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11 Doctors deny medical care to my niece for "religious" reasons, because she refused to vax her! Is this legal? Help.
- Jan 26, 2011 at 10:58 PM
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I know laws vary state to state so I will start off by telling you she lives in Florida, she's 3 years old, and pretty much a healthy kid.
My sister's husband got a new job after they moved to Florida and the insurance has no kicked in. The gave her a list of Dr.'s the accept so she started making calls to set up appointments. First she called the ones she heard good things about. They would make an appointment then ask her if her daughter was up to date on her shots. My sister would reply no, we're against vaccinating her. These r.'s would then refuse to see her and treat her. Several of them gave her an earful about how what she was doing is wrong and blah blah blah. One even said they "Don't want your diseased child coming in here and making our other patients sick!" Really?! WTH people?!
They wouldn't even let her tell them why she is doing it. Yes, the Autism link is one of the reasons, but NOT the only one. And they asked they would have found out that she is allergic to MANY medications. Motrin, alot of antibiotics, and many more. If mild meds like that affect her can you imagine have 4 strong shots put into your body? If you have a reaction it's not like it will wear off in a few hours once you quit taking it. Also, anther big thing is tourettes. Her husband (her daughter's father) has it. Mild, but he has it. When he was around the kindergarten age ad he had to get a bunch of shot he's tourettes got 100x's worse. Nobody made the connection back then though. He went from just some mild grunting to ticks and flinging his arms and legs at times. The medications he couldn' take. They made him want to kill himself, sleep all day, and other things. A couple years ago he got a flu shot (up until then he only would grunt once in awhile, not even everyday and that was it) within a small amount of time the ticks came back like he had had them in grade school. Even the arms moving, everything. It lasted a little over a year then slowly he went back to the grunting every so often. Obviously this would lead you to believe it is related, right? There are few people in his family with tourettes, not just him. This is another reason she chose not to vax her baby girl.
This post it NOT meant to turn into a autism/vax fight in the comments section...those will be deleted. Yes, that is ONE of the reasons she chose not to, but NOT the only reason.
Long story short, she went through this with 11 Doctors until she finally called the Last one of the list and they said they would see her no problem. Granted is someone she's never heard of and knows nothing about but atleast it's someone. She lucked out, otherwise they'd have insurance but no one would provide medical care to her 3 year old girl.
So this leads me back to my question. Is this legal? They can refuse to see her even if she though she told them she has a religious exempt form from the health department?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Comments:
If you could give this a popular vote or a bump I'd be grateful, she needs to know if she has a leg to stand on legally in this.
I think some she talked to the Doctor and some she didn't but they already told the office works to ask and that they won't accept those who don't vax. Yeah, I was surprised one did it, but 11?! What if she was really sick and needed medical care, would they still refuse her then? It's insane.
I'm sorry. Here's some info...
Thanks Lb128f,
From what I gathered is if you don't have a religious exempt form they can deny you but if you do have one if violates parents rights and there is possibly some legal action that can be taken. It also raises moral and ethical questions according to the article.
Those of you interested in reading it, here it is...
Distraught parents from around the country increasingly report that pediatricians are refusing to see their unvaccinated children. This leaves parents scrambling to find medical services for their children, and children at risk of not receiving necessary medical treatment. Where the parents are not exercising a vaccine exemption, physicians may have a legitimate liability concern, provided the child in question has no emergency need for medical treatment. But where the child's parents are exercising a legal vaccine exemption, a physician's refusal to treat an unvaccinated child raises serious ethical and legal concerns.
First, if the parents are exercising a religious exemption to immunizations, a pediatrician's refusal to treat a child because of the child’s unvaccinated status may constitute a violation of the parents' First Amendment Constitutional rights, if the facility is either a public clinic or a private facility with significant ties to government, such as those that accept Medicaid or Medicare (since as a general rule, the Constitution does not apply to private entities). If the parents’ Constitutional rights are being violated, the physician and institution are at risk of being sued and having to pay money damages for the violation.
Next, a pediatrician's refusal to treat a child because the child is unvaccinated raises ethical questions, since the child's unvaccinated status, in and of itself, does not constitute an imminent risk of harm, at least where routine immunizations are concerned. This may be especially true if the child in question has a present health concern requiring immediate evaluation or treatment. Where a parent is exercising a legal exemption, being refused medical treatment amounts to an act of coercion—in effect, the doctor is holding medical treatment hostage in an attempt to impose the his or her preference on the parents—but where the parents have two or more legal options. This is akin to a physician refusing to see patients because the parents have chosen to home school their children. If the parents are exercising a religious exemption, this amounts to religious discrimination, refusing to see a child where the parent’s legal choice is due to a religious belief different from the doctor’s. Whether or not this rises to the level of a formal ethical violation of state medical board ethical rules will depend on the specific rules that may vary from state to state, but clearly, the behavior is unethical by any common sense definition of the term. It penalizes innocent children for the lawful choices made by the parents.
Pediatricians claim refuse to treat unvaccinated children because those children supposedly pose a health risk to themselves and others, but there are often other hidden motives such as peer pressure and financial incentives for achieving high vaccination rates. In any event, the belief that unvaccinated children pose a significant health risk is erroneous both medically and legally. Medically, the herd immunity theory tells us that not all children must be vaccinated for all to be protected. Legally, there is a legislative presumption that the exercise of a legal exemption does not pose a serious health risk; if it did, the legislature would not have enacted the exemption in the first place. Therefore, a pediatrician's refusal to treat unvaccinated children, if they are legally exempt, is both an unwarranted concern about safety, and one that is misdirected at parents to the detriment of their innocent children. Since the state legislatures have deemed it fit to provide legal exemptions, if physicians have a problem with anyone’s exercise of an exemption, they need to direct those concerns to their state legislature, and not parents who are exercising a lawful right provided by the legislature.
In sum, pediatricians’ refusal to treat unvaccinated patients, where a parent is exercising a valid legal exemption, raises serious ethical and legal questions. While parents could take these concerns to state medical boards or to court, the more prudent course may be for parents to take their concerns to state representatives, to get current exemption laws amended to prohibit physicians from refusing to treat unvaccinated patients based solely on the patient's vaccination status, when the patient, or a parent if the patient is a minor, is exercising a lawful vaccine exemption. It may also be appropriate to require that written notification of the exemption be given to the physician, for the patient’s or child’s medical file. However, pediatricians’ use of the AAP’s Vaccine Refusal Forms is not a proper way to address this concern, as these particular forms raise serious ethical issues.
Yes sadly it is legal. A doctor has a right to refuse service to anyone they want to. Unless it is a emergency situation.
I could understand a doctor being pissed if thee was no good reason, but she has a few good ones. One of my sons is vaxed, the other isn't because he gets a fever so high it won't even register on a thermometer and he cries for about 12 hours...not good. So I haven't giving him any since he was a baby. My sister has GOOD reasons for choosing not to, it's wrong that a doctor won't consider this and my niece could have possible gone without medical care. Just really pisses me off.
it's shi*ty but it's legal... Doctor can refuse patients. Just like any small business owner can refuse service. However the ER can not refuse to take anyone.
I had to take my daughter to the ER one night and the nurse there talked down to me and got smart with me because my daughter wasnt "up tpo date". I spread my VAXes out. She acted like I was stupid and didnt know what I was doing. I was like "i'm a nurse practitioner *****, dont act like I some idiot that doesnt know the pros and cons".
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I don't know if that's legal or not. I suppose doctors can refuse to see anyone they want to. Did your sis actually go into the office and talk to the doctors or just the secretaries? Sometimes it's easier to sit down face to face with the doctor. I am rather surprised that many doctors refused to see her, especially since there are quite a lot of people who won't vaccinate.
- ajbrownies
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