Swine Flu Vaccine Mistakenly Given to Student at New York School

Reading the New York Daily News today, I came across an article with swine flu that was worth blogging about. The title of the article was “Public school nurses give swine flu vaccine to kids without parents’ OK, sends child to hospital.”

The article explains that a nurse at Public School 335 in Crown Heights gave the swine flu vaccine to a student who didn’t have permission slips signed by her parents. The student was Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, who has epilepsy, and wound up in the hospital after receiving the shot. An ambulance was called and Nikiyah was taken to SUNY Downstate Medical Center and her mother was contacted. According to Naomi Troy, Nikiyah’s mom, the nurse did not ask for the child’s name before giving Nikiyah the vaccine and when Ms. Troy was summoned to the school after the mistake, the nurse tried to get Ms. Troy to sign a consent form.

New York medical malpractice lawyers would think that this is unacceptable. Nurses must coordinate with teachers and school administrators as to which students have their permission slips signed to receive the swine flu vaccine. School is supposed to be a safe environment for kids. Think about if that was your child, how would you feel? How would you react?