MMR vaccination and autism

[vadee]

While in Nursing School, I did my rotation in a pediatric clinic where a mother had refused to have her son (15 months) vaccinated with the MMR (measles mumps and rubella) vaccine. She had heard about kids getting autism because of the vaccine.

Patients have the right to refused treatments but could the mother be charge with neglience? The reason why I'd asked is because this was brought up in class and I do not recall what exactly was said. Recently I heard on the news that a mother was charged with neglience by refusing to get her daughter treated for a terminal disease.

[MB37]

Yup, as soon as I read the peer-reviewed articles in respected journals showing a causal link between vaccines and autism - or anything else besides a sore arm and mild flu symptoms - I'll be first in line to urge people to quit getting that particular vaccine. Until then, I'll urge everyone not to risk their children's lives on anecdotal evidence. But that's just my opinion.

OP, parents have the legal right to make almost any health care decision they choose for their children (except willingly forgoing lifesaving treatment when the child isn't terminal). They'll be required in most states to get the vaccines before starting public school, but some places they can fill out a religious or conscience-based objection form. Also, they can choose to home school, and I don't know if all private schools enforce vaccine requirements. Vaccines are considered to be preventive care, not lifesaving care, so it's not legally an endangerment issue.

[ErraticThinker]

Yeaaaaah, I actually did a review of literature on this for a research methods class and found no relationship between the two. There are a lot of overzealous, webMD reading parents who also believe that the vaccines pad the bottom line of the pharmaceutical companies.

I definitely agree that parents have the right to make medical decisions for their kids but in this case, it's a big uproar made by some parents who read some poorly constructed studies.

There really isn't enough information yet to say either way.

[CHATSDALE]

if nurses, who can interpret information better than lay people, can't reach a consesus on this, then parents are confused about what it should be.

these decisions are made to protect their children but with undocumented immigrants in the society these children are exposed to so much

measles is not a benign disease, it can be very serious and it can be even more so to a expectant mother

[Corvus]

Unfortunately, most anti-vaccine people distrust the CDC and medical journals. The only sources they believe are their own, so they believe what they want to, no matter what the peer-reviewed research shows.