*"The doctor who sparked the MMR controversy “showed a callous disregard” for the suffering of children and “abused his position of trust”, a disciplinary panel ruled today.
Dr Andrew Wakefield’s conduct brought the medical profession “into disrepute” after he took blood samples from youngsters at his son’s birthday party in return for payments of £5.
The doctor faces being struck off the medical register following the ruling from the General Medical Council (GMC)…He further acted dishonestly and was misleading and irresponsible in the way he described a study which was later published in The Lancet medical journal, the GMC said.
In the late 1990s, Dr Wakefield and two other doctors said they believed they had uncovered a link between the MMR jab, bowel disease and autism.
The research sparked a massive drop in the number of children given the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella."*
Predictably (and sadly), some parents of autistic children who’ve viewed Wakefield as a hero heckled the disciplinary panel and declared Wakefield the victim of a “set-up”.
Expect American groups like Age of Autism and other antivaxers to echo conspiracy theories and remain in denial about Wakefield’s abuse of his patients and of science.
Yup. They’re going to talk about the efforts to “silence” him.
Normally people would freak the hell out if there was a revelation of data being skewed for profit, but here, the crackpot theory in question provides an “answer” to a terrible disease that we are only beginning to understand. I can’t entirely blame people for believing it at first, but now? It puts others at serious risk for infectious diseases we had assumed we’d more or less beaten.
Autism is really scary stuff. So far as I know, this guy is the first person to offer an explanation for it. Having an “answer” is really compelling, so I don’t blame the autism-MMR-link crowd for latching on to this guy. The alternative is “we really don’t know what the fuck is going on,” which is very difficult to accept.
I don’t blame them for latching on to him originally. I blame the fuck out of them for not repudiating their original positions after it was revealed what a callous, self-serving douchebag he was, and how biased his study conclusions were.
I STRONGLY suggest that you do a bit more research before popping off with a statement like the above. I don’t know much about Autism, but I do know that you’re quite wrong here.
I don;t think Mosier’s post suggested that the offered explanation was correct; merely that it was offered and latched onto by desperate people, which is exactly what happened.
It’s not going to happen. They have too much vested in this theory to walk away from it.
FYI, our brand new New Jersey governor had this to say about the vaccines and autism connection while campaigning:
These parents HAVE been heard. Over and over and over again. They need to STFU and stop endangering public health.
If NJ does indeed have the highest autism rates in the country it’s probably because of many other factors such as high income rates, high access to social services and our well known pollution problems.
It is not because we protect our kids from the measles, whooping cough or diphtheria.
Maybe I’m being over-optimistic, but - might it not? I mean, my understanding is that McCartney isn’t making huge amounts of money off her schtick. She’s profoundly wrong, but she’s sincere in her belief that she’s acting for the greater good. It’s not impossible that seeing, in effect, the founder of her movement proven wrong might cause her to rethink things.
As expected - Age of Autism (a group that has fallen deep down the rabbit hole of antivaccine activism, and promotes know-nothings like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey), has recognized the damage the Wakefield decision has done to their cause, and is doing a full-blown spin campaign to try to minimize the damage.
Among their claims - poor Dr. Wakefield has been victimized by “false testimony” - and that Wakefield’s “science” has been vindicated (the study they cite does no such thing).
Truly, there’s nothing more that can be done to convince these people that their singleminded obsession with vaccines has no basis. It’s past time to focus more effort on clarifying the true causes of autism (including genetics) and to stop hurting kids (both those who need vaccine protection from infectious diseases, and autistic kids who are being victimized by bogus treatments claimed to reverse “vaccine injury”).
Good, I hope he loses his license and worse. I don’t throw the word hate around lightly, but I do hate this man for all the needless harm he’s done in the world. Not only did his foolish proclamations not help children with Autism, there’s all the kids who have died from his making their parents afraid to vaccinate them, and worse kids who can’t be immunized who have died due to the other kids’ parents chipping away at herd immunity that might have protected them.
By the way, Dr. Wakefield could shrug off any potential action against his ability to practice in the U.K. - since he’s pulling down a hefty salary at Thoughtful House*, a Texas-based organization that says it offers clinical and research services related to autism.
He at last report did not have a license to practice medicine in the U.S., but allegedly has been present when patients were being seen by practitioners at his clinic (a potential violation of the law according to this article).
Thoughtful House’s activities include promulgating anti-vaccine ideology and research that appears designed to support Wakefield’s theories about “vaccine toxicity”.
I know a man who honestly, truly believed that the appropriate way to deal with his ten-year-old son wetting the bed is to beat him with a belt each time he does it.
The sincerity of his belief, and the fact that he truly did love the son in question, does not make the consequences of this abuse any less dire.