Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus case in almost 30 years

Re:Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus ca... by joshstrange on Friday March 08, 2019 @01:23PM (#19340413)

>Excluding the costs of air transportation, inpatient rehabilitation and ambulatory follow-ups, inpatient charges for the boy totaled $811,929.

>But despite “extensive review of the risks and benefits of tetanus vaccination by physicians,” the boy’s parents declined a second dose of the tetanus-fighting medication and “any other recommended immunizations.”

I really wish the ACA had some provision that said "Failure to administer the following list of vaccines allows insurance companies to drop you or only offer plans with insanely high deductibles (or none)". Parents who don't vaccinate their children... you are bad parents, plain and simple. That alone doesn't really bother me, if you are ok with killing your own kid I'm not going to waste my time. Now when you endanger other children or run up insane bills for no good reason then I'm going to sit up and take notice.

Stupidity, in this form, shouldn't be a preexisting condition we cover.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus ca... by nate_meurer on Friday March 08, 2019 @02:40PM (#19341419)

I sympathize, but the problem with this is that you'd inevitably end up punishing the child, who is then more likely to grow up feeling like he was victimized by "the system" rather than his parents.

This is a hostage situation unfortunately. Anti-vax parents are holding their kids hostage, and we as a society are on the hook for the consequences when the hostage gets hurt. There's no good way around it.

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Re:Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus ca... by stmfreak on Friday March 08, 2019 @09:26PM (#19344081)

Are you willing to apply that logic to all other directives from your doctor? Like exercise more, eat less, cut out booze and smoking, lose weight, etc?

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Re:Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus ca... by onetimemanytime on Saturday March 09, 2019 @01:43AM (#19344850)

Vaccines should be free, wherever they aren't. It takes a few hours combined, to get them all. Not getting them hurts your child and others. It should be seen as child abuse, because it is. Your child can suffer and/or die.

Alcohol, exercise etc are a lifetime struggle. So they are way too different.

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Re:Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus ca... by voisin on Friday March 08, 2019 @11:58PM (#19344563)

I am not sure why you have been downvoted. I agree with your logic.

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