Friday, September 9, 2016

News in brief: Bob Sears to face medical board over recommendation not to vaccinate and poor record keeping

The OC Register reports yesterday (8 September 2016) that Dr Bob Sears has to face charges over "medical negligence" when he failed to take a detailed medical history of a toddler before writing him an exemption from further vaccination (and other oversights). He is also facing charges of poor record keeping, because apparently, this letter was not on the child's file.

The consequence for Dr Bob can range from a reprimand to the loss of his medical license.

I am sure this decision will find a lot of attention, given the recent introduction of SB277 in California, which mandates vaccines for school attendance unless the child has a medical exemption and fears that some "vaccine friendly" doctors would distribute such exemptions liberally without clear cause, undermining the public health benefits intended by the law. Dr Bob, whose "The Vaccine Book" had been criticised as fuelling irrational, scientifically unfounded, and potentially dangerous fear of vaccines, has been among the vocal critics of this law.

Orac gives a more detailed description of the charges (with a side of Insolence), as does the Poxes blog.

I would hope that any verdict of the medical board would be 100% based on the charges at hand (and any extenuating circumstances, i.e. other instances of writing medical exemptions without rigorous examination of the child, or lapses in record keeping) rather than the notion of making an example of Bob Sears to discourage other doctors.

Addendum (9.13.16): Richard Jaffe is representing Bob Sears.
“I represent Dr. Bob Sears in the California Medical Board’s case against him for writing a medical exemption from vaccination.
We take the board’s accusation seriously. But this case is very clear: this child had two unusual and severe vaccine reactions and his situation warranted a medical exemption. To continue vaccination could have put the child at risk of further harm.
All physicians have an ethical duty to do no harm to a patient. This is no less true when a child suffers serious side effects from any medical intervention.
We anticipate this case will do much to further public education on the importance of recognizing severe vaccine reactions and providing informed consent for medical care. ”

Rick Jaffe

let the education process begin! community support appreciated.

rj

8 comments:

  1. Cue the cries of "witch hunt" from the AV brigade.

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    Replies
    1. I have them via PN already - I think there is some truth to that, but he is also making it very very easy for them

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    2. Funny, the exact words "witch hunt" were used by a poster on the raw story article. She also managed to invoke Godwin's law in the same post.
      http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/anti-vax-dr-bob-could-lose-medical-license-for-excusing-toddler-from-vaccines/

      Delete
  2. Anyone that sacrifices their job for truth is a hero. We need more people like Dr. Bob and Andrew Wakefield to say no to vaccines.

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    Replies
    1. So you think it's fine for doctors to maintain inadequate documentation, not do appropriate medical histories, and not do appropriate testing after a traumatic injury?

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    2. See, both Sears and Wakefield spent years claiming they weren't actually against vaccines...

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  3. What "truth" would that be Jan? I take it you are fine with physicians cooking data and documents with no supporting evidence?

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  4. Hello Travis Schwochert from Wisconsin aka Fendelsworth and numerous other aliases.

    ReplyDelete