Vaccine Bullying 101: Nursing Students Taught Scare Tactics

By Lisa Egan

A Michigan woman who was kicked out of a nursing program for daring to question her instructors is taking legal action.

Nichole Rolfe filed a lawsuit against Baker College on April 6 in Genesee Circuit Court. She claims two instructors at the school’s Owosso campus told students to threaten and panic patients into getting vaccinations, and that she was dismissed from the school for questioning that instruction.

But there’s more to this story.

Rolfe’s problems with the school began when she was placed on a behavior contract with the school over a disagreement with another student over homosexuality, reports mlive:

Rolfe was placed on a June 10, 2013, behavior contract with the school due to an interaction with another student regarding a conversation about homosexuality.

Rolfe claimed that she told the student that it wasn’t the place of potential nurses to judge others and that she disagreed with the other student’s view that homosexuality is a learned behavior.

The student complained to the nursing program’s directors, claiming that she felt harassed by Rolfe for her stance on homosexuality, according to the lawsuit.

Later in 2013, Rolfe asked questions (as students should) about the way her instructors were teaching students how to coerce parents into receiving vaccines for their children, even if the parents did not want them.

To her surprise, Rolfe was dismissed from the school without warning and was not allowed to appeal the decision.

She shared her story anonymously on the VacTruth Facebook page in October 2013 (and received an outpouring of support from readers).

Here’s what she said:

“I am reaching out for assistance. This week I was dismissed from nursing school and I was almost finished. The reason for my dismissal according to the DON, and Dean was harassment of faculty. Apparently discussing vaccines and their unethical approach to teaching us was considered harassment. I only posed questions how the way they were teaching us and how it went against the ANA standards set forth for all nurses.

Two weeks ago, 2 different instructors were promoting manipulation and misleading information as a way to coerce parents that deny vaccines into compliance.

The first scenario was: Some hospitals require expecting moms and dads to be vaccinated with TDaP before walking into the labor and delivery floor. If significant other is not vaccinated, we the students would be administrating these vaccines. I asked for the rationale behind this. The instructor said this and I quote ” What if you were a new mother and an unvaccinated person came onto the floor carrying pertussis and your newborn contracted it and died” My response was ” This is a worse case scenario, but vaccinating on the floor doesn’t provide antibodies to pertussis for 6 weeks to 6 months and sometimes not even at all.” I asked how they could promote this when they were giving these families a false sense of security. The instructor ended the conversation and said we would be discussing this more in the coming weeks.

The end of our first pediatric clinical, during post conference, the peds instructor brought up that there will be children that are not UTD on their vaccines, we are to get them UTD before discharge. I asked how they expected us to 1. administer vaccines to sick kids when that is contraindicated. Sick kids aren’t supposed to be vaccinated until they are no longer sick. 2. If the parent declines, which most that are not UTD have made that decision for their children, how would you like us to proceed? Her response was that we are to try and educate them on the benefits and get them to comply. Well, this goes against everything that we are taught about ethics, their right to refuse, not to coerce, family-centered care and not pushing our own personal propaganda. This is against ANA standards. It is the job of the nurse to offer, educate and ultimately respect the decision of the patient/parent.

That brings me to the last scenario. Our OB instructor, who is a past public health nurse, doing a vaccine speech in peds class. She said and I quote ” When a parent refuses, I go in there real sweet and tell them that we have new and important information regarding vaccines. It isn’t really new, it has been arounf for 20 years but the do not know this” I raised my hand and asked if this was ethical to mislead parents into thinking there is new info when there really isn’t.

2 weeks later I am dismissed from the program based on harassment of staff during class discussions. I am sick over this. This is my future. With a dismissal I may never be able to apply to any school of nursing. I am being an advocate, like we are taught to be. The DON said at the end of this meeting ” We don’t feel comfortable allowing you to complete your education here, take the NCLEX and be responsible for vulnerable patients” WOW! Each one of my clinical instructors have given me rave evaluations regarding my advocacy skills, going above and beyond etc. My grades are all A’s. I am not 100% against vaccines. I am a mother of 4, and I delay vax and deny some. That is my choice as their mother. If someone questioned my parenting regarding my decision to deny and delay, I would be furious. I just don’t know where to go at the moment. I feel as if my dreams have been crushed because of power hungry women. I challenged their ethics and that is not allowed.”

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Rolfe’s complaint lists two instructors: Connie Smith and Alysia Osoff. Osoff is the pediatrics instructor Rolfe says told the students to try to coerce the parents of sick children whose vaccinations are not “up to date” to administer them even while the child is still ill (which is a contraindication). Rolfe also alleges that Osoff told nursing students to tell “patients and their partners that failure to have immunization/vaccination for pertussis could result in the patient to have to pay for their entire stay at the hospital, that the state would deny payment coverage, and that those on Medicare (traditionally underprivileged members of the community) would be personally liable to pay for all damages suffered by those in the hospital.”

More from the complaint:

In other words, Osoff was instructing students to wrongfully threaten and panic patients into receiving an immunization to override a patient’s informed consent.

Obtaining uninformed or false consent for a medical procedure under false pretenses is assault and battery under both criminal and civil law.

Obtaining uninformed or false consent for a medical procedure under false pretenses is a violation of the American Nursing Association Code of Ethics for nurses.

Obtaining uninformed or false consent for a medical procedure under false pretenses is contrary to the practice of family center care and gaining and securing the trust of patients.

In other words, the instruction by Osoff was wrong legally, morally, and ethically.

Based on the reading and literature required in the course, Plaintiff NICHOLE ROLFE knew this instruction to be immoral and illegal, and moreover ineffective.

The lawsuit is seeking more than $25,000 in damages and is asking the school to remove the dismissal from Rolfe’s school record. Rolfe said she is unable to enroll at any other nursing schools due to the black mark on her Baker transcript.

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I don’t know about you, but Nichole Rolfe sounds exactly like the kind of medical practitioner I would WANT to see as a patient and have provide care for my children. Shouldn’t all medical professionals be critical thinkers who are willing to consider the pros and cons of any treatment or medication, regardless of what mainstream doctrine proclaims as truth? And shouldn’t they all be ethical and honest, and willing to address and respect patient concerns?

Sadly, stories like hers are not that unusual these days. If we dare to question “authority” or hold a dissenting opinion, we are ridiculed, shunned, blacklisted, and shamed.

And those who dare to question the safety and necessity of mass vaccination and advocate for freedom of choice (or, at the very least, informed consent) are among the most scorned and ostracized.

As Melissa Melton pointed out in her article Right to Vaccinate Vs. Medical Tyranny: What Happened to Freedom of Choice?:

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Medical education programs just can’t have students with dissenting opinions coming around and questioning the dogma they are pushing, especially about vaccinations. After all, mass vaccination is quite profitable for doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and the government.

As the French writer and philosopher Voltaire said, “It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”

Speak up, and the authorities will do their best to silence you.

Additional Resources:

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM) Children’s Vaccinations

The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child (Sears Parenting Library)

Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children

Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages