When a baby is born, one of the first treatments the newborn receives is a Vitamin K shot. It helps the newborn's blood clot and prevent potentially dangerous internal bleeding. The vitamin K shot has been standard treatment for more than 50 years — but a few parents refuse the shot. The numbers of those refusals seem to be rising.

Carey Goldberg, editor of WBUR's CommonHealth blog, which tweets@commonhealth.