New York – Emergency Relief Sought to Get Medically Fragile Kids Back in School

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Urgent message From Attorney Sujata Gibson, lead attorney on Jane Doe et al. v. Howard Zucker et al.:

CHD is seeking emergency relief to get medically fragile kids back in school pending the outcome of a federal class action law suit challenging unconstitutional burdens on the availability of the medical exemption to immunization in New York. In August 2019, New York State adopted regulations that allow school principals to overrule treating physicians and take the discretion away from physicians about what constitutes a valid reason for a medical exemption to immunization. As a result, thousands of medically fragile children have been removed from school and been subjected to processes which have caused enormous stress and harm to the affected families. On July 23, 2020 CHD, along with eight other plaintiff families, filed a class action lawsuit challenging these policies. We are now preparing a motion for emergency relief to get these medically fragile children back into school pending the resolution of the lawsuit. We need declarations (signed statements submitted by initials rather than full names to protect privacy) from families who have been affected to show the Judge how urgent and important this relief is.

If you have submitted a medical exemption to a school in New York State that was denied or is still pending, or which was ultimately accepted but caused stress to you and your family, please fill in the information in the attached template by WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12. We will put it into the form of a statement for your review and signature and will then need it scanned in or mailed back to file in Court with the motion soon after.

Thank you so much for your participation. It will make all the difference in helping us to get these children back into school.