William Maruca was quoted in the Part B News article, "Pre-Screen Patients, Isolate if Needed When Infection Threat Rises." Full text can be found in the February 16, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is noted below.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other organizations sometimes refuse service to patients who have not been vaccinated for certain illnesses and diseases in order to maintain the health and safety of practitioners and other patients.
According to William Maruca, healthcare providers are legally allowed to refuse service on this basis. He compares it to cases in which a patient is too violent and, as a response, denied service.
"Physicians can decide who they want as their patients as long as they do not discriminate on any prohibited basis or against any protected class such as age, gender, race, religion, disability," he states. "I don't think the decision not to vaccinate puts anyone into a protected class."
Originally published February 2015
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