title: The Pediatrician's Dilemma: Refusing the Refusers of Infant Vaccines.
abstract: Dealing with the continuously increasing rates of families wanting to either significantly delay or completely postpone their infant's vaccines has created an alarmingly untenable dilemma for the general pediatricians dealing with these families on a daily basis. Pediatricians must decide whether to continue to provide substandard care by foregoing many or most of the infant's highly recommended protective vaccines, or whether to dismiss from the practice the family who refuses vaccines. Much has been written about why they should retain these families, but this paper will discuss some reasonable rationales as to why nearly 40% of pediatricians choose dismissal of these families.
authors.affiliation: Practicing full time general pediatrics in rural Bardstown, KY for over 33 years; and has published over 160 peer-reviewed medical articles on vaccines, antibiotics, general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, and infectious diseases. He is a full professor of clinical pediatrics on the medical faculties of the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) and the Pikeville Osteopathic College. He has won numerous national awards for his research, speaks at CME meetings across the U.S., and has been elected to the editorial boards for such prestigious monthly journals such as The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Pediatric Annals (writing a monthly column for over 3 years), Pediatric Drugs, and Infectious Diseases in Children. He was voted the "Best Pediatrician in Nelson County" for the last 6 years.
authors.forename: Stan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Block
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010290:Parents; D000072143:Pediatricians / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012306:Risk; D000072758:Vaccination Refusal / Q000941:ethics*