By Ryan Fowler
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 9:13 p.m.
Read more: Local, State, National, Health, Swine, Swine Flu, Kim Lutheran, Oregon, Lucas County Health Department, Vaccine, Starr Elementary
A mother is furious with Starr Elementary School, in Oregon, and the Lucas County Health Department after her 7-year-old son was given the swine flu vaccine without her or her husband's consent.
Kim Lutheran and her husband Mike first corresponded with the principal of Starr Elementary School in early October stating they did not want their son Matthew to receive the shot. Then, this past Monday, she sent him into school with the consent form on which she checked the box marked "do not consent" circled it, underlined it and still Matthew was given the vaccine. To make matters worse, the nurse who administered the shot signed her name under the "do not consent box" where Kim had signed.
"He (Matthew) has reactions to medications," Lutheran said. "He has very strange reactions to medications and being a nurse myself, I don't want my kids vaccinated, I never had them vaccinated for the flu."
Lucas County Health Department Deputy Commissioner Larry Vasko admits an error on the departments behalf.
"The form was obviously looked at," Vasko said. "The form was there. The right person had the form. The error was the person should have been removed from the line and wasn't. Something went wrong"
Kim believes the nurse who gave her son the shot should at least be suspended without pay.
"It should be on her record what she did," Lutheran said. "She violated the very simples of nursing codes."
"We definitely drilling down and trying to error proof this process right to the end," Vasko said."
"He could have died," Lutheran said. "Matthew could have been dead at his school that day all because of a simple error."
Oregon city school superintendent Michael Zalar did not return NBC 24's phone call seeking comment on the matter.
