More vaccine victims

Yesterday was a sad time in the world of vaccine freedom. And while I don't want to make anyone else unhappy, I do feel it is necessary to share this information so we will all remember (in case we have forgotten) just why it is we are involved in this issue.

First thing is that I was forwarded some information via Ingri Cassel in the US, the founder of VacLib - another health information and support organisation much like the AVN.

A woman in Australia had found her on the Internet and written to say that she had recently had both children removed from her and her husband due to an accusation of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).

I called and spoke with the woman and won't say anything to identify her but I can tell you that there were several signs that all was not as we had been told and as is so often the case with SBS, there is more evidence to show that there was medical negligence involved than that the parents had harmed their child in any way.

This mother has a 4 year old who was born at full term plus 10 days and that child is perfectly healthy and never had any problems. She recently delivered a baby who, according to her dates which she was pretty confident in, was between 34 and 35 weeks' gestation. At her first ultrasound scan, her doctor told her that her dates were off and instead of being 12 weeks pregnant, she was actually 16 weeks pregnant so throughout her pregnancy, she was treated as if she were further along than she actually was.

Not really important except that her doctor was concerned that she hadn't gained enough weight during her pregnancy (yet one more reason why routine ultrasounds are not a good idea - many doctors are incompetent at anything to do with pregnancy and birthing and this 'crutch' takes away even that little bit of hands-on information which midwives do routinely and so well). Therefore, when she was - according to the doctor - 38 - 39 weeks but according to her own dates - 34 - 35 weeks along, she was subjected to a battery of tests - placental function, foetal stress...you name it. All of them came back normal.

Her doctor was not satistified however and induced her labour - again this information is important in what follows so please bear with me. Her baby was born small (2.3 kg) for a full term baby but probably normal weight for one that was induced so early.

The day after the birth, one of the maternity nurses in the hospital was checking the baby and asked the mother if she had gone into premature labour. The mother said no - that the baby had been induced. The nurse then said that the cartilidge in the baby's ears was not fully formed and certain lines that are on the hands of a full-term baby (sorry, I was not sure about this - I'd never heard of it before) were not evident and that she doubted that the baby was more than 35 weeks - possibly only 34 weeks' gestation - information that agreed with the mother's own thoughts.

The baby was given both the Hep B vaccine and the Vitamin K shot and the family went home. The baby was very different than this mother's first child. She slept a lot and was not all that alert when she was awake - these are all from what I understand fairly normal with premature babies in the first weeks of life.

One thing that the mother did notice as time went on was that the baby, when she was sleeping, would experience tremours in her hands and sometimes her feet and sometimes, her eyes would roll up in her head a bit.

When she was 5 weeks old, after getting a feed of expressed breast milk, this little girl vomited the entire feed up and had another one of those tremours - so much so that her father who had fed her, brought her to the mother and was concerned. It was Saturday night so she called the hospital and explained the situation. They told her it was not a problem and to go see their GP on Monday.

The next morning, the baby once again vomited up an entire feed and the mother was starting to get concerned so she and her husband brought the baby to their local hospital. While they were speaking with the triage nurse and the mother was describing the symptoms, the baby again had one of the tremours they had noticed. The mother pointed that out to the triage nurse who didn't appear to be concerned about it. Immediately after that, however, when they were putting the baby into a bassinet to wheel her into a room for examination, the baby went into a 'full blown' seizure. I am unsure of how long it lasted.

The baby was admitted and all sorts of tests were run. It was found that this baby had evidence of a broken arm and 3 broken ribs. There was also retinal bleeding and and MRI scan was run which showed haemmorhaging in the brain. These symptoms can indicate child abuse or - which I feel is the case from having seen this many times before - they can indicate a botched delivery of a premature baby - especially when there was an induction.

Things were not looking good for the parents at this stage. The baby was transferred to a larger hospital - one with a staff that is known to the AVN for their aggressive and overzealous reporting of both Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy (Please see these links for more information about this 'condition' - False Accusations of Munchausen's, Mothers Against Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy Accusations, and Legally Kidnapped: It Could Happen to You for a look into this made-up condition which gives medicos the right to take our children away from us if we become too inquisitive about their treatment or ask too many of the 'wrong' questions.) and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

The police were called in and the parents were told - no doubt about it - that their little girl had been shaken and that's what caused her injuries. The 'experts' in the hospital were sure and so were the police.

There were interviews held and they were told that a 72 hour interim order was in place which would not allow them to take their baby home and their son was also removed from custody - luckily to be placed with the child's grandmother - not with a stranger.

This order has been extended several times and at this point, the parents are afraid that they will lose custody of their children completely - a nightmare for any parent - especially for those who have done nothing to harm their child.

How can I say this? Well, for one thing, if you haven't already, I would like you to read the story of another pair of loving parents who found themselves in this exact same nightmare with a baby born prematurely and an older child. That is the story of Alan and Francine Yurko.

Alan Yurko is one of the most amazing men I have ever dealt with and his story will be an eye-opener to anyone who is concerned with how the government and the medical community have effectively taken away our rights as parents to decide what is best for our child's healthcare, education or upbringing.

You can read his story here at the Yurko Project. Dr Harold Buttram, an incredibly prolific doctor with a long history of opposition to any form of compulsory vaccination, has written an in-depth paper on this issue. Called Shaken Baby Syndrome or Vaccine-Induced Encephalitis?, this paper describes many of the symptoms suffered by the baby of the family that contacted me yesterday and who we will hopefully be able to help.

This family has been traumatised; their children have been traumatised. This baby's parents have been accused of harming her when in fact, it is very likely that the harm was caused by the very people who have now removed her from her parents' care. And this could happen to anyone at any time if we put our trust and faith in doctors who don't deserve that regard.

Are all doctors like this? NO! But it is one of the many reasons why we need to be so careful when choosing the practitioner we will use and why we should become more confident as parents (read that as more educated) about how to treat minor conditions at home and when it is really necessary to see a doctor.

A book that really helped to give me the confidence to not go to the doctor except in a true emergency (broken bones [5 times], my son falling out of a bunk bed onto his head on a tile floor [only once, thank goodness!], etc! :-) is Dr Robert Mendelsohn's amazing book, How To Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. I highly recommend this to anyone who has children, is thinking of having children or who just wants to know more about whether doctors and annual exams are really the life-savers we've been told they are.

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A young victim of Gardasil passes away - when will we stop this madness?

The following notice came across the Gardasil discussion list, Let's Talk About Gardasil, yesterday. I will include it in full. Please do visit the links to Jenny's page - this young woman should not be forgotten - her death should not be for nothing.

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Jenny has passed away. Her family made the public announcement today, March 16th, at 7:00PM on their blog.

According to her family's blog, she died yesterday, March 15th, Sunday afternoon, holding her parents' hands, surrounded by love.

To read the announcement yourself, please visit her family's blog at:
http://jenjensfamily.blogspot.com/

Also, if you have not already, you can sign the family's petition to the government in order to improve the adverse effects reporting system. An improved reporting system would give scientists better data to produce better diagnoses and treatments. The petition can be signed here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oneclickonelife

Despite the disheartening loss of Jenny, it is always important to remember the joy she brought to this world, and to make sure we try to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Candice L. Jones