by Brian Shilhavy

Editor, Health Impact News

Earlier this year (2019) the Chicago Tribune reported on a federal lawsuit where parents sued several doctors at three hospitals and DCFS for medically kidnapping their newborn infants simply for refusing the Vitamin K shot at birth.

See:

Megan Fox, writing for PJ Media, has published a recording from an April 12, 2018 meeting of the Perinatal Advisory Committee (PAC) that operates under the Illinois Department of Public Health.

In the recording, health officials that apparently include doctors and possibly nurses who are authorized to give the Vitamin K shot to newborns, discuss how they can work together with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to take custody of newborn babies from parents who refuse the Vitamin K shot at birth.

The members of the Health Department basically conclude that since it is DCFS policy to mandate the Vitamin K shot, that medical professionals have the authority to take custody of the child and administer the Vitamin K shot over the objections of the parents, even without DCFS involvement. Such “custody” can be as little as only “2 minutes,” the time it takes to give the shot.

MAN #3: At what point does protective custody stop?

MULTIPLE VOICES. Right after…

UNDETERMINED WOMAN: It’s two minutes or whatever it is.

UNDETERMINED WOMAN: How much beyond?

UNDETERMINED MAN: As soon as you give the injection.

UNDETERMINED WOMAN Continues: Is it two minutes? Is it ten minutes? Do we wait until DCFS says we are coming or we are not coming?

WOMAN #1: They don’t have to come. I think protective custody is you just claim that you have done it.

The fact that these medical professionals who are also employed at the taxpayers’ expense as members of the Illinois Department of Public Health are mainly concerned with making sure the Vitamin K shot is injected into every newborn child no matter what the consequences might be for removing custody, is obvious from one comment made by one of the PAC committee members:

WOMAN #1: You can take… Protective custody is just the right to do what you think is right for the baby. And, DCFS, if they say, ‘yes, that we agree with you, cause this is our rule’. You give the vitamin K and then do any of us really care what happens next?

Apparently not. In fact, the only concern they have about “what happens next” is whether or not they can be sued – not what kind of effects their actions might have on the parents and the newborn baby.

An investigation into what kind of kick-backs these medical professionals might be getting from Merck for meeting quotas of newborn babies injected with the Vitamin K shot is certainly in order, one would think.

Listen to the recording:

So basically Illinois Health Department officials decided in a meeting that they had authority to take a child away from the parents, without DCFS involvement, without parental approval, and with no court or judge’s order to take custody, and forcibly inject the newborn child with the Vitamin K shot.

According to the Chicago Tribune’s report earlier this year, DCFS has since rescinded their policy on the Vitamin K shot.

The episode was the result of a controversial DCFS policy that classified parents’ refusal of their newborn’s vitamin K shot as medical neglect, a move that thrust the agency into a contentious debate over the rights of parents to make decisions about their children’s care. The policy was rescinded a year ago as agency leaders sought to ensure that DCFS wasn’t “overstepping the boundaries” of state law and determined the shots should not be classified as medically necessary.

Vitamin K is available in other forms besides intramuscular injections.

The form that is injected, AquaMEPHYTON®, is produced by Merck, and comes with several warnings, including DEATH, according to the package insert found on the FDA website:

WARNING – INTRAVENOUS AND INTRAMUSCULAR USE Severe reactions, including fatalities, have occurred during and immediately after INTRAVENOUS injection of AquaMEPHYTON* (Phytonadione), even when precautions have been taken to dilute the AquaMEPHYTON and to avoid rapid infusion. Severe reactions, including fatalities, have also been reported following INTRAMUSCULAR administration. Typically these severe reactions have resembled hypersensitivity or anaphylaxis, including shock and cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. Some patients have exhibited these severe reactions on receiving AquaMEPHYTON for the first time. Therefore the INTRAVENOUS and INTRAMUSCULAR routes should be restricted to those situations where the subcutaneous route is not feasible and the serious risk involved is considered justified.

If one were to search coroners’ reports on causes of death among newborn babies, I wonder if “death by injection of the Vitamin K shot” would ever be listed? Or do these kinds of infant deaths get lumped together with SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)?

All across the U.S. local health departments yield tremendous authority to force medical procedures upon the public outside of the law, as these departments are comprised of unelected political officials with or without appropriate medical training. They are ripe for corruption and for being manipulated by the powerful pharmaceutical industry which spends more money on political lobbying than any other group in the U.S.

Read the full article by Megan Fox at PJ Media.