'Er' Uproar

An Episode Of The Hospital Drama Angers Some Parents

By B. J. Sigesmund | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Feb 23, 2001

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Last week's "ER" made a small group of people sick. The Feb. 15 episode, which touched on the current debate over childhood immunizations, was seen as extremely one-sided by antivaccine activists. On the show, a young mother brings her ill child to the hospital. When asked by hospital staff if he's had his vaccinations, she responds, "No ... he hasn't had any immunizations, none of our children have." Dr. Chen (Ming-Na) looks away in disgust. Later, the child dies of measles. It is, ostensibly, the mother's fault.

Over the past few years, some parents have come to believe there may be a connection between childhood vaccinations and autism. Though studies have yet to prove a correlation, a small number of parents have stopped giving their kids immunizations, especially the common MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) shot.

The episode angered some in the autism community. But what further infuriated them was a commercial for Prevnar, American Home Products's new vaccine for preventing bacterial meningitis, which ran directly after the scene in which the mother learns her kid has measles.

As it turns out, American Home Products bought the spot last May. When the company learned of the episode's story line through a "screening report" last week, the ad buyers asked to have their commercial placed specifically after that tense scene. (NBC says it's common practice to let advertisers know the content of shows beforehand, in case they want to pull out of controversial programming. "A screening report is basically used to make sure an ad is not running in an inappropriate place," says NBC spokesman Cory Shields.)

NEWSWEEK's B. J. Sigesmund spoke about the episode and the ad with Jonathan Shestack, a cofounder of the Cure Autism Now (CAN) foundation (www.cureautismnow.org). Shestack is also a Hollywood veteran; he produced "Disturbing Behavior" (1998) and "Air Force One" (1997). One of Shestack's three sons, his eldest, has autism.

NEWSWEEK: When did the "ER" episode first come to your attention?

The ER episode is really distressing because it does add fuel to the fire for those who believe choosing to not vaccinate is wrong. Like many others, I choose not to vaccinate my child due to disillusionment, personal experience with adverse events, and lack of unbiased studies showing vaccines are safe for my child.

First my son was given Hep B at birth, without my permission. Neither me nor he was drug addicted, prostituting or working with fecal matter, so it was useless and may have caused harm. There are contraindications listed in the Hep B insert but there's a problem- Can we identify at birth which children will be allergic to "yeast" or a preservative? Or do we just have to accept the Hep B as routine and then "oops we're sorry" apparently it wasn't safe for your child- yet we can't take the vaccine out once it's given! How is this evidence based? Where are the studies showing which children will be more susceptible to adverse events, so that we can make an informed decision about each vaccination? My son developed eczema soon after his first round of shots- was it triggered by the shots? was there something in his medical background that could have indicated he might develop such a reaction? What if it had been worse? Strike 1 for uncertainty and inability for the vaccine industry to see past their "one size fits all" approach. Strike 2 was when my son had a febrile seizure and was rushed to the ER soon after the MMR. Strike 3 was when my 7 month old nephew almost died after the DTaP and is now on phenobarbital to control seizures. I also work with children with Autism, and I know parents who believe their children regressed after the MMR and are no longer vaccinating. I do also know of parents where this was not the case. Those of us choosing not to vaccinate, or selectively vaccinating, and those vaccinating on schedule deserve ANSWERS!

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Posted By: ericswifey27 @ 02/25/2009 6:52:15 AM

The ER episode is really distressing because it does add fuel to the fire for those who believe choosing to not vaccinate is wrong. Like many others, I choose not to vaccinate my child due to disillusionment, personal experience with adverse events, and lack of unbiased studies showing vaccines are safe for my child.

First my son was given Hep B at birth, without my permission. Neither me nor he was drug addicted, prostituting or working with fecal matter, so it was useless and may have caused harm. There are contraindications listed in the Hep B insert but there's a problem- Can we identify at birth which children will be allergic to "yeast" or a preservative? Or do we just have to accept the Hep B as routine and then "oops we're sorry" apparently it wasn't safe for your child- yet we can't take the vaccine out once it's given! How is this evidence based? Where are the studies showing which children will be more susceptible to adverse events, so that we can make an informed decision about each vaccination? My son developed eczema soon after his first round of shots- was it triggered by the shots? was there something in his medical background that could have indicated he might develop such a reaction? What if it had been worse? Strike 1 for uncertainty and inability for the vaccine industry to see past their "one size fits all" approach. Strike 2 was when my son had a febrile seizure and was rushed to the ER soon after the MMR. Strike 3 was when my 7 month old nephew almost died after the DTaP and is now on phenobarbital to control seizures. I also work with children with Autism, and I know parents who believe their children regressed after the MMR and are no longer vaccinating. I do also know of parents where this was not the case. Those of us choosing not to vaccinate, or selectively vaccinating, and those vaccinating on schedule deserve ANSWERS!