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Seventeen-year-old Sarah Doe is back in court seeking emergency federal court intervention so she can stay in school after three more doctors said the teen shouldn’t get the last two vaccines the state requires for school attendance.
The three medical opinions add to the seven the school district has received over the last two years. In each case, doctors argued that Sarah qualifies for a medical exemption. They said forcing Sarah to get the vaccines would put her already precarious health at increased risk.
In an emergency motion filed late last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Sarah and her mother Jane Doe asked for a temporary restraining order allowing the high school senior to attend school pending the district’s review of a new medical exemption request relating to a third hepatitis B (Hep B) shot and the meningococcal vaccine.
Children’s Health Defense is funding Sarah’s case.
The emergency motion followed a Sept. 23 ruling by U.S. District Judge Gary Brown. Brown declined to extend Sarah’s previous medical exemption, for the 2024-2025 school year, to the current school year. The district expelled Sarah from school the next day, Sept. 24.
A few days later, the district readmitted Sarah pending the outcome of a blood test, ordered by her doctor, to determine if she has hepatitis B titers from the first two shots she received, according to her attorneys.
However, Sarah still needed a medical exemption from the meningococcal vaccine — even though the district didn’t require proof of meningococcal vaccination for any student until Sept. 30. Many states don’t require this vaccine for secondary school.
At the time, Sarah had a medical exemption request pending from Dr. Michael Miller, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who also concluded that she shouldn’t be vaccinated.
On Sept. 28, the district denied Miller’s exemption request, according to court documents, citing three unsuccessful attempts by its reviewing physician to reach him by telephone.
According to Sarah and her mother, the court gave no other reason for denying Miller’s request. They said the school never sent Miller a HIPAA form, which he would need in order to share Sarah’s medical information with the district’s reviewing physician.
School officials notified Sarah’s family that as of Oct. 1, they again would not allow her to attend school unless she provided proof of vaccination or a valid medical exemption.
The new request for court intervention follows a Sept. 30 examination by Dr. Vincent Garbitelli, an internal medicine specialist who also recommended that Sarah defer both the Hep B and meningococcal vaccines through June 30, 2027.
Garbitelli is the same doctor who wrote the exemption certification that supported Sarah’s request last school year.
According to the court filing, Garbitelli diagnosed Sarah with moderate-to-severe acute illness, including active mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, along with immune dysregulation and a broader systemic illness still under evaluation.
Garbitelli concluded that vaccination could increase the risk of a serious adverse reaction, exacerbate her condition, and complicate her ongoing diagnosis and treatment.
The filing also says Sarah’s pediatric practice declined to vaccinate her without clearance from an infectious disease specialist and recommended that any vaccination take place in a specialist’s office.
Sarah and her mother said Sarah should be allowed to stay in school while the district evaluates Garbitelli’s new exemption certification. They cited New York Department of Health procedures that they say permit a student to remain in school while a medical exemption is under review.
They also said the district has not identified a deficiency in Garbitelli’s submission or given the family a timetable for completing its review.
The school district did not respond to a request for comment.
“The school district’s approach turns the Americans with Disabilities Act on its head,” said Sarah’s attorney Sujata Gibson.
Gibson added:
“There is no question that the district can accommodate Sarah. Three physicians have certified this year that she needs that accommodation.
“We contend that the district’s unfinished review provides no lawful basis to exclude Sarah in the face of that medical evidence. She should not have to forfeit her education while the district searches for a justification to deny the accommodation her physicians say she needs.”
Judge previously ordered district to allow Sarah to attend school
The current dispute is the latest development in the ongoing legal battle between Sarah’s family and the Oceanside Union Free School District.
Last year, Brown ordered the school district to allow Sarah, who had obtained a medical exemption, to attend high school during the 2025-2026 school year.
At the time, Sarah sought a medical exemption to attend 11th grade without receiving the third dose of the Hep B vaccine — the only recommended shot she was missing at the time — because she and her doctors said severe reactions to previous doses had left her sick and disabled.
In his ruling last year, Brown recognized that Sarah has viable claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and criticized the district for second-guessing a licensed physician’s valid medical determination, which complied with all requirements of state statute.
When the lawsuit was filed, at least six treating physicians and a nurse practitioner certified to the school district that Sarah could be harmed by taking the shot, according to court documents. The district nonetheless repeatedly denied her exemption requests. Since then, more doctors have affirmed that assessment.
After attending school last year under the court order, Sarah applied for a medical exemption from the Hep B vaccine and also the second meningococcal vaccine required for this school year.
The school district again denied her request. Sarah returned to court seeking emergency relief, but this time Brown reversed his previous decision and upheld the school district’s denial.
In his Sept. 23 ruling, Brown cited problems with the medical documentation submitted in support of the renewed request. His decision set in motion the series of new medical evaluations and exemption requests that brought Sarah back to court last week.
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Legal battle over medical exemption began in 2025
Sarah and her mother first sued the school district in June 2025, alleging the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York Public Health Law by refusing Sarah’s medical exemption, and also violated her family’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
Sarah had a religious accommodation exempting her from vaccine requirements until 2019, when New York repealed its religious exemption.
To remain in school, she was forced to take an “aggressive catch-up schedule” of the vaccines she hadn’t yet received — 18 doses in six weeks, including two doses of the Hep B vaccine in quick succession, which left her severely disabled.
After the second dose, Sarah’s health rapidly deteriorated. She experienced intense pain throughout her body, rashes, migraines and other conditions, leaving her unable to attend school.
Sarah was diagnosed with acquired von Willebrand’s disease — a rare bleeding disorder — that could make her vulnerable to future vaccine injuries and acute autoimmune hypersensitivity reactions.
Her symptoms have included kidney issues, migraines and severe immune system reactions, including rashes, seizures, repeated sepsis and other symptoms that required her to be hospitalized and “caused her to come close to dying twice.”
Sarah and her mother also allege that in addition to denying the teen a reasonable accommodation, school officials have harassed, humiliated and harmed her. According to the lawsuit, the normally happy and resilient girl became so depressed that she spent most of the day in bed and fell behind in school.
Related articles in The Defender
- New York Teen Forced Out of School After Judge Denies Medical Exemption
- CHD Threatens Legal Action Against New York Schools That Deny Medical Exemptions
- CHD Asks Supreme Court to Hear Case of 9-Year-Old With Asthma Forced to Wear Mask
- Judge Rules in Favor of Teen in Medical Exemption Lawsuit Funded by Children’s Health Defense
- Mom, Teen Sue School That Refused to Grant Hep B Vaccine Medical Exemption
- Hep B Vaccines Come With High Risk, Little Benefit — Why Does CDC Recommend Them for Every Newborn?
- New York’s Strict Medical Exemptions Not Going Away After U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Appeal
