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Thursday, February 06, 2014

Lopsided liability

Two links today ... #1 is in response to a post alleging that the un-vaccinated should be held responsible for disease outbreaks (see link #2). The initial editorial was posted in May 2013, but the response (#1) is not dated;

How is it that the un-vaccinated could be held responsible for disease outbreaks while the manufacturers and providers of vaccines are legally immune (pun intended) from any adverse consequences of vaccines? One of the reasons people decline vaccination is concern about known and unknown risks of vaccines and their ingredients.

If groups insist on regulating an individual choice through mandate (ie: compulsory vaccination), then where will it end? This started with tobacco and has become increasingly intrusive, and virtually none of this was done through the free market. And even with the use of multiple legal, compulsory tools of the state (ie: banning smoking in private business/property, taxing the product, regulating advertisement, etc) it has taken >50 years to decrease smoking significantly population wide - people resist manipulation. There is no way to know what might have occurred if different tactics had been used - tactics based on a free market ... the marketplace of ideas.

It seems the only area where we have free choice is sex - and then anything goes, regardless of cost to the individual or group. Liability for spreading an STI (sexually transmitted infection) - virtually non-existent. Make a baby but you're not married - no problem, big Daddy government will step in and feed the baby (WIC/Food Stamps), provided medical coverage (Medicaid), housing (Section 8), and cash (TANF/EITC). Birth control is encouraged instead of self-control, with baby killing as a convenient back-up.

People are smart and should be able to freely choose if they will take part in a medical intervention ... and people who freely choose to take, or not take said medical intervention can and will live with the results, for good or ill. None of us lives in a vacuum, and ultimately we all benefit or are harmed by the choices we each make - and we should all be free to make decisions about our health without being manipulated or coerced.

#1)
http://www.ebcala.org/areas-of-law/vaccine-law/guest-post-crack-down-on-those-who-dont-vaccinate-a-response-to-art-caplan

#2)
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/billofhealth/2013/05/23/liability-for-failure-to-vaccinate/

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