Minnesota law currently allows conscientious and medical exemptions for all vaccines for school aged children. We agree this law should remain intact, any provisions to this law including removal of either exemption, would be radical.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/121A.15
Licensed Minnesota healthcare professionals have a duty to uphold ethics and practice with the highest standard of care which includes ensuring informed consent is given. This allows patients to be presented with both the risks and the benefits of all medical procedures before they consent to receive them. Because all vaccines carry a risk, we believe every patient must be given a choice as with all pharmaceuticals. We believe, and follow, the science and data regarding all vaccines.
The American Nurses Association Code of Ethics Provision 1.4 The Right to Self-Determination:
Respect for human dignity requires the recognition of specific patient rights, in particular, the right to self-determination. Patients have the moral and legal right to determine what will be done with and to their own person; to be given accurate, complete, and understandable information in a manner that facilitates an informed decision; and to be assisted with weighing the benefits, burdens, and available options in their treatment, including the choice of no treatment.
They also have the right to accept, refuse, or terminate treatment without deceit, undue influence, duress, coercion, or prejudice, and to be given necessary support throughout the opportunity to make decisions with family and significant others and to obtain advice from expert, knowledgeable nurses, and other health professions.
Nurses have an obligation to be familiar with and to understand the moral and legal rights of patients.
Nurses preserve, protect, and support those rights by assessing the patient’s understanding of the information presented and explaining the implications of all potential decisions.
https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only
The American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics 2.1.1:
Informed consent to medical treatment is fundamental in both ethics and law. Patients have the right to receive information and ask questions about recommended treatments so that they can make well-considered decisions about care. Successful communication in the patient-physician relationship fosters trust and supports shared decision making.
Article 6 of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights states:
“Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information. The consent should, where appropriate, be express and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice.”
We are asking all licensed Physicians and Nurses in Minnesota to be brave and sign this petition to stand in agreement with us to ensure the current Minnesota law regarding vaccines does not change.
Petition
“We the undersigned affirm that each individual has the inherent right to bodily autonomy.
We believe that every person must have access to public accommodations without intrusion into their private medical choices. Denying access to public services or accommodations must never be used as a form of medical coercion.
Therefore, we the undersigned hereby petition our elected Minnesota officials to protect the rights of their constituents by protecting Minnesota statute 121A.15″
This information will be kept confidential and only used for Minnesota Nurses for Informed Consent to verify you hold a current license in Minnesota. To protect your privacy, the only information that will be made public is your first name, last initial, and title.
Best regards,
Minnesota Nurses for Informed Consent