Medical board puts infamous doc on probation for toddler vaccine exemption

Enlarge / Dr. Robert Sears in his Capistrano Beach, CA office on Aug 8, 2014. Among his many books on pediatrics, Sears has written The Vaccine Book, in which he discusses possible side effects from vaccines. (credit: Getty | Don Bartletti)

Dr. Robert Sears, a pediatrician infamous for promoting alternative vaccine schedules that allow parents to delay or entirely avoid the life-saving jabs, has been placed on a 35-month probation by the Medical Board of California.

The punishment stems from an accusation filed by the board in 2016 claiming Sears demonstrated gross negligence in the case of a two-year-old. The board alleged that Sears gave the young patient an exemption from all future vaccinations without reviewing any of the child's medical records, including those that indicate which vaccines the child had received and any subsequent reactions the child suffered. Sears instead relied on an account from the child's mother, who said the child went limp and that the child's kidneys and intestines "shut down" after vaccinations.

The board also cited Sears for later examining the child for a head injury after the child had reportedly been "'hit on head with hammer' by Dad." Sears failed to follow up with standard neurological testing, the board wrote.

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