StemCell Therapy

A divorced Toronto dad has just won a slim victory in his ongoing battle with his ex-wife over her refusal to vaccinate their two children.

The father, who can only be identified as A.P. under a court-ordered publication ban, was recently given the go-ahead by the court to have bona fide vaccination experts testify on his behalf in his appeal of a shocking 2018 family law arbitration decision that sided with anti-vaxxers who falsely claim vaccines do more harm than good.

Its great news, says the dad. The judge recognized that the arbitrator made his decision without experts on my side.

Arbitrator Herschel Fogelman accepted the evidence of Dr. Toni Bark, despite the Chicago-based medical doctor having been rejected as an expert vaccination witness in a recent case in the United States.

Choosing not to vaccinate is not illegal, negligent nor immoral. It is a personal choice, wrote Fogelman in his controversial decision. I am unable to find any risk to (the children) if they remain unvaccinated. Further, I am satisfied on the evidence the vaccines may pose additional risk to them.

Self-represented at the time, the dad tried to introduce his own expert report from Dr. Alana Rosenthal, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases and consultant in infectious diseases at Sick Kids and North York General Hospital. She concluded that no scientific studies have shown vaccinesto be harmful.

But the arbitrator said Rosenthal would have had to testify in person and despite the father`s offer to contact her he refused to accept her evidence.

The dad not only lost his bid to have his kids vaccinated they are now 13 and nine but was ordered to pay $35,000 in the moms legal costs, which included the $11,000 she paid Bark.

After his story went public in the National Post, his Gofundme campaign raised more than $14,000 toward his hiring a legal team to launch an appeal. He was also overwhelmed with support from the health community with offers to testify on his behalf at no cost.

Last month, the Ontario Superior Court agreed the dad can introduce fresh evidence from three renowned experts when his appeal is heard in March.

The doctors credentials are lengthy and impressive and put Barks thin resume to shame. In addition to Rosenthal, he has Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peels associate medical officer of health who served as senior medical consultant in the vaccine safety section at the Public Health Agency of Canada; and Dr. Neal Sondheimer, staff physician in metabolic genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children and an associate professor of pediatrics in molecular genetics at UofT.

Justice Jasmine T. Akbarali, though, rejected the dads fresh evidence challenging Barks credentials or his bald allegation that Dr. Bark is a hired gun, takings tens of thousands of dollars to testify against the use ofvaccinations.

More worrying to the father was the judges decision to accept the new evidence from their childrens pediatrician: Her greatest and only concern at this point in time is for the psychological and emotional health of the children in view of the high-conflict divorce, and the media attention this case has attracted, Akbarali noted.

While the pediatrician recommends vaccinations to all her patients, she wrote that she believes the 13-year-old is mature enough to decide for himself and has expressed the wish not to be administered any vaccinations at the present time.

Is a doctor really recommending that a 13-year-old child should be able to decide if he wants to be vaccinated?

I was blown away, the father says.

I`m trying to be optimistic. But what may happen is that my oldest will be allowed to make his own decision. Thats the worst case where he is forced to choose between his moms side or his dads side. Its a lot of pressure for a 13-year-old.

And in the meantime? Both children contracted a bout of whooping cough they never had to suffer.

mmandel@postmedia.com

Originally posted here:
MANDEL: Divorced Toronto dad pushes ahead in vaccination fight - Toronto Sun

This entry was posted on January 5, 2020 at 8:44 am and is filed under Molecular Genetics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |