Measles, mumps, and rubella, oh my. After the New York outbreak of the mumps, many are wondering how this could have happened and who is to blame.
The New York Daily News reports that the 57 confirmed cases of the mumps were caused by a "child who went to Britain... and then attended a summer camp upstate, apparently infecting dozens of kids."
According to a New York state law, all children "enrolled in pre-kindergarten and school" are required to take the mumps vaccine.
Based on this, could the child's parents be seeing some criminal charges?
Most likely a New York criminal defense attorney won't need to make an appearance.
It is required by law that all children get vaccinated for the mumps with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine (New York State Department of Health). On top of that, the mumps can cause some real harm to the other people that become infected with it: including deafness.
Could parents that do not vaccinate their children be up for civil court? Any of the children that infected through the parent's neglect, might be found at fault for any pain, suffering, and lasting effects.
Also, their crime could be seen as child abuse for the danger and pain that they put their own child, as well as the other children, through.
On the other hand, if their child was vaccinated with MMR, then they would not be found at fault for any of the other children's illnesses. By having their child take the vaccine, they did what they could to prevent their child from having the mumps and spreading it to others.
- New York Criminal Defense Attorney? (FindLaw)
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