9 Patients Of Deceased Pediatrician Weren't Vaccinated: Sheriff

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Patients of the late Dr. Van Koinis have learned they did not have immunity to some or all of the diseases for which they had been vaccinated after the Cook County Sheriff’s Office announced an ongoing investigation into immunizations provided by the Evergreen Park pediatrician. Patients were urged to contact the sheriff’s office or seek testing from a physician to determine if children received vaccinations their parents ordered.

Koinis was found deceased of self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sept. 10, 2019 in a Cook County forest preserve in Palos Township. Investigators said the doctor left a suicide note suggesting he complied with parents’ requests not to vaccinate their children and that his records after 2010 were unreliable.

Since the sheriff’s office announcement last month, two former patients who are now adults and seven parents whose children were patients reported that they were not immune to some diseases for which they sought immunizations. In some cases, parents reported that tests indicated one child treated by Koinis was vaccinated while a sibling was under-vaccinated or showed no evidence of being vaccinated, according to the sheriff’s office.

The late pediatrician’s former patients should continue to contact their current health care providers about testing for vaccinations. Koinis’ practice was located at 3830 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park. He primarily saw patients from the Chicago’s Southwest Side and nearby south suburbs. He had been licensed to practice in Illinois since 1991, according to state records.

Dr. David Beckmann, a family physician with the Family First Medical Group/Provedea Health Partners, 9730 S. Western Ave., Evergreen Park, said his practice has seen some former patients of the late pediatrician. Beckmann said a prominent study in the 1990s, since debunked, suggested childhood immunizations were directly responsible for causing autism, launching the anti-vax movement.

“A few years after that the research methods were evaluated and determined they were poorly executed and biased,” Beckmann said. “Unfortunately the cat was out of the bag. People latched on to that study and promoted that vaccinations were causing autism in children. A number of celebrities also took the study and ran with it.”

The U.S. Center for Disease Control childhood immunization schedule for children in the first 15 months of life recommends 16 different vaccinations for diseases ranging from diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough to measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox. For some parents that’s a staggering number of vaccinations. Beckman said the immunization schedule has been studied repeatedly and deemed safe.

“We have parents across the spectrum that will give their child every vaccination that’s recommended,” Beckman said. “Some parents are more comfortable with their children receiving injections over a longer period of time. Other parents don’t want their children vaccinated at all.”

Beckmann said it’s important to listen to hesitant parents and find out where they’re getting their information without berating them.

“What I tell parents when they come in is that the vaccinations I recommend for my patients are the same I administer to my own three small children,” he said. “From all the information I have and know is these are safe and recommended Immunizations can help prevent serious diseases and life altering infections that can leave children disabled.”

Sheriff’s investigators are working with a physician who currently has access to medical records from Dr. Koinis’ practice, and the Illinois Department of Public Health in the ongoing investigation. Anyone with further information about Dr. Koinis is encouraged to call Cook County Sheriff’s Police at 708-397-6366. To inquire about personal or family medical records, a medical record line has been set up at 630-670-1673.