SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Health officials on Thursday confirmed the country's first measles death since 2003, and they believe the victim was most likely exposed to the virus in a health facility in Washington state during an outbreak there. The woman died in the spring; a later autopsy confirmed that she had an undetected measles infection, the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement. The official cause of death was announced as "pneumonia due to measles."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 178 people from 24 states and the District were reported to have measles from Jan. 1 through June 26 of this year. Two-thirds of the cases, the CDC noted, were "part of a large multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California."
Measles were effectively eliminated in the United States in 2000, according to the CDC. Health officials have said that the disease made a comeback recently, in part because of a growing number of adults deciding to delay or abstain from vaccinating their children. Last year brought the highest number of recorded measles cases since 2000, according to the CDC. Earlier this year, President Obama acknowledged the concerns some have about effects of vaccines but said: "The science is pretty indisputable." "You should get your kids vaccinated — it's good for them," Obama said. "We should be able to get back to the point where measles effectively is not existing in this country."
takyon: Celebrity critics recently denounced California's new mandatory vaccine law.
Original Submission
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @01:27AM
This borders on hyperbole but I hope the family sues Jenny McCarthy. Speech is free but free does not mean freedom from consequences.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @01:44AM
Speech is free but free does not mean freedom from consequences.
Please stop repeating this garbage; it doesn't make sense and it attempts to justify infringing upon free speech rights. Using this logic, even North Korea has freedom of speech; you're just not free from the "consequences" of your speech (whatever that may be, and no matter how indirect), which the government can then punish you for. If the government punishes you (in this case, it would be by enforcing some court decision for speech, then you do not have freedom of speech in that instance. If you think that people should have limits on their right to free speech--which most people seem to--then just admit it.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @02:20AM
Did you notice the conspicuous absence of key information in this reporting? Was this woman vaccinated? Was the patient she supposedly contracted measles from vaccinated? Maybe you should think things through and assess the available evidence before threatening people. There does not appear to be sufficient evidence being made available to us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @12:50PM
If someone listens to Jenny McCarthy, they have no one to blame but themselves. If someone is negatively affected by someone who listens to Jenny McCarthy, they should take issue with the people who listened to her, since they're the ones who took the harmful actions.
Don't blame others for your own foolish actions.
(Score: 2) by zafiro17 on Sunday July 05 2015, @01:31PM
Ignore the angry nerd below me. I fully support holding this loud-mouthed scaremonger accountable for her anti-science and anti-fact-based conjecture. She's had an unfortunately oversized pulpit to preach from and has used it ultimately to advocate for things that are fucking stupid.
I hope she gets measles and AIDS and anal warts and so many huge herpes warts all over her face that she dies a slow, miserable death from it. And I hope the whole thing gets televised, particularly the anal warts.
You mess with science? Science always wins, loudmouth!
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @03:58PM
Ignore the angry nerd below me. I fully support holding this loud-mouthed scaremonger accountable for her anti-science and anti-fact-based conjecture.
Socially accountable? Criticizing her? Fine; she's an idiot, after all. Sicking the government on her for her speech? Not fine.
(Score: 2) by zafiro17 on Sunday July 05 2015, @06:10PM
I am absolutely /not/ advocating for siccing the government on her. What I want is a good, public shaming. I'd like to see her on someone else's news show, answering uncomfortable questions about how her ignorance led to a decrease in public welfare.
Screw the government, they've got enough to do trying to put back together their hacked systems ;) They haven't got the time to go after anybody.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2015, @08:54PM
If your "free speech" leads to the death of others, then yes I want you held accountable.
It's illegal to yell fire in a theater unless there actually is a fire.
If you cause people to panic and someone gets trampled to death, the blame lands at your feet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2015, @02:20AM
If your "free speech" leads to the death of others, then yes I want you held accountable.
It's illegal to yell fire in a theater unless there actually is a fire.
If you cause people to panic and someone gets trampled to death, the blame lands at your feet.
Oh, please. Even people who agree that your example demonstrates that certain speech should be outlawed should realize the flaw with this comparison. The flaw here is that there is no imminent 'danger'; anyone who listens to this person can calmly do their research in a timely manner. If they fail to do so properly, and take harmful actions, that's completely on them. There is also no demonstrable intent to harm others with the speech. I doubt even our courts would agree with you here, and that's saying something.