Physicians who espouse views based on anecdotes, myths, or ideology, especially in the middle of an epidemic, should have their medical licenses revoked, said Arthur L. Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center’s department of population health.
In a commentary about measles vaccination in The Washington Post, Mr. Caplan outlined in detail why three physicians who have made public their views against vaccination can and should lose their medical licenses, in his opinion.
A doctor is held to a higher standard than the average person, and “must consider the public health and the patient good in all that he says in his role as expert. To do otherwise ... is unprofessional. It might even constitute misconduct if it contributed to an epidemic. Counseling against vaccination is exactly that kind of misconduct,” he said.
To read the entire article, go to: The Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2015.
*Correction, 2/19/2015: An earlier version of this article carried a headline that misstated Dr. Kaplan’s profession.