Central Figure in CDC Vaccine Cover-Up Absconds With $2M

March 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A central figure behind the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) claims disputing the link between vaccines and autism and other neurological disorders has disappeared after officials discovered massive fraud involving the theft of millions in taxpayer dollars. Danish police are investigating Dr. Poul Thorsen, who has vanished along with almost $2 million that he had supposedly spent on research.

Thorsen was a leading member of a Danish research group that wrote several key studies supporting CDC’s claims that the MMR vaccine and mercury-laden vaccines were safe for children. Thorsen’s 2003 Danish study reported a 20-fold increase in autism in Denmark after that country banned mercury based preservatives in its vaccines. His study concluded that mercury could therefore not be the culprit behind the autism epidemic.

His study has long been criticized as fraudulent since it failed to disclose that the increase was an artifact of new mandates requiring, for the first time, that autism cases be reported on the national registry. This new law and the opening of a clinic dedicated to autism treatment in Copenhagen accounted for the sudden rise in reported cases rather than, as Thorsen seemed to suggest, the removal of mercury from vaccines. Despite this obvious chicanery, CDC has long touted the study as the principal proof that mercury-laced vaccines are safe for infants and young children. Mainstream media, particularly the New York Times, has relied on this study as the basis for its public assurances that it is safe to inject young children with mercury — a potent neurotoxin — at concentrations hundreds of times over the U.S. safety limits.

Thorsen, who was a psychiatrist and not a research scientist or toxicologist, parlayed that study into a long-term relationship with CDC. He built a research empire called the North Atlantic Epidemiology Alliances (NANEA) that advertised its close association with the CDC autism team, a relationship that had the agency paying Thorsen and his research staff millions of dollars to churn out research papers, many of them assuring the public on the issue of vaccine safety.

The discovery of Thorsen’s fraud came as the result of an investigation by Aarhus University and CDC which discovered that Thorsen had falsified documents and, in violation of university rules, was accepting salaries from both the Danish university and Emory University in Atlanta — near CDC headquarters — where he led research efforts to defend the role of vaccines in causing autism and other brain disorders. Thorsen’s center has received $14.6 million from CDC since 2002.

Thorsen’s partner Kreesten Madsen recently came under fierce criticism after damning e-mails surfaced showing Madsen in cahoots with CDC officials intent on fraudulently cherry picking facts to prove vaccine safety.

Leading independent scientists have accused CDC of concealing the clear link between the dramatic increases in mercury-laced child vaccinations beginning in 1989 and the epidemic of autism, neurological disorders and other illnesses affecting every generation of American children since. Questions about Thorsens’s scientific integrity may finally force CDC to rethink the vaccine protocols since most of the other key pro vaccine studies cited by CDC rely on the findings of Thorsen’s research group. These include oft referenced research articles published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the New England Journal of Medicine and others. The validity of all these studies is now in question.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/central-figure-in-cdc-vac_b_494303.html

Filed Under: Blog, Legal, Vaccinations Tagged With: , ,

Warning: The Dietary Supplement Safety Act

February 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Citizens for Health

www.citizens.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 8, 2010

CONTACT: Glenn Turner, 917-817-3396 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 917-817-3396 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or Shayna Samuels, 718-541-4785 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 718-541-4785 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

McCain / Dorgan “Dietary Supplement Safety Act” Would Cripple Nutritional Products Industry While Doing Nothing to Protect Consumers from Dangerous Performance Enhancing Drugs, Says Nonprofit Consumer Group

Interviews Available with Jim Turner, Chair of Citizens for Health
& Leading Expert on Consumer Access to Dietary Supplements

On Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) of 2010. This bill would amend the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), undermining, if not entirely eliminating, consumer access to valuable dietary supplements, according to Jim Turner, Citizens for Health Board Chair.

The bill would reverse supplements’ 100 year long status as foods, create onerous requirements for supplements not applied to other foods or even to prescription drugs, and wipe out significant numbers of small supplement manufacturers and sellers.

“This bill, typical of Washington’s destroy the economy, wipe out consumer rights, and undermine individual health mentality, thoughtlessly reinforces the costly, unresponsive, dangerous policies that have created an unsafe and depleted food supply and a bankrupt health care system” says Turner.

James S. Turner is a partner in the Washington, DC, law firm of Swankin & Turner, formed in 1973, and Board Chair of Citizens for Health, the consumer voice of the natural health community. In 1994, he worked with the newly created Citizens for Health to send over a half million communications to Congress in support of DSHEA, which then passed.

Citizens for Health Analysis of the McCain / Dorgan Bill:

Introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) on February 4th as the “Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010,” S. 3002 is designed, says the bill preamble, to “more effectively regulate dietary supplements that may pose safety risks unknown to consumers.”

Following a surge of anti-doping initiatives and announcements dating back to a September 29, 2009 — when the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs heard the testimony of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency USADA), and to a December 2nd, 2009 USADA press conference — the proposed bill would dramatically: cripple the nutritional products industry, harm consumers and do absolutely nothing to stem the tide of laboratory-concocted, performance-enhancing drug hybrids masquerading as dietary supplements.

Problems in the bill serious enough to make the bill a completely un-fixable and untenable piece of legislation include:

  1. Creating completely outrageous facility registration requirements for all brands, products and ingredients, similar to the unworkable European Food Supplements Directive (EFSD) despite the fact that US food facilities are already required to be registered;
  2. Effectively removing the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status of most major herbs and botanical ingredients, thereby deeming most (if not all) herbals as “adulterated” unless they are included on the FDA’s “Accepted Dietary Ingredients” list;
  3. Mandating the creation and maintenance of voluminous safety dossiers on every dietary supplement and ingredient;
  4. Requiring that “all adverse events” (not just serious adverse events) relating to supplements be reported, including non-serious, trivial and unsubstantiated reports which will make the effective adverse reporting system supported by Citizen For Health unworkable; and
  5. Codifying arbitrary and capricious cease and desist and recall authority based merely on the FDA’s “reasonable probability” that an item is adulterated or misbranded — this action can be taken regardless of whether the manufacturer is properly challenging the order;

This bills’ proposed establishment of an approved list of ingredients (much like EFSD’s approved lists of supplement ingredients and ingredient forms) is something to which the U.S. government (specifically the U.S. Codex delegation) has been adamantly opposed — so why would that same U.S. government endeavor to create “lists” within America’s own borders that it sees fit to battle against internationally?

The proposed provision that would require adverse events to be reported would bog the AER system down with hundreds if not thousands of trivial and product-unrelated reports; this would serve to bury reports noting potential areas of concern (signal events) in a garbage heap of useless information.

We ask all members of the U.S. Senate to NOT sponsor this misdirected, supplement-scapegoating bill that does nothing to fix the performance-enhancement spiking problems endemic within professional sports today. We also ask members of congress to demand that FDA use its existing ample authority to force off the market all products falsely branded as herbal products or dietary supplements particularly those that contain dangerous ingredients that the law already makes illegal.

# # #

Filed Under: Blog, Dietary Supplements, Legal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“STOP THE SHOT” Litigation Filed

October 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

MEDIA RELEASE
Natural Solutions Foundation
The Voice of Global Health Freedom™

http://www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org/

For Immediate Release:

“STOP THE SHOT” Litigation Filed
Health Freedom Advocates and NY Health Care Workers
Seek Protection from DC Federal Court in
Legal Effort to Void FDA Swine Flu Vaccine Approval

Washington DC – October 9, 2009:

Despite the FDA’s intention to begin delivery this week of the n ovel “Swine Flu” 2009-H1N1-A live virus nasal mist vaccine to 90,000 government-approved locations nationwide, six New Yorkers and several NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) filed for an Emergency Injunction in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the distribution of what they believe are illegal, unnecessary and dangerous vaccines.

The case of Null, Laibow et al. v FDA et al. [Docket No. 1:09-cv-01924]challenges the legality of the September 15th licensing of four vaccines prior to any safety testing for what the government calls a “novel flu virus with pandemic potential.” The complaint alleges that the government failed to follow its own rules and applicable legislation in rushing the vaccine approvals in the absence of any of the requisite minimum scientifically sound and appropriate testing for both safety and effectiveness as required by law since 1964.

Link to Complaint:http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=3619
Link to Brief: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=3624
Link to Action eAlert: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=3635
Link to “I’m Not a Pharma Serf” Action Item: http://bit.ly/4FxB4r

The New Yorkers are all health care workers who are therefore subject to that State’s new legal mandate (promulgated August 13, 2009) requiring that nearly all of the State’s half million health care workers receive all Federally recommended flu vaccines or lose their jobs. This requirement puts the health care workers in significant jeopardy since these newly approved vaccines have never been tested for either safety or efficacy and may carry major risks.

The lawsuit, announced at a demonstration by the health care workers last week at the State Capitol in Albany on September 29, 2009, is expected to be just one of the suits filed challenging various government “emergency” actions for a flu that has proven (during the just concluded Southern Hemisphere flu season) to be neither pandemic nor virulent despite dire predictions to the contrary and despite a Health Emergency declared by the CDC on April 25, 2009, 11 days after the first alleged death from Swine Flu on April 14, 2009 and a Level 6 Pandemic declaration by the World Health Organization followed on June 11, 2009 (which was only possible since W.H.O. downgraded the definition of a “Level 6 Pandemic”).

The Plaintiffs include health care professionals such as Dr. Gary Null, PhD, a well-known New York nutritionist, Rima E. Laibow, MD, a New York licensed physician who is Medical Director and a Trustee of the Natural Solutions Foundation, Dr. Tedd Koren DC, head of Foundation for Health Choice and four other health care workers covered by the mandate, including a Registered Nurse who has had prior adverse reactions to flu vaccines; a pregnant Nurse’s Aide, a health care student who has been told that she cannot see the patients whom she must see in order to finish her training, and a woman who works in the billing department of a hospital. All have been denied exemptions and told they will lose their positions under the new mandate if they are not vaccinated with all flu vaccines, including the new “Swine Flu” vaccine.

The Complaint alleges that the FDA erred in determining that safety testing was not needed because the 2009-H1N1-A vaccines are a mere “change of strain” not requiring safety testing. The Plaintiffs claim there is no significant scientific agreement that supports the government’s actions. The experts presented by the Plaintiffs include Sarah Schon MD, a Board Certified Immunologist and Paul G. King PhD, a noted analytical chemist with decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

The Plaintiffs further allege that the Live Attenuated Influenza Virus (LAIV) nasal mist vaccine could trigger the very pandemic the government claims people should fear, calling the decision to allow a LAIV vaccine using a WHO and CDC declared “novel pandemic virus” an “arbitrary and capricious decision without any basis in the scientific record.”

Citing HHS Secretary Sebelius’s September 15th testimony before a Congressional committee when she announced the vaccine licensing, that even the FDA’s own scientists would not “sign-off” on the use of the most toxic vaccine ingredients (known as “oil in water adjuvants”) the Plaintiffs allege the government has a plan to nonetheless approve these substances, never before approved for drug use in the United States, under an “Emergency Use Authorization” (EUA) permitted by the 2005 Project Bioshield Act. On July 13, 2009, according to a press release on the www.HHS.gov web site, the government purchased nearly a half billion dollar’s worth ($485 Million USD) of the deadly adjuvnt squalene, an oil in water adjuvant, blamed by many nongovernmental physicians as a “Gulf War Syndrome” causative agent in more than 25% of the soldiers who were subjected to an experimental anthrax vaccine, Vaccine A, containing squalene. Vaccine A was later authorized under an EUA propmpting a Court ruling that makes its use legal only in voluntary situations. The government’s stockpile is enough squalene to “stretch” the 167 million doses of “Swine Flu” vaccine the government has purchased to cover the entire American population since the purpose of an adjuvant is to increase immune response to the injected material. The FDA web site indicates that the adjuvanted vaccines will be provided under an EUA which will allow the agency to skirt “Good Manufacturing Practices” and any issue of whether squalene is too dangerous to be permitted.

Secretary Sebelius further testified before Congress that a single company will be contracted by the government to deliver the vaccines to 90,000 locations around the country. The FDA site further indicates that the squalene will be mixed with the approved vaccines at those sites before administering the shots, without regard to normal pharmaceutical manufacturing requirements. The Plaintiffs claim that this will result in dangerously adulterated vaccines that may cause much more injury than the infamous 1976 “Swine Flu” vaccine program that killed hundreds and maimed thousands before it was stopped just ten weeks after it began, with nearly fifty million Americans having received that deadly shot or the dangerous squalene-adjuvanted Vaccine A which caused so many cataclysmic illnesses and deaths in Gulf War I military personnel. These shots, too, were both unnecessary and untested.

In their submitted Complaint, Brief and Certifications the Plaintiffs remind the Court that as early as 1905, even before the Federal authorities had the legal power to license vaccines, the Supreme Court stated, in Jacobson v Massachusetts (197 U.S. 11),

“We are not to be understood as holding … that the judiciary would not be competent to interfere and protect the health and life of the individual … ‘All laws,’ this court has said, ’should receive a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression or absurd consequence.’ …”

The lead attorney for the Plaintiffs, Leslie Fourton JD, of New York, is working with the respected Washington regulatory law firm of Swankin and Turner and a team of legal experts from around the country, including Larry Becraft JD, Alabama, Alan G. Phillips JD, North Carolina, and Ralph Fucetola JD, New Jersey.

Counsel Fourton stated,

“Without taking into account serious objections raised by many scientists, FDA approved four “Swine Flu” 2009-H1N1-A Vaccines without enough concern about any definitive safety testing and the quality thereof. The Secretary of Health and Human Services testified before Congress, announcing the approvals and a program to widely distribute the Vaccines which were purchased by the federal government. The administrative record appears to be defective in that the record as posted on the Agency web site does not include, for all the approved Vaccines, a drug package insert or label with an accurate list of ingredients. We don’t know what was approved or how dangerous it may be. The Plaintiffs seek immediate relief.”

The nongovernmental organizations who are supporting the New Yorkers threatened by the “Swine Flu” vaccine approvals, by joining in the legal action, are the National Solutions Foundation (www.HealthFreedomUSA.org), whose President is Maj Gen Bert Stubblebine (US Army Ret.), Dr. Tedd Koren’s Foundation for Health Choice (www.FoundationforHealthChoice.com) and the Gary Null organization (www.GaryNull.com).

For further information contact:

Ralph Fucetola JD – 973-300-4594

Natural Solutions Foundation Counsel and Trustee

ralph.fucetola@usa.net

Filed Under: Blog, Legal, Vaccinations Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Who Will Listen?

August 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

PRESS RELEASE
WHO WILL LISTEN TO OUR PLIGHT AND PAIN?

My name is Bhagwati Jerambhai Parmar. I live in Paliyad village in Botad taluka of Bhavnagar district. I am 13 years old. I live with my mother. My father was suffering from kidney stone and he went through medical treatment but did not survive. I left going to school from year 2004 and I have passed 3 rd grade. After leaving my school, I used to go with my father to dump the garbage in the village panchayat. I go to clean and sweep when someone calls me. I go to do cleaning work in Darbargadh for 2 to 3 times in a month. I go alone to get leftover food. I also drag dead dogs and for that I get 5 Rupees. There is lot of money problems in my house so I go with other girls to pick plastics and I get 5 to 15 rupees which I use to buy milk for our tea. After the death of my father, my brother has joined in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in Rakhial area. He works as man-hole worker. I am sad about it because I know many people die in the man-hole. Despite that to fill up our stomachs, to do begar we have sent our brother.

 

My name is Gautamkumar Ratilal Valmiki. I am 13 years old. I am living in Harij town of Patan District. Right now I am studying in Standard 8th. We the valmiki community students face discrimination during the mid-day meals in our school. The other community students also abuse us on the basis of our caste. These students belong to Prajapati and Thakore community. I also do the cleaning work of my school class room everyday. I also go in the Ambika nagar area twice or thrice in a week in place of my father who is employed by Harij Municipal Corporation to do sanitation work. My father is drawing Rs. 1500/- as monthly Salary. Every day I also go to Ambikanagar area to collect leftover food. If we drag a dead dog or cat we are given Rs. 8/- or 10.3.

 

My name is Gautamkumar Ratilal Valmiki. I am 13 years old. I am living in Harij town of Patan District. Right now I am studying in Standard 8th. We the valmiki community students face discrimination during the mid-day meals in our school. The other community students also abuse us on the basis of our caste. These students belong to Prajapati and Thakore community. I also do the cleaning work of my school class room everyday. I also go in the Ambika nagar area twice or thrice in a week in place of my father who is employed by Harij Municipal Corporation to do sanitation work. My father is drawing Rs. 1500/- as monthly Salary. Every day I also go to Ambikanagar area to collect leftover food. If we drag a dead dog or cat we are given Rs. 8/- or 10.

 

My name is Shailesh Batukbhai Vegad. I live alone in Vallabhipur city in Vallabhipur taluka of Bhavnagar district. I am 14 years old. My mother was suffering from cancer and father committed suicide by hanging. I failed again and again so I left my school from 7th standard in year 2008. I go for private cleaning work 8 to 10 times in a month. I get 50-60 rupees/day. I do not go to beg leftover food, but I eat anywhere in Valmiki vas. I drag dead dogs and cats and for that I get 50 to 60 Rupees. I have no parents so I feel lonely. I have no support from anybody.

 

My name is Umesh Bharatbhai Vegad. I live with my Parents in Vallabhipur city in Vallabhipur taluka of Bhavnagar district. I am 13 years old. I study in 8th standard. We are seated on the floor in school and other caste children sit on the bench. Teachers and children from Patel and Darbar caste keep discrimination with us. I clean my class twice in a month. I clean toilet and urinal every Saturday.

 

 

These are glimpses in to the lives of children from the manual scavenging community. Manual scavenging is one of the most obnoxious practices existing since the origin of the caste system in India. It is a forced caste based occupation where more than 1.3 million people in India are affected by this practice.

Despite constitution and legal mechanisms, manual scavenging and related caste based occupations exists in crudest forms in the rural and well as urban areas across India.

Navsarjan is a state level human rights organization existing for past 20 years in Gujarat. Navsarjan took up this issue in the state of Gujarat from one village called Ranpur in Ahmedabad district and made it a state level campaign filing petition in the High Court of Gujarat as well as in the Supreme Court of India.

Dragging a Dead AnimalSince year 2003, Navsarjan has been working on the issues of discrimination against Dalit children both in the government schools and in private spheres. While involved in this program, we have found that the Dalit children and mainly the scavenger community children who are called as Valmikis are forced to do menial work like cleaning class rooms, toilets and urinals in the school where they go to study. They are also discriminated by the school teachers and children from other castes which results in to high drop out of these children from the schools at a very young age. They also are involved in doing other caste based occupations like dragging or pulling of dead dogs, cats and pigs in return of 5 to 10 rupees. They also do collection of scrap, waste paper and rag picking. They go with their parents to get left over food in the village. They beat drums, etc.

Taking Leftover FoodNavsarjan’s organizes protest day against the manual scavenging practice in Gujarat every year and this year on 17th August 2009 1000 children both girls and boys from the valmiki community will be speaking about their plight and pain of being born in the lowest caste. These children would be coming from 43 talukas i.e. blocks covering 13 Districts of Gujarat. A document highlighting the voices of these children would be also released.

The venue of the event would be Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad. The program would be held from 12 noon to 4 pm. At 12 pm the rally would start from Vadaj Bus stand and then would proceed to the Gandhi Ashram. The voices of the children would be heard after 1 pm.

To learn more about Navsarjan and its Executive Director, Manjula Pradeep, see our Conscious Woman of the Month article about this remarkable woman and her crucial work on behalf of human rights in India.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Human Rights, Legal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Hospital’s Oxytocin Protocol Change Sharply Reduces Emergency C-Section Deliveries

June 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I’m not much into research studies.  Not one of them has ever convinced me of anything, but I’ll get into the reasons for that another time.  Here’s a hilarious one, though.  Hilarious because it demonstrates how far we’ve gone into needing evidence-based studies to verify for us what should be common sense:

Hospital’s Oxytocin Protocol Change Sharply Reduces Emergency C-Section Deliveries

By Betsy Bates
Elsevier Global Medical News
Conferences in Depth
June 22, 2009

CHICAGO (EGMN) – The modification of the oxytocin infusion protocol at a large university-affiliated community hospital nearly halved the number of emergency cesarean deliveries over a 3-year period, reported Dr. Gary Ventolini.

As oxytocin utilization declined from 93.3% to 78.9%, emergency cesarean deliveries decreased from 10.9% to 5.7%, Dr. Ventolini said at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Other birth outcomes improved as well at an 848-bed community hospital that serves as the primary teaching hospital of the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

These included significant declines in emergency vacuum and forceps deliveries and a sharp reduction in neonatal ICU team mobilization for signs of fetal distress (P = .0001 in year 3 compared with year 1).

“More and more data are showing us that we are using too much oxytocin too often,” Dr. Ventolini, professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the university, said in an interview.
“Our pivotal change was to modify the oxytocin infusion from 2 by 2 units every 20 minutes to 1 by 1 unit every 30 minutes. And we see the results,” he said.

Outcomes of 14,184 births from 2005, 2006, and 2007 were retrospectively analyzed to determine any impact of the change in an oxytocin protocol implemented in 2005. Patient characteristics were similar in all three calendar years.

The most profound changes were in emergency deliveries, including caesarean deliveries, vacuum deliveries (which dropped from 9.1% to 8.5%), and forceps deliveries (which fell from 4% to 2.3%).

The overall cesarean section rate remained unchanged, as did the rates of cord prolapse, preeclampsia, and abruption.

Dr. Ventolini cited a recent article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that suggests guidelines for oxytocin use, including avoidance of dose increases at intervals shorter than 30 minutes in most situations (Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2009;200:35.e1-.e6).

Dr. Ventolini and his associates reported no financial conflicts of interest relevant to the study.

Here is the actual link to the story: http://egmn.idsk.com/stories_global/35_ds_7863805.jsp

Filed Under: Blog, Childbirth, Consumer Protection, Legal, Medications Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Perinatal: A Symposium on Birth Practices and Reproductive Rights

May 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Brava to Jessica Clements for organizing the following interdisciplinary symposium.  I hope to see many new names and/or topics presented there – it’s time for a little freshness and variety in our birthing gatherings!

CALL FOR PAPERS
Submission Deadline: July 13, 2009

PERINATAL
A Symposium on Birth Practices and Reproductive Rights

Wednesday 7th October 2009 (tentative) at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia

Forty years ago, the feminist movement advocated for reproductive rights.  Over the years, childbirth was dropped from the agenda. Why? What has this meant for women? How are women organizing for change?

We welcome submissions from scholars, students, activists, artists, mothers and others who work or research in this area. Comparative and interdisciplinary work is encouraged. Feminist inquiries are explicitly sought, although all submissions will be considered. We encourage a variety of types of submissions including academic papers from all disciplines, workshops, creative submissions, performances, storytelling, visual arts, and other alternative formats.

This symposium is interdisciplinary.  Possible topics include:

  • Cultural myths and expectations around birth (written, verbal, or visual
    culture)
  • Rethinking maternal-fetal conflict
  • The psychological impact of contemporary birth practices
  • Developments in midwifery, homebirth, and unassisted birth
  • The symbolic significance of birth practices as socialization
  • The evolution of contemporary birth practices and taboos
  • Maternal resistance to birth practices
  • The feminist movement and birth

If you are interested in being a presenter, please send a 250-500 word abstract and a 50 word bio by July 13, 2009 to: Jessica Clements (jmooreq@gmu.edu). Late abstracts will be considered and accepted if possible.

Please send the abstract as an attachment, not in the body of an email, in either PDF or Word DOC format. Include Title, Abstract (250-500 words), Name, Institutional Affiliation, Address, Phone, Email Address, Brief Bio (50 words).

Filed Under: Blog, Childbirth, Feminism, Human Rights, Legal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lawyer in Maryland Offering Free Legal Help To Women Facing VBAC Bans

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I just received word that there is a lawyer in Maryland offering free legal help to women in that state facing VBAC bans.  I haven’t had a chance to follow up on this, but here is the email I received.  I don’t quite understand why the lawyer’s name and email is not included, and it’s not quite clear whether inquiries should be sent to the email in this announcement (I’m not on that list, it was forwarded to my email).

Please comment if you have anything to add (and/or clarify!):

“I am excited to announce that we now have a lawyer right here in Maryland who is offering free legal help to women facing VBAC hospital VBAC bans. Her availability to do this work is between now and the end of the summer so it is important that we find a woman as soon as possible who is currently pregnant and facing one of the VBAC bans in our state. Maryland currently has bans in place in Cecil County, Garrett County, and in Easton. Please email any Maryland lists you are on and ask people to help spread the word so that we don’t miss the opportunity to possibly be the first state in the country to take this kind of legal action. Feel free to include my email address ICANofBaltimore@ comcast.net on all postings. Thanks.

Filed Under: Blog, Childbirth, Consumer Protection, Human Rights, Legal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cytotec and Other Verdicts

April 11, 2008 By 1 Comment

The comments and follow-up to the Maddy Oden Conscious Woman of the Month article are still coming in.  Gloria Lemay just sent me a reference to an older case involving cytotec and failure to obtain informed consent – this one with a large verdict. Maddy has informed me that there is also a cytotec lawyers site – she is not sure how successful they are in gathering and winning cases, but some are won. Apparently most are settled out of court with gag clauses.

$2 million
Failure To Obtain Consent For Off-Label Use Of Cytotec
Case name withheld.
Plaintiff’s Counsel: Joseph J. Wadland and James L. Ackerman, Wadland & Ackerman, Boston and Andover
The plaintiffs were a 38-year-old woman and her husband who were expecting their first child. At about 41 weeks of gestation, the decision was made by her primary Ob/Gyn to induce her labor. A dose of 25 micrograms of Cytotec, a drug that the FDA has approved for the prevention of gastric ulcers, but not for the induction of labor or cervical ripening, reportedly was given vaginally. The care providers did not obtain the mother’s informed consent for the use of Cytotec that was being administered for an “off-label” indication in a high-risk situation. A series of complications arose, including the deceleration of the fetal heart rate and the baby was delivered via Caesarian section. The baby was lifeless and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. The mother also required a hysterectomy as a result of off-label use of Cytotec. When the claim settled on Aug. 7, 2001, it was the first reported settlement or verdict in Massachusetts involving the drug Cytotec.  And a few more maternity related lawsuits among the largest settlements in MA in 2001: http://www.masslaw.com/reprints/breakstone011402.htm 
 

Although the facts of this case are horrific, it is encouraging to see this as nearly all verdicts against OB/GYNs are for failing to do a cesarean or failing to do one soon enough.  These kinds of verdicts play a major role the rise in the cesarean rate – for every woman who sues for those reasons, hundreds of others are cut unnecessarily, causing unnecessary trauma and increased risk to the mothers and their babies.  Defensive medicine at its worst. 

Furthermore – and worthy of similar attention and concern – new obstetricians are no longer taught the skills necessary to handle out-of-the-ordinary vaginal births.  If your birth doesn’t go like clockwork, you’re off to the OR.  If your baby isn’t in a good position, you’re off to the OR.  Breech? Forget it – directly into the OR. Vaginal breech birth is no longer part of the curriculum. I could go on and on — and I know there are exceptions, but they are becoming increasingly rare.

More widespread publicity of cases such as the following is essential – the public needs to know about the dangers of these drugs, among others and of the risks inherent in many obstetric practices.    And that babies don’t all come out “on time” and in the same presentation.

Filed Under: Blog, Childbirth, Consumer Protection, Legal, Medications Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Impact of Interventions

April 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I am delighted with the response we have received to the article I wrote on Maddy Oden, our Conscious Woman of the Month.  Commentaries and references to this article have been appearing on numerous blogs, including Laureen Hudson’s ElementalMom, Heather Crawford’s Birthing Spirit (Australia), I Am A Monkey’s Mamma, and in online discussion forums - including ICAN’s main (international) list.  I hope that everyone on the Conscious Woman listserve (soon to exceed 600!) takes the time to read about Maddy and the Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation.  Maddy – with the assistance of our own James S. Turner - will be going back to the FDA this June in an effort to put an end to the off-label use of Cytotec for labor inductions.  Perhaps some of the other dangerous labor-inducing drugs will follow Cytotec into oblivion in years to come.

The women of ICAN understand this all too well.   Many of the ICAN women – myself included – began with an unecessary labor induction and ended up in the OR – what I recall as an unnecessarian preceded by a little bit of hell.  We can count our blessings that we did not meet Tatia’s fate – but blessings are still few after a birth experience like that, especially when the experience is followed by some real education and raised consciousness about what could have been.  For a terrific dose of quality childbirth education,  check out Sarah Buckley’s Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom, Gloria Lemay’s Essentials of Maternal-Infant Care series, and new websites and blogs on childbirth, including ICAN’s gorgeous new website at www.ican-online.org – beautifully done by Melissa Collins and Laureen Hudson.

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