The practice of pediatric offices ‘firing' parents who refuse to vaccinate their children is more than a minor trend, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In Connecticut, for example, a study published last year revealed that 30 percent of 133 surveyed pediatricians said they asked a family to leave their practice for vaccine refusal. A similar survey of 909 Midwestern pediatricians showed that 21 percent had discharged patients for the same reason.

The controversial practice has increased during the past decade. According to surveys conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics, only 6 percent of physicians said they "routinely" ended relationships with families due to vaccine refusal in 2001 and 2006, with 16 percent saying they "sometimes" refused them.

Although critics say it's unethical for physicians to turn away unvaccinated children and that discharging patients from a practice should be used as a last resort, supporters argue that they have a duty to protect other children, such as those who may be immunocompromised, from contracting illnesses carried by unvaccinated kids visiting the same office.

Scott Goldstein, a pediatrician at Northwestern Children's Practice in Chicago, recently supported this position on CBS This Morning: "If you don't believe in the fundamental thing we believe in, then you need to go somewhere else."

On the other side of the coin, Fox News medical contributor Manny Alvarez wrote that firing patients sends the wrong message to patients. "Physicians should work together to create protocols of education and counseling if the family comes to a pediatrician's office and refuses to vaccinate their child," he wrote. "Maybe the physician can recommend the family see another doctor and get second opinion, so parents understand there is a widely-accepted, clinical logic in vaccination."

To learn more:
- read the article from the Wall Street Journal
- see the article from CBS News HealthPop
- check out the post from Fox News

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