Author’s Response Reply to Dr. Terk

One part of our argument relies on the distinction between requesting inappropriate care (which, per AMA guidance, would make nonacceptance of potential patients permissible) and refusing appropriate care (which would not, by itself, make nonacceptance of potential patients permissible). Vaccine refusers are doing the latter, not the former. Dr. Terk claims this distinction doesn’t make a moral difference. We disagree. First, to be clear, by ‘appropriate care’ we mean the standard of care, defined as minimally competent care; by ‘inappropriate care’ we mean something falling below the standard of care. The distinction we draw—between physicians not offering inappropriate care and physicians tolerating parental …

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