Skipping vax is only mildly more repellent than resisting organ donation. In both cases, an expression of profound ingratitude and naiveté.

Did you know that mumps has made a bit of a splash?

I R A, I'm an Anaheim Ducks fan - and season ticket holder - and several of our guys were out with the mumps last month. My first thought was, which one of these guys is married to an anti-vaxxer?! My second thought was, what in the world is going on in that locker room?!

"Thankfully it turned out not to be pertussis, but a treatable, short-lived viral illness.
...Which is like saying, "How lucky all those cancer patients and all were that they weren't taken out by one selfish idiot mom."

If you have patients with compromised immune systems, you probably shouldn't be opening your waiting room to anyone with a potential active infectious disease. That includes the flu.

This mother's lie, while regrettable, did not cause the doctor to expose her other patients to this child. That bell had already been rung.
Most respiratory specialists take referrals from pediatric doctors, and other physicians.

Why in this case was the process reversed?

I R A, I'm an Anaheim Ducks fan - and season ticket holder - and several of our guys were out with the mumps last month. My first thought was, which one of these guys is married to an anti-vaxxer?! My second thought was, what in the world is going on in that locker room?!

Posted by: sara at December 4, 2014 9:20 AM

I caught the mumps when I was in the fifth grade. When I got back to school a week and a half later, every desk in proximity to mine was empty. They had all caught them from me.
And yes, this was before there was a vaccine.

I'm not 100% certain the mother was lying. I mean, let's say I told the specialist the other children were vaccinated, but I knew for a fact they weren't. When the specialist says, "I'll call your pediatrician and let her know you're on the way," I would probably say something like, "No, that's okay. You don't need to call her. I'll just fill her in on everything when we get there." There's the possibility that it's the father who takes the kids in for their well-checks and refuses the vaccines, but lies to the mother about it. But I don't know this for a fact. I just know how I would react in this situation.

Which parent was responsible is not the issue.
Idiot parents who refuse vaccinations should be criminally liable for reckless child endangerment.

If you don't agree with the need for vaccinations against easily preventable diseases, you should not be entitled to other perks of western medicine either, like...doctors and clinics. But subjecting your children to your idiot parenting should be criminal.

If you don't agree with the need for vaccinations against easily preventable diseases, you should not be entitled to other perks of western medicine either, like...doctors and clinics. But subjecting your children to your idiot parenting should be criminal.

Posted by: drcos at December 4, 2014 9:37 AM

I don't know a single parent who has not been idiotic about *something* at one time or another in their child's life.

You could fill the prisons with these people, and our civilization would cease to exist, as all but complete imbiciles would consider it too risky to ever become a parent at all.

Isab, it's all so contagious, but it was fun to poke fun at the entire situation. Here are these hockey players that are at the top of their games, and they're taken down by a disease that 1. Had been pretty much eradicated in the US; and 2. Can be prevented by a vaccine. However, lest someone thinks I'm insenstive, I realize that it was actually pretty serious for them to have contracted the mumps.

On that note, my oldest daughter touched off an epidemic of fifth's disease (http://www.webmd.com/children/guide/understanding-fifth-disease-basics). It pretty much wiped out the kindergarten for a few weeks, and there were several pregnant moms that were at risk, myself included. Not a fun couple of weeks.

"When I got back to school a week and a half later, every desk in proximity to mine was empty. They had all caught them from me. "

I LOL'ed at Sara's post about the Ducks, but yes, mumps is highly contagious. I caught it while my mom was eight months pregnant, and my parents had to send me away to live with a relative for a month.

And: parents who make mistakes is one thing. Parents who use their children to make political statements, and put other people's lives at risk by doing so, is another thing entirely.

And: parents who make mistakes is one thing. Parents who use their children to make political statements, and put other people's lives at risk by doing so, is another thing entirely.
Posted by: Cousin Dave at December 4, 2014 10:56 AM

I don't disagree Cousin Dave, but criminal law, is more of a big hammer, than a fine scalpel. If you are going to go after parental malpractice, you are going to pull in a lot of the stupid and the gullible as well as the genuinely malevolent.
Most parents truly want to do what it best for their kids. Vaccines aren't a hundred percent effective, and there are those who should not take them.

You have to ask yourself, why all those Anaheim Ducks, who came down with mumps did so, when the MMR vaccine has been in regular use for over thirty years.

I work in the office at a fire department. One of our guys was exposed to pertussis and subsequently caught it thanks to some asshat who thinks they know everything and didn't vaccinate their kid. Because of that, he lost time off work (they "grounded" him for five days, plus he was sick as a dog), and almost everyone in the department had to go in for preventative care, and a vaccination in the case of those of us who were outside of our vaccinations (did you know you should update your pertussis vaccination every few years? I didn't).

So, thanks to one asshat parent, our taxpayers spent around $5000 in medical costs to our employees, along with one losing work to being sick, causing additional overtime pay, also on the taxpayer's dime. All because of something that could easily have been prevented.

It's weird thing to lie about, I mean, if you haven't vaccinated you must be open to the possibility of catching whatever you aren't vaccinated for, and then wouldnt you want the proper treatment?!!