Chicago Mom Furious After School Vaccinates Her Teen Daughter Without Her Consent

A Chicago mother is furious after her teen daughter was given several vaccinations, including the HPV (Human Papillomavirus – a sexually transmitted disease) vaccine, without her consent, CBS Chicago is reporting.

Michelle Miller claims that she signed a consent form for her 16-year-old daughter, Noel, to receive what she thought was a routine high school sports physical and a chicken pox vaccination.

Instead, Ms. Miller claims Noel was also given vaccinations for Hepatitis A, meningitis, and the HPV vaccine; something to which she did not consent and which Noel wasn’t expecting. A CBS reporter asked Noel if the nurse who gave her the shots asked for her permission first.

“No. They just told me what I was getting.”

The issue here is what, specifically, Ms. Miller consented to when she signed the forms authorizing the routine sports physical necessary, so her daughter could participate in Wells High School’s upcoming track season.

Citing privacy laws, Norwegian-American Hospital, which operates the care van that conducted the physicals for the school, declined to comment on the issue. However, a spokesperson claims that a consent form is required for every vaccine given, according to KIVI (Boise).

An unidentified Chicago Public Schools spokesperson told CBS that the meningitis and chicken pox vaccine are required for student athletes, and are authorized on the consent form that Ms. Miller signed. The form also authorizes the administration of all recommended vaccines; those include the Hepatitis and HPV vaccines.

Ms. Miller insists she only consented to the required vaccines.

“Only for the state requirements for a Chicago Public Schools student, and that- only Chicken Pox fell in that category.”

Further complicating things is the fact that, legally, a girl aged 12 or older can consent to the HPV vaccine, without her parents’ permission. Noel claims she did not consent to the HPV vaccine.

The HPV vaccine is recommended for girls aged 12 and over as a precaution against a common and, in some cases, debilitating STD, according to this Inquisitr report. Some religious conservatives have raised concerns about the vaccine, claiming that it gives adolescent girls a pass to be sexually promiscuous. Others have claimed that the vaccine is actually dangerous; former Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann claimed that some girls developed mental retardation after being given the HPV vaccine.

Ms. Miller’s complaint, however, does not appear to be with what vaccines her daughter was given, but rather, the fact that they were given to her without her consent.

[Image courtesy of: Getty Images/Joe Raedle]