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| For two decades, Voice of the Environment has stood up for the people and our communities against the avarice of corporations and the misguided policies of the corporate-dominated state. |
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Print This Article Tuesday, October 4th, 2005 Docs May Drop Patients Who Refuse Vaccines Steve Mitchell/United Press International More than one-third of pediatricians would cease providing medical care to a family that refuses all vaccinations, reveals a new survey coming on the heels of a warning by federal officials that a meningitis vaccine may cause a serious neurological disorder. In recent years an increasing number of parents have become concerned about the side effects vaccines may cause in their children and have opted out of some or all routine childhood vaccinations. To determine pediatricians' attitudes about such parents, Dr. Erin Flanagan-Klygis of Rush Medical College in Chicago and colleagues surveyed 302 physicians. "No one had really looked at this," Flanagan-Klygis told United Press International. "Our goal was to start a dialogue about the practice (of refusing care to families who opt out of vaccinations) and create an awareness of the practice." About 85 percent of the pediatricians responded that in the last 12 months they had encountered a family refusing at least one vaccine and 54 percent said they had encountered a parent who refused all vaccines, Flanagan-Klygis and colleagues report in the October issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The pediatricians said the most common reasons parents gave for foregoing vaccination included concerns about safety, philosophical reasons and religious beliefs. About 39 percent of the pediatricians said they would advise the family to seek medical care from another physician if all vaccines were refused. Approximately 28 percent said they would stop treatment if the family refused some vaccines. This did not vary with age of the physician, their sex or their number of years practicing medicine. The reasons the pediatricians gave for dismissing the patients included a lack of shared goals and a lack of trust between the physician and the family. The findings raise important questions about vaccinations and other medical issues, Flanagan-Klygis and colleagues wrote, such as whether refusing to provide care to families that opt out of vaccines might result in certain children or groups not receiving inoculations. Another important question is whether this behavior could lead parents to avoid seeking medical care for other conditions. "Given the changing climate of confidence in childhood vaccination, future research should address these and other potential implications of practice dismissal in the face of parental vaccine refusal," the researchers wrote. "The answers obtained may provide insight into the influence physician behavior has on the health and welfare of children and communities for many years to come." Dr. J.W. Hendricks, of Pediatric and Adolescent Care LLP in Tulsa, Okla., wrote in an accompanying editorial that he handles the situation by having parents sign a form stating they have elected to opt out of vaccines, but he continues to provide care. "I feel a straightforward immunization refusal does not by itself damage trust, breach shared goals, or necessarily lead to a 'my way or the highway' confrontation," Hendricks wrote. Flanagan-Klygis said she also thought it would be more advantageous for pediatricians to continue to provide care for families. "As pediatricians, we're all committed to care of children and any way we can continue that care would be best," she said. Dr. Edgar Marcuse, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle, told UPI he found it "disturbing" so many pediatricians said they would dismiss parents from their practice for refusing vaccinations. Marcuse said pediatricians should instead work with families to address their concerns about the safety of vaccines. "We have to find ways to communicate with people whose perceptions are different from our own," he added. Vaccines can cause minor side effects, but most healthcare professionals agree the available scientific evidence demonstrates the chances of serious complications are extremely rare. In addition, the chances of developing serious complications from vaccines are much lower than the risks of severe illnesses and death from the diseases they are intended to prevent. The federal government's behavior, however, may have inadvertently fueled the vaccine controversy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has refused to make accessible its database of vaccine-adverse events -- the Vaccine Safety Datalink -- to outside researchers, except under restricted circumstances. Several groups that question the safety of vaccines circulated a petition last year to open the VSL database to the public, charging it "was being used by federal health officials to cover-up vaccine risks associated with mercury preservatives in vaccines." Although studies have failed to find a link between vaccines and autism, some groups have suggested the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal could cause the mental disorder or other illnesses in children. Most childhood vaccines are now available in formulations that contain no or only trace amounts of thimerosal. Last week the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration issued an alert to consumers and healthcare providers after five cases were reported of Guillain Barre Syndrome in teens ages 17 and 18 who had received the meningitis vaccine Menactra, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. Guillain Barre is a neurological disorder that can lead to muscle weakness, paralysis and difficulty breathing. The agencies said they could not determine if the cases of the disease were due to the vaccine, but said they were investigating. FDA officials said they have not recommended any changes for vaccination. All five of the patients developed GBS symptoms that included weakness or abnormal sensations in the arms or legs about two to four weeks after vaccination. All were said to either be recovering or to have recovered. SOURCE Print This Article |
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Voice of the Environment is a 501 (c-3) not-for-profit Montana-based corporation formed in 1991.
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