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Full-Text Articles in Law
Parents Should Not Be Legally Liable For Refusing To Vaccinate Their Children, Jay Gordon
Parents Should Not Be Legally Liable For Refusing To Vaccinate Their Children, Jay Gordon
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Should a parent who takes advantage of a personal belief exemption to avoid vaccinating a child be held liable if that child infects other people? No, because there are valid medical reasons for choosing this exemption and tracing direct transmission of these illnesses from an unvaccinated child to another person is virtually impossible.
The Problem Of Vaccination Noncompliance: Public Health Goals And The Limitations Of Tort Law, Daniel B. Rubin, Sophie Kasimow
The Problem Of Vaccination Noncompliance: Public Health Goals And The Limitations Of Tort Law, Daniel B. Rubin, Sophie Kasimow
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Imposing tort liability on parents who fail to vaccinate their children would not serve the public health and public policy interests that drive childhood immunization efforts. The public policy goals of vaccination are to slow the spread of disease and to reduce mortality and morbidity. Our country’s public health laws already play a substantial role in furthering these goals. Although application of tort law may be an appropriate response to some of the problems that result from vaccination noncompliance, there also is a need to cultivate public understanding of the connection between individual actions and collective wellbeing. It is doubtful …
Gambling With The Health Of Others, Stephen P. Teret, Jon S. Vernick
Gambling With The Health Of Others, Stephen P. Teret, Jon S. Vernick
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
The health and wellbeing of the public is, in part, a function of the behavior of individuals. When one individual’s behavior places another at a foreseeable and easily preventable risk of illness or injury, tort liability can play a valuable role in discouraging that conduct. This is true in the context of childhood immunization.
Unintended Consequences: The Primacy Of Public Trust In Vaccination, Jason L. Schwartz
Unintended Consequences: The Primacy Of Public Trust In Vaccination, Jason L. Schwartz
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
The increasing availability of personal belief exemptions from state vaccination requirements is a growing concern among proponents of vaccination. Holding parents of non-vaccinated children liable to those they infect is among the responses proposed to maintain high vaccination rates. Even if motivated by a sincere desire to maximize the benefits of vaccination throughout society, such a step would be inadvisable, further entrenching opponents of vaccination and adding to the atmosphere of confusion and unnecessary alarm that has become increasingly common among parents of children for whom vaccination is recommended.
Challenging Personal Belief Immunization Exemptions: Considering Legal Responses, Alexandra Stewart
Challenging Personal Belief Immunization Exemptions: Considering Legal Responses, Alexandra Stewart
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Public health agencies and citizens should employ legal approaches to hold parents accountable for refusing to vaccinate their children. The judiciary would craft an effective response to defeat the threat posed by these parents. Public-nuisance law may offer a legal mechanism to hold vaccine objectors liable for their actions.
Choices Should Have Consequences: Failure To Vaccinate, Harm To Others, And Civil Liability, Douglas S. Diekema
Choices Should Have Consequences: Failure To Vaccinate, Harm To Others, And Civil Liability, Douglas S. Diekema
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
A parent’s decision not to vaccinate a child may place others at risk if the child becomes infected and exposes others to the disease. Should an individual harmed by an infection transmitted from a child whose parents chose to forgo vaccination have a negligence claim against those parents? While I do not hold a legal degree and therefore cannot speak directly to issues of law, as a physician and ethicist it seems to me that the basic elements that comprise negligence claims—harm, duty, breach of duty, and causation—are met in some cases where parents forgo vaccination.
Thou Good And Faithful Servant, Carl E. Schneider
Thou Good And Faithful Servant, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
Lawmakers are stewards of social resources. A current debate-over screening newborns for genetic disorders-illuminates dilemmas of that stewardship that have particularly plagued bioethics. Recently in the Report, Mary Ann Baily and Thomas Murray told the story of little Ben Haygood. He died from MCADD, a genetic disorder that can make long fasting fatal. Screening at birth would have let doctors alert Ben's parents. "After Ben died," Baily and Murray wrote, "his father became a passionate advocate for expanding Mississippi's newborn screening program to add MCADD and other disorders." Soon, the Ben Haygood Comprehensive Newborn Screening Act increased the number …
Of Lies And Disclaimers - Contracting Around Fraud Under Texas Law., Robert K. Wise, Andrew J. Szygenda, Thomas F. Lillard
Of Lies And Disclaimers - Contracting Around Fraud Under Texas Law., Robert K. Wise, Andrew J. Szygenda, Thomas F. Lillard
St. Mary's Law Journal
The Texas Supreme Court has failed to provide a bright-line test in determining whether reliance disclaimers are enforceable. A reliance disclaimer is a provision in a contract that disclaims all extra-contractual representations and provides that the contracting parties are not relying on any such representations. By including a reliance disclaimer, a contracting party may be attempting to immunize itself from liability for false statements made during negotiations. Even if a contracting party’s misrepresentations or non-disclosures were made with fraudulent intent, Texas law gives contracting parties broad freedom to contract around misrepresentation claims. In Forest Oil Corp. v. McAllen, the Texas …