Will the High Court decide?: She was born at home – the parents refused to be vaccinated

The 24-year-old S. and her partner A. the 25-year-old, residents of the north of the country, chose to give birth to their first daughter in a home birth – without a midwife or a professional present. According to them, they prepared for this throughout the pregnancy, but precisely when they arrived at the hospital after the birth to make sure that the mother and the baby were healthy, they got into a prolonged conflict over the demand of the medical staff to vaccinate the baby for tetanus. The confrontation, according to them, continued even after they were released to their home and eventually led to a court order and policemen arriving at their home.

S. says that throughout the pregnancy she was under medical supervision and underwent the necessary tests. At one point she was even hospitalized due to early labor and fear of premature birth, and later she was in pregnancy monitoring. According to her, the birth took place in the 40th week of pregnancy on the night between Friday and Saturday at their home, when only she and A were present.

“We did a preparation with a professional. A received instruction on how to cut the umbilical cord and we had a sterile kit that had not been used before,” S tells Mako Health. According to her, the decision to give birth without a professional was due to a sense of security and the preparation she went through during the pregnancy. “I strongly believe in my body and that a woman knows how to give birth when she is given her space. I did physical, mental and emotional preparation and arrived at the birth very prepared and confident in myself. As long as everything was in order, I didn’t see any other place where I would want to give birth besides my home.”

About twenty hours after the birth, the couple arrived at the Emek Medical Center. According to them, their goal was to perform the necessary tests for the mother and the baby and to arrange the registration after the birth. Shani says that she and the baby were tested and that the tests performed on them were normal. “They checked that the placenta came out, that the uterus contracted, they did blood tests on me and also checked the girl. We stayed there for the night.”

Parents’ resistance to vaccination

But according to the couple, the next day the attitude towards them changed following a dispute that developed over the baby’s tetanus vaccination. A says that a senior doctor in the department expressed doubt that the cutting of the umbilical cord at home was done under sterile conditions and recommended that the baby be vaccinated. The couple objected.

“He looked at me and said he didn’t trust that the umbilical cord was cut in a sterile way,” claims A. “But we knew exactly how we did it and that we used sterile equipment. Very quickly we felt that we were no longer two parents who came to check that everything was fine and go home, but that a whole conflict had arisen around our decision.”

S. claims that the doctor made it clear to them that in his opinion there is a risk of tetanus disease and that if they refuse the vaccine, the matter may be referred to the welfare authorities and the court. “He explained that tetanus can also develop later, so from his point of view she should be vaccinated. We said that the umbilical cord was cut in a sterile manner and that all her tests were normal. From our point of view, there was no reason to do that.”

According to the couple, during the next few hours several social workers talked with them and a consultation was held with the medical team. S., who according to her was less than two days after giving birth, says that the experience was particularly difficult. “Instead of being at home with the family and the baby, I found myself in the room for hours, trying to figure out if they would let us go out and what was going to happen.”

According to them, at some point they were told that the hospital was considering going to court if they continued to refuse vaccination. Later, the couple says, they were told that they could be released if they signed a refusal to continue hospitalization and receive treatment in accordance with the recommendation of the medical team. About 30 hours after arriving at the hospital, they returned home.

S. says that after the discharge she made an appointment for the baby to see a pediatrician for further follow-up, among other things for jaundice, fever and the condition of the umbilical cord. For the couple, according to them, the affair ended at that moment. But the next day there was another turn.

The court order comes into play

“I woke up yesterday after an almost sleepless night and suddenly my partner came into the house with a policeman and a social worker,” says S. “They informed us that there was a court order to vaccinate the girl until ten o’clock at night and that we should take her to the hospital”.

The couple immediately contacted a lawyer. According to them, while they were trying to find out the meaning of the order, a policeman who arrived at the scene prevented A. from going back into the house, according to them, for fear that the couple would leave with the baby. “He couldn’t enter the house and I was with the girl. I decided to stay outside with him,” says S. “We tried to understand what we were supposed to do and how we got to this situation”.

According to the couple, through their lawyer, a request was submitted to delay the execution of the order, and it was delayed until Wednesday at 14:00. At the same time, they are trying to get another medical opinion regarding the baby’s condition and the need for vaccination. According to them, so far there has not been a court hearing where they were given the opportunity to voice their position.

Meanwhile, the couple’s lawyer informed that the order was canceled and that another hearing was scheduled in a few days. The mother wrote after the decision: “We have won for now. There is another war that needs to be fought, but for now we are at home, in our small, new family, digesting what happened. We need to breathe a little, just the three of us together, for the first time since birth.”

“This issue of public persecution has become a scourge, especially on the issue of tetanus vaccination for minors,” claims the couple’s attorney, Tamir Turgal. “I deal with dozens of such cases a year. In the current case, the very fact that the parents are suspected is a very wrong thing, but the ignorance of the medical system is that they do not check that neonatal tetanus (children born today) completely disappeared from Israel decades ago, and also that in 2001 there were only two patients in Israel who recovered. They are chasing parents in Israel to force them to get a vaccine that, according to evidence-based science, is dangerous for them, until it is proven otherwise, and against a disease that disappeared from Israel decades ago.”