are
      contained in the record and the summaries and conclusions.
    Any such diagnosis, conclusion, judgment, test result, report, or
    summary shall not be binding on the special master or court.  In
    evaluating the weight to be afforded to any such diagnosis,
    conclusion, judgment, test result, report, or summary, the special
    master or court shall consider the entire record and the course of
    the injury, disability, illness, or condition until the date of the
    judgment of the special master or court.
      (2) The special master or court may find the first symptom or
    manifestation of onset or significant aggravation of an injury,
    disability, illness, condition, or death described in a petition
    occurred within the time period described in the Vaccine Injury
    Table even though the occurrence of such symptom or manifestation
    was not recorded or was incorrectly recorded as having occurred
    outside such period.  Such a finding may be made only upon
    demonstration by a preponderance of the evidence that the onset or
    significant aggravation of the injury, disability, illness,
    condition, or death described in the petition did in fact occur
    within the time period described in the Vaccine Injury Table.
    (c) ''Record'' defined
      For purposes of this section, the term ''record'' means the
    record established by the special masters of the United States
    Court of Federal Claims in a proceeding on a petition filed under
    section 300aa-11 of this title.
 
-SOURCE-
    (July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title XXI, Sec. 2113, as added Pub. L.
    99-660, title III, Sec. 311(a), Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3763;
    amended Pub. L. 100-203, title IV, Sec. 4307(4), Dec. 22, 1987, 101
    Stat. 1330-224; Pub. L. 101-239, title VI, Sec. 6601(j), Dec. 19,
    1989, 103 Stat. 2290; Pub. L. 101-502, Sec. 5(c), Nov. 3, 1990, 104
    Stat. 1287; Pub. L. 102-572, title IX, Sec. 902(b)(1), Oct. 29,
    1992, 106 Stat. 4516.)
 
-MISC1-
                              PRIOR PROVISIONS
      A prior section 300aa-13, act July 1, 1944, Sec. 2114, was
    successively renumbered by subsequent acts and transferred, see
    section 238k of this title.
      A prior section 2113 of act July 1, 1944, was successively
    renumbered by subsequent acts and transferred, see section 238j of
    this title.
                                 AMENDMENTS
      1992 - Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102-572 substituted ''United States
    Court of Federal Claims'' for ''United States Claims Court''.
      1990 - Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101-502 inserted ''the'' after
    ''special masters of''.
      1989 - Subsecs. (a)(1), (b). Pub. L. 101-239, Sec. 6601(j)(1),
    substituted ''special master or court'' for ''court'' wherever
    appearing.
      Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101-239, Sec. 6601(j)(2), inserted ''special
    masters of'' after ''established by the''.
      1987 - Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100-203 substituted ''the United
    States Claims Court'' for ''a district court of the United
    States''.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 102-572 effective Oct. 29, 1992, see section
    911 of Pub. L. 102-572, set out as a note under section 171 of
    Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1990 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 101-502 effective Sept. 30, 1990, see
    section 5(h) of Pub. L. 101-502, set out as a note under section
    300aa-11 of this title.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1989 AMENDMENT
      For applicability of amendments by Pub. L. 101-239 to petitions
    filed after Dec. 19, 1989, petitions currently pending in which the
    evidentiary record is closed, and petitions currently pending in
    which the evidentiary record is not closed, with provision for an
    immediate suspension for 30 days of all pending cases, see section
    6601(s)(1) of Pub. L. 101-239, set out as a note under section
    300aa-10 of this title.
 
-SECREF-
                   SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS
      This section is referred to in section 300aa-12 of this title.