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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006;160:452.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As a former practicing family physician providing care to pediatric and adolescent patients, I applaud the ARCHIVES' efforts to bring attention to this critical issue.

In my former practice I, too, dismissed families from my practice for refusing childhood immunizations. Following the lead of a pediatrician mentor of mine, I would exhaust all efforts to provide cogent arguments to support the proven safety and effectiveness of these most successful preventive regimens. When these arguments failed, I advised these well-meaning but misguided parents that they were asking me to "voluntarily contribute to the death of their child from a disease we could prevent"; an ethical breach they could not ask of me. Most understood, and although it seldom changed their preconceptions, it at least provided a conceptual basis to interpret the decision to terminate the patient-physician relationship.

I believe it is essential that practicing physicians be given the support . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Michael P. Elston, MD, MS

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