Pediatricians vs. Deniers

I have written often about the danger of parents who refuse to allow their children be vaccinated. It's almost always because they are misinformed or refuse to believe scientists who have time and again proven that vaccines don't, for instance, cause autism, and that we need as many people vaccinated as possible to ensure herd immunity. Yet these parents would rather follow to advice of medical geniuses like Jenny McCarthy and Michele Bachmann than the doctors who are charged with caring for their children.

In today's wall Street Journal, Shirley Wang has a piece on pediatricians who are so annoyed by these deniers that they have "fired" them, asking them to leave the practice and take their children elsewhere for care. There's an ethical question here regarding the role of a family doctor, but I can understand their frustration. In a busy practice where you're trying to help as many kids as time allows, why put up with parents so hard-headed and sure they know better that no amount of explanation and convincing will change their minds? After all, if they won't take the doctor's advice on something as relatively simple as vaccines, what kind of fight will they put up when it comes to more complex issues regarding their children's health?

Your right to believe nonsense ends when your child needs help.

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