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Dr. Ken Stoller medical license revoked – baseless vaccine exemptions

ken stoller

This article about Dr. Ken Stoller was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

Professor Reiss writes extensively in law journals about the social and legal policies of vaccination. Additionally, Reiss is also a member of the Parent Advisory Board of Voices for Vaccines, a parent-led organization that supports and advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine-preventable disease. She is also a member of the Vaccines Working Group on Ethics and Policy.

On February 16, 2021, the Medical Board of California revoked the medical license of Dr. Ken Stoller because of his writing baseless medical exemptions from school vaccine requirements to ten children (and charging their parents hundreds of dollars for the privilege). The Board found multiple repeated acts that justified revoking the license permanently. Dr. Stoller’s lawyer announced that he intends to appeal the decision.

It is fair to describe Dr. Ken Stoller as anti-vaccine and to describe the exemptions in questions as baseless. The decision is justified and should be upheld. 

Continue reading “Dr. Ken Stoller medical license revoked – baseless vaccine exemptions”
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Anti-vaccine press conference about California’s SB276 – checking facts

anti-vaccine press conference

On September 5, 2019, Attorney Leigh Dundas, representing an organization called Advocates for Physician Rights, held an anti-vaccine press conference attended by very little press, and organized by anti-vaccine activists. 

Ms. Dundas called for a Department of Justice investigation into what she described as a “multi-year campaign to override laws aimed to safeguard the privacy of minor children,” and made accusations of a cover-up. Note that the Department of Justice receives many and constant calls for actions, so just calling them to investigate means little without actually pointing to serious wrongdoing that justifies it. Ms. Dundas did not point to such wrongdoing.

The anti-vaccine press conference addressed efforts in the early days after the enactment of SB277 to address an emerging issue – fake medical exemptions. But in spite of the efforts to present this as a new discovery or a nefarious plot, it isn’t.

In fact, SB277 opponents knew of the efforts in early 2016 and responded in an aggressive fashion, targeting Dr. Charity Dean, who took the lead in them, with many personal attacks and inclusion in one of their lawsuits. There is also no real evidence of anything nefarious. There is, however, abundant evidence that fake medical exemptions were an issue in 2016 and onwards, and SB276 is directed at a real problem. Continue reading “Anti-vaccine press conference about California’s SB276 – checking facts”

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Dr. Ron Kennedy loses appeal against providing records to medical board for vaccine exemptions

Ron Kennedy

On 14 June 2019, a California Court of Appeals issued a decision (pdf) that means, in essence, that Dr. Ron Kennedy (see Note 1) has to provide the Medical Board of California with medical records of three patients for whom he wrote vaccine medical exemptions. This is part of an ongoing saga around Dr. Kennedy’s exemption writing.

Ron Kennedy is a licensed MD who owns a clinic called the Anti-Aging Clinic in Santa Rosa, CA,  which offers, apparently, anti-aging treatments. The Yelp reviews for the clinic suggest he has a long history of filling medical marijuana prescriptions. 

I am going to review Dr. Ron Kennedy’s background and the case in this article. Continue reading “Dr. Ron Kennedy loses appeal against providing records to medical board for vaccine exemptions”

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Dr Bob Sears license on probation for invalid vaccine exemptions – again

Dr Bob Sears

On 27 June 2018, Dr Robert (Bob) Sears, an anti-vaccine pediatrician, agreed to a stipulation with the California Medical Board that put his license to practice on probation and subjected him to a set of non-trivial conditions.

The revocation of the medical license of Dr Bob Sears was stayed by the Medical Board – it will not become operative unless he violates the conditions – but given the specific allegations in the complaint and the fact that this was his first disciplinary action, an immediate full revocation was not likely. The sanction is non-trivial, and a clear warning against future misconduct.  Continue reading “Dr Bob Sears license on probation for invalid vaccine exemptions – again”

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Medical exemptions for vaccines after California SB277 – article review

medical exemptions

In 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB277 into law, which eliminated all personal belief exemptions, but still allowed valid medical exemptions, for vaccinations before children enter school. It was considered a public health triumph. Despite a multitude of lawsuits, the law has stood, while impressively increasing the vaccination rate in the state.

California state Sen. Richard J. Pan, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, led a hard-fought legislative battle against vaccine opponents to pass the law. He had to put up with racist attacks and public confrontations during and after the battle to pass SB277.

Despite the public health importance of mandatory vaccines for children entering school, some California families are utilizing false or questionable medical claims to jump through loopholes to not vaccinate their children. I have been advocating, along with many others, that California needs to close these loopholes, possibly by having public health experts review all medical exemptions before school children are allowed to enter school. This isn’t to force vaccinations on children, but to protect all children from dangerous, sometimes deadly, vaccine-preventable diseases.

In a new study by Salini Mohanty et al., published in Pediatrics, the authors examined the experiences of public health officials and immunization staffs that addressed requests for medical exemptions under SB277. Continue reading “Medical exemptions for vaccines after California SB277 – article review”