After hearing testimony from bereaved parents and numerous health
care professionals on the sudden death of toddler George Fisher ten days after he received the vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella, a
coroner ruled that the child’s death was unrelated to the vaccine.
Because George had suffered an epileptic fit four months
before receiving the MMR vaccine, he had a 2 percent chance of suffering from a
seizure as a result of the MMR. However, there are no known cases of children
dying as a result of these seizures, and therej is no evidence that George suffered
one before his death. The coroner also ruled that George’s symptoms (he had
diarrhea and red eyes in the days before his death) emerged too soon after the
MMR shot to be linked to it.
The coroner agreed with other infant health experts that
George had died of a rare condition called Sudden Unexpected Death in
Childhood.
George’s parents strongly disagree with the verdict. Sarah
Fisher, George’s mother, said, “I think it’s so wrong to put the death of a
healthy little boy down to natural causes. There’s nothing natural about an
18-month-old boy dying of nothing, because that’s what it was—nothing.”
My heart goes out to George’s parents in these unthinkably
difficult times, further complicated by a legal controversy.
Photo: Getty Images
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