by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff
A trial began this week for a mother who was separated from her baby
after the 4-month-old mistakenly received a Gardasil-9 vaccine intended
for her older brother.
Anita reads to Aniya at a recent visitation. Photo supplied by family.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services seeks to convince a jury to terminate the parental rights of Anita Vasquez for her now 22-month-old daughter, Aniya Blu Vasquez.
Jury selection began on Monday, June 18, 2018, for the trial which is expected to last up to 2 weeks.
We originally reported their story in June of last year:
UPDATE:
The previously healthy baby, Aniya, began showing symptoms of problems almost immediately after getting the shot, a vaccine which is not approved for use in children under 10 years of age.
Her mother sought medical attention for the symptoms that her daughter exhibited, asking each practitioner about the connection between the symptoms and the Gardasil-9 shot that her baby should not have received, but her concerns were rebuffed at every turn.
No doctor that saw her daughter wanted to admit that the shot could have any kind of side effects.
The doctor who made a medical error in giving her the vaccine has
suffered no consequences, but the baby’s family has been ripped apart.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Accusation to Cover up Gardasil Injury?
Instead, the mother was accused by doctors and social workers of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (today usually called “factitious disorder”), a diagnosis that has become a convenient scapegoat to accuse parents, usually mothers, of children who are vaccine injured, medically complex, or victims of medical malpractice.
It is a difficult accusation to fight, since even Munchausen experts
recognize that the symptoms of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, or “medical
child abuse” as it is sometimes referred as, are remarkably similar to
those of parents who are seeking medical help for children with
difficult medical conditions.
Dr. Marc Feldman, who is considered to be a leading authority on the subject of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, says that the very fact that a mother protests and defends herself and her child is perceived as a further indication of her guilt. It is a lose/lose scenario, he told Health Impact News. (see article).
The very criteria for diagnosing MSBP are prejudicial, according to Dr. Helen Hayward-Brown, a medical anthropologist from Australia. The profile criteria “lacks scientific credibility” and “is being used by medical practitioners to hastily condemn women.”
In a paper entitled, “False and Highly Questionable Allegations of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy,” which Dr. Hayward-Brown presented to the 7th Australasian Child Abuse and Neglect Conference in Perth, she lists behaviors that are listed among the diagnostic criteria for MSBP and shows how these could actually apply to any normal, innocent parent, especially one with a medically complex child.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy – A False Diagnosis to Blame Parents for Vaccine Injuries and Deaths
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Label Destroys Families – Covers Up Vaccine Injuries
As we continue to report at Health Impact News, the safety of the Gardasil vaccine has come under fire by many countries around the world. The lives destroyed or ended, after the vaccine, continue to stack up while mainstream media and doctors ignore the dangers. A recently published study linked the Gardasil vaccine to infertility.
In this case, a family could be forever-separated as a side effect of the shot, unless the jury finds in favor of the mother.
Baby Aniya and her mother Anita Vasquez. Photo from Justice for Aniya Facebook page.
The Victoria Advocate is covering the story of the Vasquez trial.
Excerpts:
Jurors began hearing a case Monday that will ask them to determine whether a toddler’s illness was the result of endangerment from her mother or the accidental injection of an HPV vaccine.
Attorneys for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services are suing Victoria mother Anita Vasquez, 36, to terminate her parental rights for 22-month-old Aniya Blu Vasquez. They claim the child struggled to gain weight and was hospitalized for severe medical problems because of her mother’s actions.
“I would like a hashtag movement (called) #KeepAniyaSafe,” said Shelly Merritt, an attorney representing the state, to jurors. “It’s what she deserves.”
Note: this seems to be in response to the #BringAniyaHome twitter hashtag that family and supporters have been using as they post in social media and share the story of the medical kidnapping of Aniya.
But Vasquez’s attorney, Chris Branson, of Houston, told jurors the allegations against his client were “nonsense” and based on “an assumption.”
He also asked jurors to hold state attorneys to the strict burden of
“clear and convincing evidence” that they are required to meet when the
custody of a child is at stake. That burden, one lower than the
beyond-a-reasonable-doubt requirement used in criminal cases, is the
highest available in civil court.
During the jury selection process Monday morning, Judge Jack Marr said the trial could take as long as two weeks.
Branson said he planned to call as many as 14 witnesses. Attorneys for the state and Barron declined to comment, and a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman did not answer phone calls Monday.
Anita Vasquez, who is a registered nurse, first took the stand after jurors were selected, describing Aniya’s battle with persistent health problems in 2017.
Vasquez said those problems manifested after a Victoria doctor accidentally administered to Aniya an HPV vaccine meant for her 14-year-old son.
After the mistake, Aniya suffered not only physical symptoms such as fever and weakness but also psychological changes, such as lip smacking and staring spells, Vasquez said.
Doctors don’t know the cause of Aniya’s illness and have no reason to accuse Vasquez of endangerment, she said.
Note by Health Impact News: Although CPS has argued that her health problems disappeared, there is evidence that she continued to experience health issues after going into state custody.
There was at least one occasion that the fosters took Aniya to the emergency room that the family learned about. The mother has been denied medical information about her daughter in foster care.
The photo below was taken during a visit while Aniya was in state care. Her family described her as lethargic that day, and her eyes showed that she was not feeling well.
Supporters have set up a Facebook page called Justice for Aniya for the public to follow Aniya’s story.