Testimony Of Tonya and Gerald Nelson
Indianapolis, Indiana
Before The Government Reform Committee
Hearing of August 3, 1999
Vaccines:
Finding the Balance Between Public Safety and Personal Choice
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Tonya: Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee,
I am grateful to be here today to share with you our story regarding vaccines. I
am the mother of four children. Abigail was my third. Abigail was born 11:27
p.m.on March 22, 1994. She was a very healthy baby. We stayed two days in the
hospital. Prior to our release from the hospital, we was given the Hepatitis B
vaccine. I asked questions about the injection and was given a booklet to read
that stated to expect no side effects except soreness in the area of injection.
We came home after receiving the vaccine. She was very cranky her cry was very
disturbing more of a scream than crying. She began to spit up a lot. I called
the doctor and was told to give her some water between feedings and to call back
in a week. I did as the doctor suggested. But I began to get scared because her
stool became loose and greenish yellow so I called back in a week and was told
that was normal and to keep an eye on her and call if I needed to.
The second week was worse her cry was just as bad and stools still loose. She
became cold to touch and she shivered a lot. I called the doctor again she told
me to put her infant hat on her and check temperature four times a day and to
call back the next week. I did this. Her temperature stayed at 96 degrees. Then
her third week she began to turn purple in her hands and feet and around her
lips. I called the doctor and was told to watch her breathing and they would see
the baby next week for her one-month check up and to keep her wrapped in
blankets tightly.
I was becoming scared I asked them to get her in before her check up and was
told they had no appointments. I hung up from that call and called my son's old
doctor. She told me that she could not help without seeing the child and since
Abby was on Medicaid and she was not a Medicaid provider, she was restricted
from seeing Abby. I offered to pay cash, but she said she could not take money
from a Medicaid patient.
At this point, Abby is still crying and vomiting and having loose stools and
very cold. The night before she died she screamed for six hours straight plus
she had a lot of bowel movements. She finally fell asleep around 11:30 pm.
I woke up to find her dead at 6 am. I placed my 911 call and started CPR the
fireman and paramedics showed up. They pronounced her deadly shortly after they
arrived.
That afternoon we were picking out her coffin instead of a crib. We had to
choose an outfit to bury her in instead of picking one out to have her one-month
pictures taken. The coroner said it would be two weeks before a cause of death
could be determined. The coroner and police treated me like I had committed a
crime, taking pictures of her old bottles and formula. They questioned me over
and over. It was not the kind of situation a mother should be in when her child
has just died.
About two months later, we received a telephone call from a Dr. Thomas Gill, of
the Marion County Coroner's Office. He told us the cause of death was the
Hepatitis B virus - which she could only have gotten form the vaccine. He told
me that he would get the death certificate out to me very soon.
Sixteen weeks later, we received the death certificate in the mail and the cause
of death was "natural causes" otherwise known as "SIDS" (Sudden Infant Death
Sudden). I was shocked to say the least. I called the Coroner's Office and spoke
to Dr. Manders, the Coroner of Marion County and was told that Dr. Gill had been
asked to resign.
Dr. Manders stated that he had signed the death certificate. I asked how he
could sign the death certificate if he did not perform the autopsy. He told me
that he had done so since Dr. Gill was no longer there. We have not been able to
determine how he came to the cause of death since he did not perform the autopsy
and that Dr. Gill told us something very very different. He told me that if I
had questions, to call a Dr. Pless, a pathologist at Indiana University. I did
call and made an appointment to speak to Dr. Pless. He was a man with out
compassion. The most cold-hearted I have ever met. He told me to stop trying to
place the blame of my child's death on someone and go on with my life. He also
stated that if the vaccine did kill my daughter that it was saving more live
than it was taking.
I contacted a lawyer and he said to get all my information together and call him
back. I contacted the Infectious Disease center at Riley Children's Hospital and
spoke to a Registered Nurse. She was very helpful she told me that the vaccine
has been known to take infants lives and also to make them very sick. She could
not help me other than that she was scared she would loose her job. She also
told me that the infant does not develop it's own immune system until it is 3-4
months of age. I confirmed this with other doctors who said they are very
uncomfortable giving the injections at such an early age.
I then called my son's old doctor again and she told me she could not help me
because malpractice insurance is too expensive as it is. I tried to contact the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the vaccine company. I left
messages that were never returned.
To retain my own emotional well-being, and to care for my two older children, I
had to take a break from this, thinking that I had plenty of time to pursue this
with the Government. Our family was still grieving the loss of Gerald's parents,
then my Abby died, a not too much later a nephew died. I had to return to work
because we were already behind the eight ball financially, and having to pay for
a funeral and headstone for Abby only made that worse.
I was not the only member of the family who needed to heal from this trauma. My
husband, Gerald will share with you his experiences shortly. My older children
needed counseling that we could not afford and the school told us that she was
young enough that she would soon forget. To compound all of this, my second
child went blind in his right eye and I was trying to get disability for him to
help with medical bills. That request was declined. I can not say that the state
was a big help at all.
Finally, I was able to call the attorney back and was told that I was too late.
He said I only had two years to get compensated for our loss unless she had
lived. Then I would have had seven years.
We have had a lot of bills and misfortune due to this one vaccine. I had lost
the most important thing in my life and nobody cared. They were too busy or too
afraid of loosing their jobs or paying too much malpractice insurance. I also
know that my child was not a priority at getting an appointment with the doctor
because she was on Medicaid. The doctors do not get enough compensation to
encourage them to make Medicaid patients a priority.
Since we were in such financial distress already, I tried to get state funding
for her funeral and was told it would take a few weeks to get an approval for
this and that I would have to fill out papers. I didn't feel that I could hold
off for weeks to bury my child while paperwork was being filled out and
reviewed.
I gave up hope until I contacted Beth Clay on the Committee staff. This has been
like an open wound that has been trying to heal for five years, but has not. I
feel like coming and telling our story will be worth it if I can help save just
one child's life. I hope that through my own experience, I will be able to help
other parents also.
Of course none of this will make up for the loss we encountered five years ago.
By testifying today, my husband and I may finally be able to bring closure to
our grieving.
So far, we have been so busy just trying to survive that we have not done so. My
Abby would be in school now, learning to read and write, and sing songs.
Instead, we have a baby book that never got filled out.
Gerald Tonya and I are like many other ordinary Americans - a hard working
struggling to survive. Tonya came to our marriage with two beautiful children -
Sabrina and Kegan. Abby was born beautiful and healthy - she was my first child.
I was the proudest of Papa's. This tragedy compounded with other recent family
losses really tore me apart emotionally. I ended up loosing my job. We have
struggled to recover from this tragedy and to further understand how it is
appropriate for babies whose immune systems are not fully developed are being
vaccinated. We also want to see more information be provided to parents prior to
vaccination and that they be informed that there are medical and religious
exemptions. Physicians also have to be educated about these exemptions and be
comfortable giving them. We were told that the worst that could happen is that
our little Abby might have a sore arm - that was certainly not accurate
information. By coming today, we hope that the Government will move forward with
more research in the safety of vaccines in infants and in the combination of
vaccines. We also want medical freedom to be a consideration in finding the
balance between public health and each individual's health and safety. I would
also add that the Committee staff spoke with the Coroner's office yesterday and
that Abby's toxicology report showed that she had Hepatitis B.
Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee for this opportunity to
testify.
Pennsylvania Parents for Vaccine Awareness
P.O. Box 173
Mill Village, Pa. 16427
(814)796-4000
Email: ppva@velocity.net
Web Page: http://www.erie.net/~noshotz
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The information contained in this message
should not be construed with medical or legal
advice. The vaccination decision is yours
alone to make.
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