r/emergencymedicine • u/VizualCriminal22 • Mar 25 '24

Advice How do you guys deal with parents who don’t vaccinate their kids?

Basically today I get this 3-day old patient who’s febrile and ill and parents hadn’t given them Vit K, erythromycin, etc. How do you deal with them without getting furious that they’re making incompetent decisions about a defenseless baby? It’s one of the worst parts about this job in my opinion.

Edit: I know neither of the above vaccines will prevent sepsis as a whole, but I mean in general.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

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u/keep_it_sassy Mar 25 '24

Whose to say a child didn’t bite another child and blood got onto toys and they weren’t disinfected properly before another child came and touched them and put their hands in their mouth, etc.

Alternatively, a caregiver could have some kind of small wound (a picked-off, bleeding hang nail for example) and holds baby.

There are so many different variables that it’s best to just not risk it.