Could this really happen?

[motheringforme]

I'm a bit shaken up after watching Tuesday's Law and Order: SVU. A mother made the choice not to vaccinate her son. He contacted measles and gave it to a baby who died, and they put the mother on trial for murder. This couldn't happen, could it?

[Gitti]

These kinds of plots are introduced by vaccine makers to Hollywood. Big pharma is very much in control of the film industry.

It could not happen in real life because you could never proof where a child contracts a virus. In other words, the plot was strictly created to cause fear. Shame on them.

[Genesis]

What a stupid story line. Just curious, did she win or lose her case?

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by Genesis

What a stupid story line. Just curious, did she win or lose her case?

I'm guessing - they didn't say. It was left at where they took the mother to court.

[Gitti]

oops, I meant to say, I've never seen the show in my life. Now I know why I stopped watching TV altogether.

[SoCaliMommy]

That is crazy
Sounds similar to the episode of private practice where a child got measles and his one brother has autism that he developed after vax's and the other brother hadn't been vaxed at all and before the one child died the dr went and gave the non vaxed child the vaccine without the mothers permisson

[SaraLe6]

Yeah I saw an episode where a doctor was against vaccines and didn't give them.. but then they totally painted him to be this wack-job idiot who was opposed to all kinds of healthcare and believed that vaccines were used to control people, and the sick non-vaxed child died, and the mother finally realized how stupid she was to believe him. I was so disgusted I turned it off before it was over.

[mar123]

It was not left where the mother went to court. The lady charged with a crime was found not guilty. They did not say the result of the lawsuit on the city, but my guess is that would be dropped b/c of the failure of the criminal case.

[k9sarchik]

The CDC has hired script writers for episodes like this. It's all about spreading the fear to vax.

[amnesiac]

Please remember that this is not the appropriate forum to discuss specific television shows - such discussions are hosted in Television.

So that this thread can remain open for discussion, please address the OP topic as to whether this scenario is or is not possible and how this may impact vax decisions:

A mother made the choice not to vaccinate her son. He contacted measles and gave it to a baby who died, and they put the mother on trial for murder. This couldn't happen, could it?

[majormajor]

i think to be charged with murder you have to have the pre-meditated intent to kill. strictly speaking, i can't see how anything more than something like manslaughter could possibly be charged. not that i can imagine that happening, i'm just saying murder has a technical definition.

i stopped watching that episode because it was too upsetting that the baby had been killed (i have a DD the same age). so i turned it off before the cause of death was revealed. now i wish i'd kept watching--the plot is way too unrealistic for me to have been upset by the girl's death! i would have complained about how BAD SUV's plots have gotten and felt much better. :-P

i'm not a lawyer though. however, i think a civil suit would be more likely than criminal charges. but since most of what i know about law comes from law and order, you probably shouldn't listen to me.

[emma1325]

Can a the direct origins of a virus be traced in any way?

[angie7]

My mom watched that show and she said she was found not guilty b/c there is no law to give vaxs and its one of our humans rights. (I didn't see the show this is from my mom)

I think that someone could try to charge a parent but I don't think it would go very far since there is nothing on the law books about this topic and hopefully there never will be.

[momma_c]

i have to say i was so annoyed when i watched that episode, i am a big law and order fan..especially svu. it really bothered me how they shed such a bad light on informed parents making informed decisions. i was also left questioning why nothing was said about the mother of the child that died not taking her to the dr when she was visibly ill but instead blamed on an innocent mother.

[vegemamato]

I'm *almost* positive that a parent couldn't be charged with murder due to not vaccinating their child.

My partner, however, is a lawyer-in-the-making and (in another discussion) he did think that a parent could possibly be held accountable for another child's death, if they allowed their 'infected' child to be in a public space.

So, I'm guessing that it becomes an issue if you knowingly expose someone rather than just choosing not to vaccinate.

I dunno though..

(I can say that the show didn't convince me to immunize though )

[LizD]

There are attempts now and again to charge HIV-infected persons who knowingly put others at risk without telling them of their HIV+ status, so I could see charges possibly being brought. The HIV issue seems to fall under murder whereas the issue described in the OP would probably not be murder.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by vegemamato

I'm *almost* positive that a parent couldn't be charged with murder due to not vaccinating their child.

My partner, however, is a lawyer-in-the-making and (in another discussion) he did think that a parent could possibly be held accountable for another child's death, if they allowed their 'infected' child to be in a public space.

So, I'm guessing that it becomes an issue if you knowingly expose someone rather than just choosing not to vaccinate.

I dunno though..

(I can say that the show didn't convince me to immunize though )

I would think the vast majority of us could be held accountable for making others ill. Many Many illnesses can be dangerous to immuno-compromised people. So if I know I have the flu, but I go out anyway because I feel I have to and I infect a young child with the flu who is already seriously ill with cancer or something, that child then dies from complications, than according to that logic I would be held responsible for that child's death....I think it's ridiculous that it only becomes anissue when there is a vaccine for it....since you can still have subclinical infectiuons and spread the disease to others if you ARE vaccinated.

[PaigeC]

Originally Posted by vegemamato

ublic space.

So, I'm guessing that it becomes an issue if you knowingly expose someone rather than just choosing not to vaccinate.

This is what I was thinking. Like maybe if you ignored quarantine during an epidemic? Even then though I don't think it would be murder especially considering the chances of a child dying of measles is VERY SMALL. They could never prove intent to kill even if they could prove intent to infect.

[NoraB]

The thing that scares me about the whole concept is the mob mentality that could easily ensue. In reality, I bet a horde of "concerned" parents would be making death threats on the non-vax'ing family. Whether or not a person could really be charged in a case like that wouldn't matter. All it would take is for the media to suggest that they should. I've met ppl rabid enough about vax'ing to actually harm somebody in that situation. Makes me want to keep my mouth shut about not vax'ing.

[NoraB]

I forgot to add that it really pissed me off that there was no suggestion made about non-vax'ing ways to prevent disease: good nutrition, etc or ways to treat illness like vit C. Ugh.