“So the CDC now issues a written statement meant to soothe jittery parents, by saying that “the recommended vaccine schedule is flexible.” Such decisions, the friendly announcement said, “are best made in consultation with the child’s doctor, and parents shouldn’t be reluctant to have such discussions.”

Of course parents shouldn’t be reluctant to have this discussion, but they are. I get nasty emails from some pediatricians, and the number-one complaint I get from them is that, because of people like me, they must now “waste” (their word, not mine) precious billing hours talking to layperson parents about vaccine science.

These doctors’ hostility is palpable, (and they hopefully represent a minority of pediatricians). And while I cannot imagine ever consulting anyone of such temperment for medical care in the first place, many parents are simply cowed into silence. For them, the CDC suggestion to ask vaccine safety questions at a well-baby visit is laughable, if not risible.”

jdc wrote: “Where’s the data? You are using emotional arguments in an attempt to “tug at the heart strings” of concerned parents – not discussing research.”

Hey, are you still convinced that we made this one up? Well, we probably did. Sounds like there are many pediatricians who wouldn’t want to waste their time with the conversation. They’d just point to the door.

Ped : what do you mean you’re not getting the HIB vaccine?

Me: I mean I’m not allowing you to give DD any vaccines

Ped: But she’ll die if she doesn’t have the HIB vaccaine

Me: You mean death is a remote possibility if she comes in contact with and contracrs HIB?

Ped: No, I mean she’ll die without the vaccine

Swear to god…she was actually that stupid.

This is the same ped that insisted that all thimerisol was out of all vaccines (until I showed her the package insert for the vial in her own office

oh, she also told me that the CDC has said that you can’t get autism from the MMR since they took the thimerisol out…yes, she actually said this…she had no idea that there was never thimerisol in the MMR.

She then fired me…or I fired her…it was hard to tell which actually happened as I was rushing to get my DD the hell outa there.

Sadly I agree.

I gave up ped’s a long time ago. This type of scenerio is very real.

It is fiction. If we had taken one of the actual encounters from that thread, most people would have laughed: “You are making that up. No doctor would say that! No doctor would act like that!” So we had to moderate our description.

We are considering your suggestion for “MMR the Musical” although the first draft seems to be turning out as a tragic opera. Would you be interested in the role of Iago?

“And the doctor’s statements might be anecdotal, but unfortunately they aren’t fiction either!”
So this is not a play, but an accurate report of an actual encounter between patients and doctor?

The doctor is a caricature, surely? Reading the ‘stage directions’ to see how the different parties are represented certainly makes me think that the doc is a caricature.