My Brother's Keeper

We take children away from parents who starve their children, physically or emotionally abuse their children. Why don't we do it when they expose their children to preventable diseases?

The 6-year-old boy, who was not identified in the report, was playing outdoors at a farm when he cut his forehead. Six days later, the case study detailed, the child started exhibiting tell-tale signs of tetanus ― jaw and muscle spasms, arching of the neck and back and difficulty breathing.

His parents contacted emergency services, and the boy was airlifted to a pediatric medical facility.

“He was alert and requested water but was unable to open his mouth; respiratory distress caused by diaphragmatic and laryngeal spasm necessitated sedation, endotracheal intubation, and mechanical ventilation,” the report noted.

The child, who had never received any immunizations, was given an initial dose of the DTaP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

“Fortunately, the emergency department physicians immediately recognized the symptoms of severe tetanus,” Judith Guzman-Cottrill, a pediatrics professor at Oregon Health & Science University who co-authored the report, told The Washington Post in an email. “Physicians have all read about tetanus, and we have seen pictures of people suffering from tetanus. ... It is profound.”

Tetanus is an infection caused by spores of Clostridium tetani bacteria that enter the body through a wound. Toxin from the bacteria causes painful muscle spasms, often in a person’s neck and jaw, hence the common name for tetanus: lockjaw. When the muscles lock, it can be difficult for infected people to open their mouth or swallow.

The boy received inpatient acute care for 57 days, 47 of which he spent in the intensive care unit, the case study said. It took 44 days after he developed the disease before he was able to sip clear liquids and 50 days before he was able to walk on his own.

The case was the first incidence of pediatric tetanus that Oregon witnessed in over 30 years and resulted in $800,000 in inpatient charges. At the end of the ordeal, the report said, the boy’s parents refused further vaccinations before taking him home.

This is child abuse:  plain and simple.  47 days in intensive care, 44 days before he could sip clear liquids, 50 days before he could walk on his own again, and the parents still refuse further vaccinations?  What madness is this?  If these parents were starving their child to drive "Satan" out of him, there'd be no question of societal responsibility.  But because it's a vaccine?  Maybe it's the extreme case we need to prove the point. What if the next case is polio? Is that what it will take? Someone crippled for life to convince us we've gone down the wrong path?