Doc who claimed autism/vaccination link "acted unethically", panel finds

[bik0]

MMR scare doctor 'acted unethically', panel finds

By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News


Dr Wakefield: "I am extremely disappointed"

The doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism acted unethically, the official medical regulator has found.

Dr Andrew Wakefield's 1998 Lancet study caused vaccination rates to plummet, resulting in a rise in measles - but the findings were later discredited.
The General Medical Council ruled he had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in doing his research.

The GMC also took exception with the way he gathered blood samples. Dr Wakefield paid children £5 for the samples at his son's birthday party.
Dr Kumar said he had acted with "callous disregard for the distress and pain the children might suffer".
He also said Dr Wakefield should have disclosed the fact that he had been paid to advise solicitors acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR.

http://goo.gl/Xqee

[Ian David]

1. See Also: MMR Row Doctor 'Failed In His Duties'

MMR Row Doctor 'Failed In His Duties'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4246553

[chelsea0011]

2. Some birthday party. No clown, but here's the doc to draw some bllod.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

3. The Wakefield apologists

will just claim that this is just "Big Pharma" knocking him down so they can continue to poison us with vaccines.

3.... 2.... 1....

[tandot]

4. yup. they are already busy unrecommending.

I can't believe that people still believe in the autism/vaccination link.

[bik0]

5. He filed a patent for a "safer" vaccine while cases of measles went though the roof

Wakefield's study involved only 12 children while the the Institute of Medicine conducted 8 studies http://goo.gl/gmuS involving millions of children...

He also filed for a patent on a "safer" vaccine that he was hoping to sell after he discredited the MMR vaccine. The GMC found all these behaviors amounted to "serious professional misconduct."

What's so awful about Wakefield's behavior is that it has directly contributed to a decline in vaccination rates, first in the U.K. and then in the U.S. and elsewhere. A rise in measles cases--including a number of fatalities--can be directly attributed to this decline,

Meanwhile, scientists have conducted dozens of studies involving over a million people, searching for a link between vaccines and autism. No such link was found, because it doesn't exist. The Institute of Medicine conducted 8 studies and concluded after exhaustive research that vaccines had no link to autism. Despite this, Wakefield remains defiant and continues to claim that vaccines cause autism, despite the thorough discrediting of his 1998 study, which only involved 12 hand-picked children.

http://goo.gl/P8W9

[HuckleB]

6. +1

[tandot]

7. imagine all the money wasted on the vaccine/autism link studies could have gone to

find the real cause and possible a cure/treatment.

This is criminal.

[HuckleB]

8. Wakefield’s abuse of the legal system and media

http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/786

Just a bit more...

[LeftishBrit]

9. Some more interesting points on the topic...

http://drevanharrismp.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/dr-andrew-wakefield-and-the-mmr-scare-evan-on-c4-ne

Evan Harris is my LibDem MP, and a very good one!

[HuckleB]

10. How the false MMR vaccine-autism connection was perpetuated

http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/archives/2010/02/how-the-false-m.html

[HuckleB]

11. Measles Vaccine Prevents Autism?

http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2010/02/measles-vaccine-prevents-autism/

[laconicsax]

12. Dare you to post that as an OP

Go on...you know you want to.

[HuckleB]

13. Hmmm.

Well, in response, I'll triple dog dare you.

::party: