Tetanus - "It was hideous"

It was only a matter of time that Starship should once against indulge in drama creation and statistics inflation on the front page of the Herald. The last time was 1998, but more on that later.

This time, presumably with the agreement of a health professional parent, the Herald  (PDF) decided to tell the story of a child with tetanus, and then reported Dr Shepherd from Starship saying:

"...there had been at least five cases of tetanus in unimmunised children at the Starship in the past 10 years."

The term "at least" is designed - of course - to make people think that around one unvaccinated child goes through Starships doorways every year, and Oh, what irresponsible parents those parents must be!

Dr Shepherd was not telling the truth about the numbers or disease progression either.... , but that's become normal for those of us who know how Starship operate.

Here are the cases which have been treated in Starship in the last four years: A 16 month old Maori girl from Northland. A four year old caucasian boy from Auckland. A 9 year old caucasian girl transferred from Waikato hospital, because Waikato Hospital didn't have a clue what to do.

This information is readily available for those who know how to use google, though presumably Dr Shepherd thinks we are too silly to know how. Cases of any disease, for which a vaccine is available, are usually presented at vaccine conferences (without the parents' permission, since the medical profession is a law unto themselves!) and shown in the form of powerpoints. This powerpoint ( URL and PDF uploaded in case it goes missing!) is by Dr Elizabeth Wilson and Dr Sophie Wen, and details the anonymised three cases. Note that they mention that high dose vitamin C therapy was administered to the four year old boy, at the request of the parent. Presumably that flew over the head of the participants, since apparently, Starship has now "never heard" of vitamin C being used for tetanus.

This second pdf relates to the case of tetanus where the parents requested high dose vitamin C, but the doctor chose to OMIT that information (URL and PPT - in case that goes missing too!!!). And why would Dr Bell chose to omit that information? Because he was the doctor who landed up looking pretty silly on TV3 when interviewed by Melanie Reid, after Allan Smith's survived... AFTER his family got lawyer Mai Chen, to force Auckland Hospital (and later Waikato hospital) to use intravenous vitamin C which saved Allan's life. At the time, doctors had pronounced to the family that Allan, diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia, H1N1, pneumonia - and on an ACMO machine, was about to die. The family asked for vitamin C on the basis they had nothing to lose, but the hospital said that Vitamin C was too was dangerous - it might muck up his kidneys or kill him - anything, but NOT vitamin C.  Doctors would rather a patient die - than get vitamin C.

Having already pronounced Allan Smith ready to die, the irony of their excuses didn't seem to sink in. Auckland ICU were forced to administer it, and lo and behold, Allan pulled through. Dr Bell, the head of ICU, pretty much said that perhaps Allan survived because of ECMO, or a bus went by, or maybe because he was "proned". Dr Bell has sworn and had pretty much declared on TV that high dose vitamin C is verboten in hospital.

Little wonder he notes that discussions with the parents of the boy with tetanus were "fraught".

For him that is.

Starship has a history of over dramatising whatever can be used to brow-beat the public who don't think like they do..... , something Dr Elizabeth Wilson should know all about, since she was also involved in the 1998 case of diphtheria that wasn't.

In 1998, a GP admitted a child to Starship hospital who had all the signs of tonsillitis, and who didn't much like it. What child does. And this child could not be termed a patient stoic.The parents had recently returned from Bali where they had been on holiday, where a diphtheria outbreak had taken place. Shortly after they returned, their child became ill with a sore throat which turned to tonsillitis.

The child was also unvaccinated by choice. The doctor put two and two together and made five and sent the child to A & E. The admitting doctor examining the child, possibly thought the doctor had been joking, because there were NO signs of diphtheria whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. That's made clear in the records. Just... tonsillitis. However, on the basis that you never miss an opportunity to make parents feel like criminals,  particularly freaked parents who have been backed into a corner thinking their child MIGHT have diphtheria, the mother got the obligatory lecture. She was pretty good and informed the doctor that such a public upbraiding was not only inappropriate in the setting, but also out of order.  And after an ECG was done, a throat swab was taken, the child was sent home with a diagnosis of tonsilitis and antibiotics.

The throat swab found S. Pyogenes and diphtheroids, but for whatever reason, the results went "missing" for a week.

What happened next was classic Starship drama-queening, with IMAC barracking in the corner through a megaphone.

Immediately, the Minister of Health was notified as was the media, and he took "control", publicly.  Pretty soon, the family's house was under siege with the media camping out on the pavement. By this time their child was fine, and they couldn't see what the fuss was all about. After all, he only had tonsillitis. But a call from their doctor informed them that they had to go to the surgery. They didn't want to go, hence the Minister of Health taking control.  From there, the system took over.

Very badly.  Said child arrived at hospital and was left in waiting area with lots of other children.  The father pointed out with slightly dripping sarcasm, that "supposedly" their child had deadly diphtheria, and don't you think that were that the case, a little more due-diligence might be taken?  Instantly the kid was isolated and out came the NASA suits.

All the children at the playcentre this child was at, had been revaccinated (against international protocols) staff were issued heavy duty antibiotics which had serious reactions in a few people, and the testing net was cast far and wide.  The media turned it into a pandemic drama.  The older children's school was notified, and right through the country, Nikki Turner, Dianna Lennon et al, used every media opportunity to make this family an example, while the family was silenced. Listening to talk back, the public vitriole was amazing.  The parents were evil; "my child exposed unecessarily to diphtheria, another vaccine and antibiotics..!!!" , and this kid was about to kill all the vaccinated children around him.

And from here, it went from bad, to worse ....  for the family ... of a child who was by that time, perfectly healthy.

Dr Elizabeth Wilson was one of the doctors who saw the child. Let's give her her due, because she wrote clearly in the files that there was nothing wrong with the child; the use of anti-toxin couldn't be justified; that the test result could have been an artifact. But also wrote that the public response was justified (!!) But that information was kept inhouse.  When they walked out the room the NASA suits were dumped in a chair.  The parents later told me that on a subsequent follow up where the child was given an (enforced) ECG (now that the system belatedly had it's brain right side up), that the woman who did the ECG was the same woman who did the first, and had NO IDEA why she was doing another.  Even more interesting was the fact that on the FIRST admission when this child also played with other children in A & E, there had been NO ATTEMPT to contact people known to be in A & E during that time.  .

Yet one of the medical staff pointed stated in a loud voice within the parents hearing, that, "Parents who don't vaccinate should be billed if their children get the disease, and sued if they infect others".  Consider this.  If this had REALLY been diphtheria - or maybe worse, EBOLA, what would REALLY have happened, because the system dropped just about every ball handed to them?!!!

Shortly after, I appeared on Good Morning with Susan Wood (who patted Nikki Turner's hand and told her she'd just had a diphtheria booster - such a good start to an interview).  Nikki Turner went on and on and on, about how seriously sick this child was, while I sat there gobsmacked, knowing that exactly the opposite was true.I might as well have sent a stuffed teddy in my place, because I didn't get a word in edgeways. In fact, the interview was so bad that I was met afterwards by outraged staff who apologised to me, while Nikki Turner flounced out with a huge smile on her face. Right there, I felt this was a deliberate set-up. As time went past and no-one from Starship corrected Nikki Turner's false comments made all that week, I realised that THIS is what happens to people who chose not to vaccinate, because the SYSTEM will always get the last word.  It doesn't matter what the truth is.

I rang the parents and told them to immediately go to the hospital and get a full copy of the files, and test results which they did, immediately.

I then presented them to the Herald, who just shrugged.

They did however, volunteer that they thought it a set up story, and when I asked why, they said, "Because right from day one, Starship had pre-prepared press releases on just about everything including the kitchen sink" or words to that effect.  But they never ran any corrections, or the parents' side of the story.

After all, who cares about a dead story!  A great story.  A story which increased their ratings!

But that's NOT where the story ended.

The parents DEMANDED in writing, that the supposed" diphtheria" their child had shown (in the laboratory test) be sent overseas to be typed and to PROVE that it came from the Indonesian region.

They received letters confirming that samples had been sent away, and then... silence.

More silence.

To this day, silence.

Then amazingly, there appeared a report in a medical journal on this case written by Dr Michael Baker, in which this child ( who had NO SYMPTOMS compatible with diphtheria at al with all that written in the hospital files....), suddenly was written up as having a bull neck and... wait for it... a GREY MEMBRANE. Did you suck in your breath? Yes, that's the worst form of diphtheria which can kill a child.

Yet all along, there were multitudes of staff at Starship who knew that wasn't true, and did nothing to correct that either.

But since when should truth get in the way of a good story?

How do I know all this? I have all the hospital files, the correspondence, the articles, and a stack of newpaper articles in date order, which look to me like an orchestrated campaign of vitriol on the part of those who should know better. And those who knew better - who knew that this child did NOT have any signs of clinical diphtheria stayed silent and let the parents be hung out to dry.

Why did they do that? Because the PARENTS did not wish to co-operate and do penance in public, in the face of systematic bullying tactics.

So Back to the front page of the Herald on Saturday. There is no doubt this child has tetanus. But quite plainly, these parents did NOT make an informed choice to not vaccinate.  What do YOU think an informed choice is?  It doesnt' JUST take into account possible vaccine reactions.  It takes into account the severity of the disese; knowledge of the disease - knowing EXACTLY what you're up against should you meet the worst consequences of EITHER decision whether you vaccinate or not.

If you make an informed choice to vaccinate, or NOT to vaccinate...., then you will know inside out, all the information here. http://www.beyondconformity.co.nz/resources-available/tetanus

Nothing less than this information constitutes informed consent either way.

So if you have chosen to vaccinate (or not vaccinate) your child against tetanus but don't actually KNOW WHY, read this information, http://www.beyondconformity.co.nz/resources-available/tetanus because if you don't understand all the issues, your child could be next, whether or NOT they are vaccinated, because vaccination does NOT guarantee your child will NOT get tetanus.

But THIS the most important piece of information, if your child gets tetanus and you land up in Starship.

So long as you do what they want, and be good parents, and front the paper to tell the message they want you to tell, then you will be redeemed as having "seen the light", be redeemed and received back into the fold.

BUT If you don't meekly submit, and IF you want the full and proper treatment for tetanus, you too will have fraught discussions with Dr Bell and the others. And relationships between you and the staff will be... shall we say... somewhat strained.

The medical profession will say to you, that the ONLY way to NOT be in this situation is to get your children vaccinated.

Well there are a few thousand of us out here, who not only have unvaccinated children, some of whom are now adults, but there are also thousands of people in this country who have never been vaccinated against tetanus, and have never had tetanus either.

The fact is that tetanus vaccines weren't available to hoi polloi in this country until 1970. Somehow, the unvaccinated vermin managed to build the country everyone now takes for granted.

Yes, some got tetanus. But anyone who has read all the information here will have a very good idea why that might be.

And many died from the treatment for tetanus,.... and anyone who has read all the information here will have a reasonably good idea of why that might be, as well.

Again, the key is to know what you are doing. And if in spite of doing everything, you or your child land up with tetanus you need to know what to do and if necessary, how to fight the system to get what you want, or how to get into yourself or your child what you want in spite of the system.

And it's a shame, that at the end of the day, it comes down to one thing - that the medical profession will say anything in order to achieve their own ends.

Stay tuned, as I suspect this story is anything but finished.