Current:Home > Contact-usNY midwife who gave kids homeopathic pellets instead of vaccines fined $300K for falsifying records-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
NY midwife who gave kids homeopathic pellets instead of vaccines fined $300K for falsifying records
View Date:2024-12-23 15:10:26
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York midwife who gave nearly 1,500 children homeopathic pellets instead of required vaccinations has been fined $300,000, the state’s health department announced this week.
Jeanette Breen, who operates Baldwin Midwifery on Long Island, administered the pellets as an alternative to vaccinations and then falsified their immunization records, the agency said Wednesday.
The scheme, which goes back least to the 2019-2020 school year, involved families throughout the state, but the majority reside on suburban Long Island. In 2019, New York ended a religious exemption to vaccine requirements for schoolchildren.
The health department said immunization records of the children who received the falsified records have been voided, and their families must now prove the students are up-to-date with their required shots or at least in the process of getting them before they can return to school.
“Misrepresenting or falsifying vaccine records puts lives in jeopardy and undermines the system that exists to protect public health,” State Health Commissioner James McDonald said in a statement.
Breen, a state-licensed healthcare provider, supplied patients with the “Real Immunity Homeoprophylaxis Program,” a series of oral pellets that are marketed as an alternative to vaccination but are not recognized or approved by state or federal regulators as valid immunizations, according to the health department.
She administered 12,449 of the fake immunizations to roughly 1,500 school-aged patients before submitting information to the state’s immunization database claiming the children had received their required vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and a host of other diseases, the department said.
Breen’s lawyer said Thursday that his client cooperated with investigators, paid her fine and intends to comply with all other requirements of her agreement with health officials.
“Suffice it to say, Ms. Breen has provided excellent midwifery services for many years to many families, especially on Long Island. She is now toward the end of her career,” David Eskew wrote in an emailed statement. “From her perspective, this matter is over, done with, and closed and she is now moving on with her life.”
As part of the settlement, Breen has paid $150,000 of the $300,000 penalty, with the remainder suspended contingent upon her complying with state health laws and never again administering any immunization that must be reported to the state, according to the health department. She’s also permanently banned from accessing the state’s immunization records system.
Erin Clary, a health department spokesperson, said Thursday that while parents and legal guardians had sought out and paid Breen for her services, they weren’t the focus of the agency’s investigation.
State health officials say they’re now in the process of notifying hundreds of affected school districts.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- My Little Pony finally hits the Toy Hall of Fame, alongside Phase 10 and Transformers
- NFL schedule today: Everything to know about Ravens vs. Chiefs on Thursday
- The Sweet Way Olivia Culpo and Christian McCaffrey Stay Connected During the NFL Season
- Ex-Green Beret behind failed Venezuela raid released pending trial on weapons charges
- Maine elections chief who drew Trump’s ire narrates House tabulations in livestream
- Footage of motorcade racing JFK to the hospital after he was shot is set to go to auction
- 4 Las Vegas teens plead guilty in juvenile court in beating death of classmate: Reports
- Regulators call for investigation of Shein, Temu, citing reports of 'deadly baby products'
- Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira set to be sentenced, could get up to 17 years in prison
- Miami rises as Florida, Florida State fall and previewing Texas-Michigan in this week's podcast
Ranking
- Detroit-area police win appeal over liability in death of woman in custody
- North Carolina musician arrested, accused of Artificial Intelligence-assisted fraud caper
- Families claim Oregon nurse replaced fentanyl drips with tap water in $303 million lawsuit
- Can the city of Savannah fine or jail people for leaving guns in unlocked cars? A judge weighs in
- Watch as dust storm that caused 20-car pileup whips through central California
- Advocates seek rewrite of Missouri abortion-rights ballot measure language
- California companies wrote their own gig worker law. Now no one is enforcing it
- North Carolina public school students inch higher in test scores
Recommendation
-
In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes
-
Surfer Carissa Moore was pregnant competing in Paris Olympics
-
A prosecutor asks for charges to be reinstated against Alec Baldwin in the ‘Rust’ case
-
Love Is Blind's Shaina Hurley Shares She Was Diagnosed With Cancer While Pregnant
-
Glen Powell Addresses Rumor He’ll Replace Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Franchise
-
Katy Perry dodges question about Dr. Luke after online backlash amid Kesha claims
-
A Minnesota man whose juvenile murder sentence was commuted is found guilty on gun and drug charges
-
They made a movie about Trump. Then no one would release it