Mooresville Parents Outraged After Hospital Administers Newborn Vaccine Against Their Wishes
MOORESVILLE, NC — A family in Mooresville is demanding accountability from Lake Norman Regional Medical Center after their newborn son was vaccinated against their explicit wishes, despite submitting formal refusal documentation.
Parents Say Hospital Ignored Signed Vaccine Refusal
Catherine McHutchison gave birth via scheduled C-section on February 8. She and her husband had opted not to vaccinate their baby, a choice they had discussed with her OB-GYN and reinforced with hospital-issued refusal forms. But shortly after delivery, McHutchison says a nurse entered her room and apologized — informing her that her son had already been given a Hepatitis B shot.
“She was apologizing on behalf of the nurse she was training,” McHutchison recalled. “It doesn’t matter why we made the decision. It’s our right as parents.”
According to a report by Queen City News, hospital records confirmed that no consent verification was documented, and the vaccination order hadn’t even been entered into the system before it was administered.
Hospital Apologized, But Parents Say It’s Not Enough
After returning home, McHutchison received a formal apology from the hospital. The letter acknowledged that “human oversight” led to the error and claimed that corrective action was taken against the staff involved. The hospital also stated it was using the event to improve its consent verification procedures.
But McHutchison says the response still falls short. “I don’t think they’ve taken it seriously enough — and you can’t take a vaccine back,” she said.
She also left the hospital just a day after giving birth, saying she no longer felt safe under their care.
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