scare tactics

[rainbowmoon]

I am interested in knowing what kinds of scare tactics have your dr's used to push vaxing and how did you respond?

[Deborah]

My daughter's ped (no longer) told her that there was a whooping cough epidemic in Vermont (4 years ago). After my daughter asked some questions the facts came out: the epidemic was 30 cases and they were all in adolescents whose protection from the vaccine had worn off. My daughter was careful for the first few months about contact with the public and fortunately (sarcasm) my granddaughter, who is now 4 1/2 managed to avoid the whooping cough without being vaccinated.

Her current doctor, a GP, just asked if she was planning to vax her second baby and when she said no that was the end of it. I think he felt obligated to ask the question, but I bet he wishes some of his other patients were as healthy as my grandkids. Actually I think he has several non-vaxing families in his practice, the word travels.

Nana

[Mamm2]

He would refuse to continue as my ped if I stopped vaxing.

He can kiss my butt!! I am now seeing a wonderful holistic ped.

[KellyB]

I was also told of a fictional pertussis epidemic (as he put it) in my city, and I caved and got my son his 2 week DPT. He became sick after the shot with the only cold he's ever had. Later I switched to a general practicioner for the well baby check ups, and found that there have only been a few cases of whooping cough in my area in the past 10 years.
I'm still so mad at that pediatrician I could scream!
He blatently lied to me, and said I could also be a carrier of the illness and not know it...He pulled the old "I'm an educated doctor, and you're just a stupid mom" condecending attitude card, which totally intimidated me at the time. Then I got home and thought about it...I was breastfeeding at the time, so wouldn't I, even if I was a carrier, be immunizing my child via breastmilk against said bacteria? :

[evilgenius]

Dr. said "The discomfort she suffers now is insignificant compared to the suffering she would endure from contracting any of these diseases."

When I asked what are the risks associated with vaccinating, (They had given me a handout but had no mention of any risks so I was suspicious) she said, "A slight risk of infection at the injection site and a highly unlikely possibility of severe reaction." I said, "Is there anything that I need to know before I do this?" She huffed and said, "No!" Then I read about Thimersol (sp?) and Autism and all the scary stuff.

I am a first time parent and felt very condescended to and intimidated into vaccinated at 2 month and 4 month Well Baby appointments. (Kind of an ironic name for an appointment where they injected poison into my baby).

I'm still very angry in case you can't tell.

[DesireeH]

My ped was a dork.....he said "okay, just dont have any Hep B parties" whatever the heck that means. I guess that really doesnt count as a scare tactic......but who knows what he meant! We dont go to a regular ped so I have never encountered dr scare tactics.

[MommyBear]

I had a nurse in the NICU crawl up my butt telling me all kinds of horror stories about unvaxxed kids, especially her foster daughter. I can understand that it was a passion of hers because it hit so close to home but dang, she didn't have to get so cranky with me. I just politely told her that I'd "think about it" and she rolled her eyes and left.

[annettemarie]

I had a physician's assistant who would look at me and say, "So you don't want to give your child any protection against deadly diseases today?" I just smiled and said, "Sure I do- I'm nursing."

She was tres not amused.

Annette

[chlobo]

What a timely thread - I was dressed down at DD's 10 month appt.

So I went to DDs 10 month appointment yesterday. I had put off her 6 month shots to do more research as I'm becoming very skepticle of the safety or efficacy of vaccines.

Anyhow, the doctor walks in and leads of saying we need to discuss the shots. I said I was still researching and he then proceeded to "dress me down" in a very disrespectful manner. His arguments were all over the place too, but I think he covered all the common arguments and in a very rude manner. At one point he asked my profession pre DD and then said, "If I wanted social work advice I would come to you, but I'm the doctor, blah, blah, blah." He also asked if I compared my car to a horse and buggy and did I want to go back to the 1800's when six of his relatives all died of diptheria. And on and on it went.

At the end of his diatribe he said that if I wasn't willing to vaccinate then this practice wasn't for me (so?). And, if that was the case, he didn't know who to refer me to, except maybe the Christian Scientists (sorry if this offends anyone. He said it, not me).

He also gave the typical speach about how vaccines have saved the world from certain annihilation and in his 20 some odd years of practice he has *NEVER* seen a vaccine reaction, despite thousands of doese administered. He then went on to say there was only *ONE* study done that *EVER* linked autism to MMR and it was done 10 years ago and after publication one of the author's adminited that it was a faulty study. He also *LIED* about the prevnar vaccine saying that the reason they recommend 3 doses right now is because Aventis "can't keep up with the worldwide demand". He failed to mention that they can't keep up because they have manufacturing problems which contaminated a bunch of the vaccine and they are still working those problems out.

He also rolled out some supposed cases of particular diseases - "There was a case in x town where a toddler died ot Tetnus just last year" etc. He also asked why I thought life expectancy for woman had doubled in the last 200 years - why vaccines of course.

Needless to say, I was quite upset after the visit. I am totally torn on the vaccine issue. I feel damned if I do because something in my gut tells me its bad and I feel damned if I don't because I would be heartbroken if something happened to DD that I might have been able to prevent.

Oh, and then he said he'd be perfectly happy to read anything I'd like him to read. Yeah right. As if.

At any rate, I really didn't feel like he needed to treat me so rudely. I can totally understand that his practice might not want to treat partially or unvaccinated children. All he had to do was say that and it could have been the end of discussion. Instead, he tried to bully me in the rudest way possible.

I told DH about it and he was upset that I was treated badly. However, DH's opinion is that it will take a lot of hard, scientific data for him to go against modern recommendations for vaccines. He said he does not want to be the father in American Dreams who sees his child sick from a disease he might have been able to prevent with the vaccine. so he feels bad that I was treated badly but...

[julielenore]

We have chosen not to take our children to the doctor unless something is really wrong with them. Why would I take my perfectly healthy children into a building full of sick people and germs? My six year old has only been to see a dr once in her lifetime and she is very healthy. Of course, if my child was extremely ill and I could not manage her at home I would take her but I certainly don't believe that dr's are entirely nessesary. I think that any mother knows when something is wrong and that check ups are just a way to get you into their office so that you can support thier business.

[chlobo]

You must have a very open minded husband. My DH & I grew up in the Boston area, which is over medicalized so I'm sure my husband would never come to this point of view. In fact, I can't seem to get him to even think vaccines "might" be harmful. He keeps saying mainstream medicine can't be wrong.

[julielenore]

My husband has seen what mainstream medicine has done to our friends and family. My own father is now on over twelve medications, many of which are to control symptoms that the other medications have given him. He knows that mainstream medicine does not fix what is actually wrong with you, it only supresses the symptoms.
Tell your husband how unsanitary that drs offices really are. The actual examining room may be sterile but what about the waiting room wher your child is crawling all over the floor and playing with the toys that all of the sick children have touched? Why put a healthy child in that situation?

[polka123]

Originally Posted by julielenore

We have chosen not to take our children to the doctor unless something is really wrong with them. Why would I take my perfectly healthy children into a building full of sick people and germs? My six year old has only been to see a dr once in her lifetime and she is very healthy. Of course, if my child was extremely ill and I could not manage her at home I would take her but I certainly don't believe that dr's are entirely nessesary. I think that any mother knows when something is wrong and that check ups are just a way to get you into their office so that you can support thier business.

ITA

We don't do "well-child" visits. I can weigh & measure @ home.
Doctors are for sick people.
It's a $$-making scam.

I get the same nonsense but then I say, " My Mom is a polio survivor. She & her 7 other Sibs shared 2 bedrooms - there was no for isolation when she was sick. Why didn't the other sibs contract polio???"
Hhhmmmmmmmmm?
My Chiro's Mom had the same family set-up.She got polio & no one else did either.
That ususally shuts them up - feel free to use that example if need-be. I hand them a religious exemption.
They call 5 cases an outbreak
Your chanced of actually contracting a disease in so slim.
We live in a clean country where we do not have a sanitation problem, etc.

[kdtwiss]

Originally Posted by chlobo

So I went to DDs 10 month appointment yesterday. I had put off her 6 month shots to do more research as I'm becoming very skepticle of the safety or efficacy of vaccines.

Anyhow, the doctor walks in and leads of saying we need to discuss the shots. I said I was still researching and he then proceeded to "dress me down" in a very disrespectful manner. His arguments were all over the place too, but I think he covered all the common arguments and in a very rude manner. At one point he asked my profession pre DD and then said, "If I wanted social work advice I would come to you, but I'm the doctor, blah, blah, blah." He also asked if I compared my car to a horse and buggy and did I want to go back to the 1800's when six of his relatives all died of diptheria. And on and on it went.

At the end of his diatribe he said that if I wasn't willing to vaccinate then this practice wasn't for me (so?). And, if that was the case, he didn't know who to refer me to, except maybe the Christian Scientists (sorry if this offends anyone. He said it, not me).

He also gave the typical speach about how vaccines have saved the world from certain annihilation and in his 20 some odd years of practice he has *NEVER* seen a vaccine reaction, despite thousands of doese administered. He then went on to say there was only *ONE* study done that *EVER* linked autism to MMR and it was done 10 years ago and after publication one of the author's adminited that it was a faulty study. He also *LIED* about the prevnar vaccine saying that the reason they recommend 3 doses right now is because Aventis "can't keep up with the worldwide demand". He failed to mention that they can't keep up because they have manufacturing problems which contaminated a bunch of the vaccine and they are still working those problems out.

He also rolled out some supposed cases of particular diseases - "There was a case in x town where a toddler died ot Tetnus just last year" etc. He also asked why I thought life expectancy for woman had doubled in the last 200 years - why vaccines of course.

Needless to say, I was quite upset after the visit. I am totally torn on the vaccine issue. I feel damned if I do because something in my gut tells me its bad and I feel damned if I don't because I would be heartbroken if something happened to DD that I might have been able to prevent.

Oh, and then he said he'd be perfectly happy to read anything I'd like him to read. Yeah right. As if.

At any rate, I really didn't feel like he needed to treat me so rudely. I can totally understand that his practice might not want to treat partially or unvaccinated children. All he had to do was say that and it could have been the end of discussion. Instead, he tried to bully me in the rudest way possible.

I told DH about it and he was upset that I was treated badly. However, DH's opinion is that it will take a lot of hard, scientific data for him to go against modern recommendations for vaccines. He said he does not want to be the father in American Dreams who sees his child sick from a disease he might have been able to prevent with the vaccine. so he feels bad that I was treated badly but...

As for that you can remind your dh that MANY people contracted polio FROM the vaccine in those days.THe generasl problem as I see it is that the medical establishment has done a very good job of making us believe we can not possibly survive without them. NOw don't get me wrong modern medicine has its place - when someone has cancer or such, modern medicine certainly saves lives. However in the absence of somethin like that our bodies are (in the absence of an immune deficiency) beautifully designed to protect themselves. There are too many variables in the span of a lifetime to say for certain why one smoker develops lung cancer and another does not. Was it because one had a flu vaccine and the immune system was busy dealing with that when the original cancer cells started to replicate? We don't know, we never can. What we do know is that even when disease strikes - in a healthy individual it is overcome by the immune system usually without complications. We need to trust our own immune system, vaccines disrupt that system. Did you know getting a flu shot can give a false positive reading for an HIV test? How scary is that? What the he** is that vaccine doing to our bodies that this is possible?Or more commonly what is it about a vaccine that will just kill a child? We just don't know. I think for your dh you should print up a release sheet of some kind - which I have seen somewhere else-for you doc to sign and tell him if your doc will sign it you will vaccinate.(which no sane doc will do and honestly I would dump that doc of yours anyway)
This letter is to attest to the fact that I Doctor X have advised Parents of baby smith that he/she should vaccinate their child. I testify to the fact that said child will suffer no consequences from the vaccine(s). It is expressly written here that I , in my medical
expertise guarantee said child will suffer no ill effects
from said vaccine and will confer 100% immunity to those diseases which he/she is vaccinated against.
Should any
harm including but not limited to death, permanant disability,seizures,brain damage, encephaly, or any other listed or not listed possible side effect should occur to their child, I doctor X take full responsibity for said condition financially and ethically.
Simply put get your doc to put it in writing that he guarantees that your child will not die or suffer permanant injury to vaccine. They will never do it.THis is in direct contrast to your doc saying that only mild reactions are possible and he has never seen any severe reactions. Perhaps a better ? for your doc is - has any patient of his ever died from SIDS? Does he have any autistic patients?

[grahamsmom98]

We FIRED our family practice doctor after our ds's severe adverse reaction to one of the 6 vaccines he received at his 7 month well-baby check. No argument as to whether it was vaccination-related. It happened right in the office within 30 seconds of his being immunized!

His medical records had no mention of this or the treatment he received after. LOTS of Federally-mandated info was not in the records and he lied to us about a few things, too. The doc was a great guy, we really liked him. But, it was HIS office and he needed to be more responsible, etc. I documented everything, wrote him a long letter, and we never heard from him.

After that, we were refused by 9 different family practice and peds because of our non-vaccinating decision. Even though it was a MEDICAL reason!!!

Sigh......

We have homeopathic family practice doc we use if we need anything, but we don't "do" well-child checks. Ds has not been ill, so we are fortunate. I have seen a mainstream doc for various things, and she was shocked when I mentioned that ds has no concept of needles (shots). She asked, with HORROR in her voice and on her face, "What about immunizations???!!!" I explained his reaction and she relaxed and agreed it was probably what she would do, too. She did go on to say, "You know, REAL reactions are very rare, almost unheard of. Do you think, perhaps, that G simply fainted when he saw the needle? You know, many guys do!"



Umm, NO. He was 7 months old at the time. We could have shown him a cobra with a black widow on its head, he wouldn't have been scared. He would have smiled at it!

Hmmm, come to think about it, that might have been safer.........