Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) Past President and American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Board member Sarah Sams, MD, FAAFP, was recently interviewed and quoted in the April 8 article on Healio titled Measles Outbreaks Raise ‘Difficult Ethical Question’: Turn Away Unvaccinated Patients?
“I have always taken a different philosophy that those [unvaccinated patients] are probably the patients I need to see the most because they are the ones that I need to continue to have those conversations with in a non-judgmental, supportive way,” Dr. Sams said. “I think, when they are turned away from healthcare providers because of that, it just sort of reinforces some of the division between the medical community and them. Also, the child then misses a lot of other well care, unless they find somebody else who will see them. And it misses some opportunities for education.”
Dr. Sams recalls one patient who, as a child had listened to Dr. Sams’ discussions with her parents throughout her childhood, decided to fully vaccinate herself after she turned 18 years of age.