Nurses Warned of Legal Consequences for Vaccinating Students Without Parental Consent
The legal terms “assault” and “battery” pop up in city tabloids and cops and robbers TV programs all the time. But lately these familiar phrases could just as easily apply to the actions of some New York City elementary schools, and their school nurses, in the wake of the current swine flu pandemic sweeping the country, according to Richard Gurfein, a New York medical malpractice attorney and senior partner in the New York personal injury law firm of Gurfein Douglas, LLP.
According to recent media reports, school nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students whose parents didn’t sign up for it, including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital after getting the shot.
Vaccinating a child without parental consent, is a tort that has a one-year statute of limitations. But because the school is part of the City, a parent only has 90 days from the time of the battery to file a Notice of Claim.
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