I turned it down for my son too, about 10 years ago. It was to be our last "well child" visit with a pediatrician we had loved and trusted for many years. He decided he would take a different tack for some reason and talked to my son IN FRONT OF ME saying, "This is YOUR decision, not your mom's. I'm encouraging you to take it because I CARE about you." My son slid off the exam table (17 years old) and quietly but firmly said, "I'm not comfortable with this, I'm going to the car." and left. At which I REAMED the doctor (we were pretty much alone for an early morning appointment) and cried, saying, "Well I guess it's better to end our long association this way. At least I'll be angry instead of sad!" He looked so defeated and sad. I said, "How many of your patients are completely unvaccinated? He said, "About a third" I replied: "So why did you have to die on this hill??? And as someone in sales, let me tell you that acting like you care MORE about a kid than their mother does is NOT the way to soft pedal your wares." It still bothers me when I think about that day. I've always wanted to send some actual data to the office with, "I told you so!" written in big letters but it's really hard to find actual information that's not skewed in favor of big pharma.
I'm so sorry for you and your son. Although, our family's experience somewhat echoes yours (unfortunately) -- my wife repeatedly got pressured in the 2000s, in the final visits to our sons' pediatricians, to get that damnable Gardasil shot. We snubbed it on principle -- but the doctors kept pushing and pushing. We stood our ground, and I'm so glad in retrospect that we did.
Wow, that’s insane. You did the right thing pulling your kids out of there. Our pediatrician has never pulled anything like that over vaccines. I can’t imagine. He’s never tried to press us when we tell him no, but he still tries. We did fight over Covid tests. He insisted on giving my kids Covid tests and freaked out when we told him no. He was almost shaking and said he would lose his license if we didn’t let him test the kids when they had symptoms. I told him that’s his problem and my kids were not tested. He still has his practice, so he must have survived, but he acted terrified.
I turned it down for my son too, about 10 years ago. It was to be our last "well child" visit with a pediatrician we had loved and trusted for many years. He decided he would take a different tack for some reason and talked to my son IN FRONT OF ME saying, "This is YOUR decision, not your mom's. I'm encouraging you to take it because I CARE about you." My son slid off the exam table (17 years old) and quietly but firmly said, "I'm not comfortable with this, I'm going to the car." and left. At which I REAMED the doctor (we were pretty much alone for an early morning appointment) and cried, saying, "Well I guess it's better to end our long association this way. At least I'll be angry instead of sad!" He looked so defeated and sad. I said, "How many of your patients are completely unvaccinated? He said, "About a third" I replied: "So why did you have to die on this hill??? And as someone in sales, let me tell you that acting like you care MORE about a kid than their mother does is NOT the way to soft pedal your wares." It still bothers me when I think about that day. I've always wanted to send some actual data to the office with, "I told you so!" written in big letters but it's really hard to find actual information that's not skewed in favor of big pharma.
I'm so sorry for you and your son. Although, our family's experience somewhat echoes yours (unfortunately) -- my wife repeatedly got pressured in the 2000s, in the final visits to our sons' pediatricians, to get that damnable Gardasil shot. We snubbed it on principle -- but the doctors kept pushing and pushing. We stood our ground, and I'm so glad in retrospect that we did.
Wow, that’s insane. You did the right thing pulling your kids out of there. Our pediatrician has never pulled anything like that over vaccines. I can’t imagine. He’s never tried to press us when we tell him no, but he still tries. We did fight over Covid tests. He insisted on giving my kids Covid tests and freaked out when we told him no. He was almost shaking and said he would lose his license if we didn’t let him test the kids when they had symptoms. I told him that’s his problem and my kids were not tested. He still has his practice, so he must have survived, but he acted terrified.