Yes, protocols do change over time, and when it is discovered that there is a procedure that caqn reduce the risk, then it becomes standard protocol. So why is it not protocol to simply chaeck a patient's medical record to see if there is documentation of the completed vaccine. Physicans check for medication allergies and complicating health issues prior to surgery. Why not the vaccine? It isn't that difficult, and it requires minimal effort. The medical record is available. All that has to be done is to look in the chart for documentation. No documentation, no surgery until documentatio0n is there. Can't get much simpler than that.
And, no physicians, unless practicing in the field of family medicine, generally are not responsible for the life time of any given patient. However, a surgeon is responsible for that patient pre-surgically, during surgery, and post-surgically. Pre-surgical responsibility would imply that the surgeon determine whether the vaccine had been completed prior to putting the patient under the knife. If a dentist fails to insure that an orthopedic implant patient has been premedicated with antibiotics prior to dental procedures, and that patient contracts bacterial endocarditis as a result, the dentist is held responsible, because it is his area of expertise to insure that the patient is not put under undue risk. Likewise,the implant surgeon who fails to insure that a patient has been vaccinated, and that patient later contracts bacterial memingitis as a result, the surgeon is resposnible under the same premise of expertise.
