My coworker told me a story today that really infuriated me. She has a sixteen year old daughter with autism and she is always sharing the cutest stories about her. Today though, I couldn't get over this particular story and seeing as I'm thinking about it even six hours after she told it to us, I figured I'd vent about it here. She brought her children to a new doctor get physicals today and the doctor asked her if she wanted to give her daughter the HPV vaccine. A concerned parent, my coworker said no as the vaccination hasn't been around all that long and just wasn't interested. Okay, I get that doctors may push a vaccine but this doctor was absurd. Her response in front of her daughter was, "Well, did you hear about the mental institution where all the girls were raped and got HPV? You're not always going to be around and you may want to think about your daughter's heath after."
WHAT? I seriously don't know how my coworker didn't lose her shit over that! I don't have children but I think I would have left the office right there and demanded my co-payment back. How dare she? I have a few major, major issues with her response. One, how dare you say something like that in front of the little girl. She may be sixteen but according to my coworker she has the mentality of an 11 year old. Way to scare the crap out of her by talking about how she could be raped or that her parents may die in the near future. Two, my coworker is not old so what's up with bringing her mortality into this conversation. And mainly... who says that she will be entering some kind of home. Just because her daughter has autism does not mean that she will have to eventually go into an institution! To say I was appalled by this doctor is an understatement. Again, even if you feel like she does need the vaccine, that is not how you sell it.
Of course, pushing it at all is irritating as it only reinforces the idea that this vaccine is purely for financial gain than medical. Having said that, I chose to get the HPV vaccine for my own personal reasons. I made the decision though after I was given the pertinent information, the risks, the potential benefits. But that's the thing: I made the choice.and it had absolutely nothing to do with any fear mongering from my doctor. It is an optional vaccine that hasn't been around for a while so we don't know of any long term side effects or even benefits so I get that there is some reluctance. Not to mention that getting the vaccine requires a series of three shots that have some pretty icky potential side effects.
It is the parent/patients job to make the decision to be vaccinated with this vaccine. It is the doctor's job to give the appropriate information. Why is this vaccination worthwhile? What are the risks or potential side effects? Why does getting this vaccine outweigh the risks? That's how one should try to sell it if the doctor believes it needs is truly necessary but the way she went about it was completely unprofessional. Thanks for reading my rant.
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