Category: Richard Jaffe JD

MANLY ADVICE FOR MY CALIFORNIA ANTI-VAXXER FRIENDS…

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Ok, some of you were put-off by the “anti-vaxxer” moniker in my last article. Some suggested you’re all health freedom fighters.  I’m not willing to bestow that laudatory title until I see a more cohesive, rational and convincing case made, though I’m sure I am a minority of one on this in the health freedom community.

How about the designator “vaccine-concerned” or “VC” for short? It’s neutral, accurately descriptive, and this is my post.  From now on, I am going to refer to you as “vaccine-concerned” or “VC.” I mean to include both ends of the VC spectrum, and here are the ends of the spectrum as I see it.

For sure, you are not together.

At one end are those who want vaccination criminalized because it harms everyone who is vaccinated. It includes people who deny that vaccines have had any benefit to mankind, and that it’s all a pharma scheme to suck money from the masses. It also includes the personal freedom people who think the government has no right to force anyone to get any vaccine or impose any consequences on the unvaccinated, regardless of the perceived consequences that the ignorant majority and conventional scientists think will be caused by the unvaccinated.

At the other end of the spectrum are the folks who are concerned that there might be too many vaccines for kids right now, who accept some preservative-free vaccines for some serious diseases, unless there are sound medical contraindications. It also includes those who will compromise their personal freedom to get inoculations before traveling to some foreign countries where diseases survive which have been long extinct in this country. This end of the spectrum also includes those who understand that the VC, who have strongly-held and metaphysically true beliefs, have to acknowledge and work within the system in which they currently represent a minority view. Indeed, these folks even understand that their views are considered by the mainstream to be anti-science and fringe. (See the just published article in the New Yorker entitled “The Mistrust of Science” by mainstream surgeon, author (and medical establishment tool), Atul Gawande. Continue reading MANLY ADVICE FOR MY CALIFORNIA ANTI-VAXXER FRIENDS…

TO MY CALIFORNIA ANTI-VAXXER FRIENDS: HERE’S SOME PROBABLY UNWANTED BUT POSSIBLY USEFUL ADVICE…

BY RICHARD JAFFEE JD

So in California come July 1st, there will no vaccine exemptions based on personal belief. However, there still will be a medical exemption, such as it is.

My understanding is that pediatrics/public health recognizes some contraindications for specific vaccines, but very, very few (if any) contraindications for not giving a child any vaccine anytime.  I’ve heard that at least one prominent CAM healthcare attorney is advising his California CAM physician clients not to write medical exemption letters for parents who have a fear of or personal belief against vaccination. That might be prudent advice, and certainly no lawyer will get into trouble for giving it.  Obviously, this is all very bad news for anti-vaxers.

You are not going to like this, but…

I will probably weigh-in on what I think are the medically supported justifications for the exemption another time and another forum.  For now, I’d like to talk to my anti-vaxer friends and colleagues, including those who for tactical/PR reasons characterize their views as in support of “informed consent” about the “dangers of vaccination”. You’re not going to like it, but to paraphrase Ziggy Martin in “Drive,” who’s gonna tell you when you’re too late and aren’t so great   In terms of where we are and the constitutional arguments being tossed around, well, you’re too late, wrong, and less lyrically, the imprecise hyperbolic language is not helping you focus on what may be realistically achievable.

First, the inaccurate hyperbole: California anti-vaxers claim that their kids and child care professionals are being forced by the government to be vaccinated.  Not true.  I’m from Texas, and in Texas we know what forced vaccination looks like. A couple years ago, the Texas legislature tried to force all young girls to get the HPV vaccine. The measure ultimately failed because of the public outcry against forced vaccination. California is not forcing anyone to get vaccinated. Rather, it imposes consequences (albeit draconian) for the unvaccinated; for kids, no public or private school; for adults, you can’t teach kids or be a child caregiver. That’s a big difference constitutionally and legally in general.  But in addition, by mis-framing the issue, you may be missing some realistic partial, medium-term solutions, as I’ll explain in a moment. Continue reading TO MY CALIFORNIA ANTI-VAXXER FRIENDS: HERE’S SOME PROBABLY UNWANTED BUT POSSIBLY USEFUL ADVICE…

Why can’t dying patients have ANY drug they can get their hands on?

By Richard Jaffe, Esq.

For almost 40 years, terminal patients have been trying to obtain access to unapproved new drugs. The latest effort has come from the Goldwater Institute (“GI”) which has made the strategic decision to bypass Congress and the federal courts and go directly to the state legislatures. GI’s legislative efforts have been wildly successful, having passed its “right to try” law in more than half of the states. That’s an almost unbelievable accomplishment and everyone should laud and support it, but it won’t do much, practically, until Congress is forced to act, and act in a big way.  Before I go into why the state legislative angle won’t do the job, let’s review how we got to where we aren’t, namely open access to pipeline (and other) drugs for very sick people who can’t be helped by FDA approved drugs. Continue reading Why can’t dying patients have ANY drug they can get their hands on?

Board Subpoenas , YES (usually); De Facto Search Warrants, NO

Note from Tim Bolen –  A good many of  our readers are from the “patient” side of the medical/healthcare equation.  But, for instance, there are those of us that have spent our careers on both sides of that practitioner/patient situation.  Health Professionals that can deal, successfully, with problems like Autism (Vaccine Damage), need a much higher level of protection – because the medical/health system frowns on cutting-edge innovation in health care.  My friend attorney Rick Jaffe has dealt with those challenges, successfully, for years.  

So, I am going to give all of you a glimpse of what goes on, legally, behind the scenes, to protect cutting edge practitioners, with some articles that would normally just go out to those hundred thousand or so of cutting-edge practitioners.

 I think you will find it all very interesting…

Texas Medical Board (TMB) personnel face damage claim for illegally trying to search and seize medical records.

by Richard Jaffe JD
In the late 1980s, my New York law firm did some work for Robert Atkins involving the New York medical board, (aka the Office of Professional Medical Conduct). The board wanted the records of a number of his ozone therapy patients. The patients didn’t want their records released, so Bob Atkins hired our firm to try to quash the subpoena.

We made precedent, but not in a good way. The New York appellate court ruled against us and held that the board has a right to medical records, even over the objection of the patient.  In virtually every state, with some variations, a medical board can obtain patient medical records in the absence of patient consent and despite HIPAA. (The one exception is California where if the patient doesn’t want his or her records released, the medical board has to go to court to convince a judge that there is good cause for releasing the records.  I am doing one of those cases right now.)

How this usually shakes out is that a physician receives a letter from the board about a complaint and asks for medical records. The letter will also usually include a subpoena and a business records affidavit form so that the medical records can be admissible in an administrative proceeding. The board’s letter usually gives the physician a few weeks to respond and turn-over the records.

Not too long ago, the Texas Medical Board tried something different for a doctor who they suspected might be operating an unregistered pain management clinic. A medical board investigator along with a DEA agent showed-up at a physician’s office and demanded access to certain medical records on the spot using presenting an instant subpoena (subpoena instantar). Continue reading Board Subpoenas , YES (usually); De Facto Search Warrants, NO