State files disciplinary complaint against Santa Rosa doctor who provided vaccine exemptions to 3 children

The state medical board has filed a disciplinary complaint against a Santa Rosa doctor accused of improperly granting medical exemptions that allowed three children to avoid state-required vaccinations.

Dr. Ron Kennedy, a board-?certified doctor since 1975 who works at an anti-aging clinic on Guerneville Road, could face revocation or suspension of his license if regulators uphold the allegations in the complaint filed Wednesday by Christine Lally, interim executive director of the Medical Board of California.

A woman who answered the phone at both Kennedy’s clinic and home on Saturday night said the doctor had no comment on the charges.

Under state law, children must be vaccinated against 10 ?preventable infectious diseases - including measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and whooping cough - to attend public schools, unless they are exempted by a doctor for medical reasons.

Until 2016, the state allowed parents who believed vaccines were harmful to reject vaccinations for their children. The Legislature ended the so-called “personal belief” exemption in 2015, one year after a measles outbreak was traced to unvaccinated children visiting Disneyland.

Medical exemptions for vaccines more than tripled after passage of the 2016 law, prompting state lawmakers to enact an even more stringent law in 2019 designed to cut down on frivolous waivers sought by parents who did not have a legitimate medical basis. The new law requires state medical officials to review exemptions from doctors who submit five or more exemptions annually or schools with an immunization rate of less than 95%.

Kennedy began issuing ?medical exemptions to school-aged children in 2016 after the state repealed the exemption for personal beliefs, according to the state complaint. The following year, the Sonoma County Department of Public Health Services had received “multiple complaints” from schools and preschools about Kennedy’s exemptions, according to the state filing.

The state medical board received a complaint from a school nurse in August 2017 over a vaccine exemption from Kennedy for a seventh-grade girl that did not appear to be valid. The girl previously had a personal belief exemption, but after that was eliminated, presented a permanent medical exemption to the school. The nurse stated the school had no medical information that would support such an exemption.

Under a court order, the state board obtained Kennedy’s records for the girl last June. His records stated the girl “has always enjoyed good health” and had no medical condition indicating she could be potentially vulnerable to a vaccine, according to the complaint. Her parents opposed vaccines and consulted with Kennedy to obtain a medical exemption, the state alleged.

In another case, a father contacted the state medical board in November 2017 over an exemption Kennedy wrote for his 1- and 3-year-old sons without his consent. Under a court order, the state board obtained the boys’ medical records and found the mother had told Kennedy the 3-year-old got sick after previous vaccinations. A physical exam, however, found the child was normal. Kennedy provided an exemption to both boys based on the mother’s family history “of a variety of events” after immunizations, according to the complaint.

Kennedy rescinded his exemption for both boys in January 2018 after the father demanded it.

In the complaint, Kennedy was charged with four formal causes of discipline by the state board. Three were for gross negligence and incompetency for his treatment of the three children and one was for inadequate record keeping.

Lally requested a hearing on the allegations before the Medical Board of California.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 707-521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.