Guilty or innocent?

Here's a scenario directly from an episode of Law and Order SVU that I've just seen:

- A girl dies from measles.
- She contracted it from a boy in a public park.
- The mother of the boy refused to vaccinate her son, for religious purposes. She knew the risks of not vaccinating her son. Measles are highly contagious.
- The mother is arrested for the death of the girl.


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You've been forced/appointed to serve as a juror of this case.

Your vote - guilty or innocent?

Did the mother have a responsibility to others to make sure that her child couldn't pass a potentially deadly disease?
Do you think that people should be forced to vaccinate?
Does a person's basic rights end when it could possibly harm others?

 

+1

QFT

 

It wasn't for a religious reason, was it? I think she just didn't believe in the medical logic behind vaccines (and the cost).

In which case, I think another big question is whether the mother should even have had the right to decide for her own child. Sure, we should all have the right to make our own medical decisions - but do children deserve to die for their parents' incompetencies?

Children are required to get certain vaccinations to attend school, and school attendance is compulsory for most US residents. I hardly think it a stretch to suggest that certain vaccinations - as agreed by the medical community based on the probability of contracting the disease, the probability of negative side effects, and the extent of said side effects - should be required regardless of whether the mother wishes it or not.

 

Yes and the mother should be prosecuted for neglect

 

She allowed this to happen and so is guilty.

 

Guilty. Her delusional religious beliefs cost another child their life.

 

I believe she's guilty. She has all rights to refuse the vaccination, however as soon as it effects anyone - guilty.

 

Guilty, because after her child had contracted the disease, then she shouldnt have let her child out into the public, or she could have vaccinated the child just for the simple fact that her childs life was in danger and other peopls lives could be too.

 

Jesus, has anyone considered the fact that the girl in park was not vaccinated herself?

I see a load of hypocrites.

 

The mom should be charged with negligence and manslaughter.

 

I would say innocent, because the way the story was written it seems like she (the girl) wasn't vaccinated too, so, she shouldn't be astounded that she gets it / dies.

 

Ah, not religious, but rather "spiritual", right? I was under the impression that during the episode that was the center of her defense.

 

If she has a vaccine, how did she contract it?

 

I love how your first assumption is that she was actually vaccinated...

 

Ah, so even if the girl didn't get vaccinated then obviously the girl would of ended up getting them anyways, which would of been the mothers fault. Which has lead me to believe that the mother of the child(female) had gotten the vaccine.

 

Guilty for manslaughter

 

Guilty, isn't that similar to how you can go to jail, for spreading something?
I went to the dr a few days ago coughing and such and they tested me for swine flu, and I was like "well if I got it alot of my friends have been around me." If it came back positive I could go to jail for spreading it.

 

i think not, maby if there was a vaccine that you chose to ignore you would be behind bars, but as you attempted to sort it out by going to the docters you were not in the wrong.

i belive both mothers were guilty forboth ignoring vacines.

 

Put the bitch in a mental institute for being such a dumb fuck.

 

The girls fault for not being vaccinated.