Andrew Wakefield has been struck off

The_Minister

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8695267.stm

The doctor who first suggested a link between MMR vaccinations and autism is to be struck off the medical register.

The General Medical Council found Dr Andrew Wakefield guilty of serious professional misconduct over the way he carried out his controversial research.

It follows a GMC ruling earlier this year that he had acted unethically.

Dr Wakefield, who is now based in the US, has consistently claimed the allegations are unfair. He now says he will appeal against the verdict.

His 1998 Lancet study caused vaccination rates to plummet, resulting in a rise in measles - but the findings were later discredited.

The GMC ruled in January Dr Wakefield had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in conducting his research, but under its procedures the sanctions are made at a later date.

The case did not investigate whether Dr Wakefield's findings were right or wrong, instead it focused on the methods of research.

The panel concluded that it is the only sanction that is appropriate to protect patients and is in the wider public interest
Dr Surendra Kumar
Panel chairman

During the two-and-a-half-year case, the longest in GMC history, he was accused of carrying out invasive tests on vulnerable children which were against their best interests.

The GMC also said Dr Wakefield, who was working at London's Royal Free Hospital as a gastroenterologist at the time, did not have the ethical approval or relevant qualifications for such tests.

And the panel hearing the case took exception with the way he gathered blood samples. Dr Wakefield paid children £5 for the samples at his son's birthday party.

It 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.

Serious misconduct

In making the verdict on the sanctions, Dr Surendra Kumar, the panel's chairman, said Dr Wakefield had "brought the medical profession into disrepute" and his behaviour constituted "multiple separate instances of serious professional misconduct".

In total, he was found guilty of more than 30 charges.

Dr Kumar also explained the reasoning for striking Dr Wakefield off.

"The panel concluded that it is the only sanction that is appropriate to protect patients and is in the wider public interest, including the maintenance of public trust and confidence in the profession, and is proportionate to the serious and wide-ranging findings made against him."

Dr Wakefield has consistently claimed the allegations against him were "unfounded and unjust".

As the GMC announced its sanctions, Dr Wakefield said: "Efforts to discredit and silence me through the GMC process have provided a screen to shield the government from exposure on the MMR vaccine scandal."

Two of his former colleagues at the Royal Free were also ruled to have broken guidelines.

Professor John Walker-Smith and Professor Simon Murch both helped Dr Wakefield carry out the research.

Professor Walker-Smith, who is 73 and has been retired for the past 10 years, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck off the register. Professor Murch was found not guilty of serious professional misconduct despite there not being ethical approval for the research.

In explaining this decision, Dr Kumar said he took into account the fact that Professor Murch stopped carrying out tests on children for the study because he did not think they were necessary.

Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the scare over the vaccine had done "untold damage to the UK vaccination programme".

"We cannot stress too strongly that all children and young people should have the MMR vaccine."

The Department of Health reiterated this. A spokesman said: "The safety of MMR has been endorsed through numerous studies in many countries."

Check out the graph at the bottom.


Tbh, this is a brilliant move - that man has caused untold damage, and there are children dead who otherwise would not be.
Good riddance.

admiralofthefleet

you said struck off

The_Minister

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

you said struck off

And he has been, by the medical council.

EDIT: Oooooooooh.

kylith

Good.

AnonoBoy

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

you said struck off

The_Minister wrote: »

And he has been, by the medical council.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLlO1RR1VI4

Sanjuro

Excellent. If everybody was held accountable for whipping up hysteria like Wakefield, then maybe Sky News would finally be shut down or at least gutted and rebuilt. Ah, to live in a perfect world.

pickarooney

I don't understand the graph. There seems to be a very small reduction in the number of MMR vaccinations but an enormous rise in the number of cases.

Hasmunch

The_Minister wrote: »

And the panel hearing the case took exception with the way he gathered blood samples. Dr Wakefield paid children £5 for the samples at his son's birthday party.

Took blood samples at a birthday party for £5.


I usually give at least £10 at the childrens birthday parties i take blood samples from... stingy fecker!!

kylith

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't understand the graph. There seems to be a very small reduction in the number of MMR vaccinations but an enormous rise in the number of cases.

Children pre-vaccination age maybe?

seamus

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't understand the graph. There seems to be a very small reduction in the number of MMR vaccinations but an enormous rise in the number of cases.

Well you do have to look at the figures - on the left it's %, on the right it's actual values.

The rise in cases is a cumulative effect of children who didn't get the vaccine. If 1,000 children didn't get the vaccine last year and 1,500 children didn't get it this year, then there are an additional 2,500 unvaccinated children next year.

astrofool

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't understand the graph. There seems to be a very small reduction in the number of MMR vaccinations but an enormous rise in the number of cases.

Look at the numbers, there was roughly an 11% drop in MMR uptake of all children (hundreds of thousands, if not millions of children would get the MMR each year, so 11% could be many thousands of children), that lead to an increase from almost 0, to over a thousand cases of measles.

These virii are also very contagious, and a small number in the people being vaccinated makes the chances of passing on infection much higher.

Wakefield has made us go from almost eliminating measles from humans, to having to fight against it again, he has literally cost lives and millions and millions of pounds in costs due to his arrogance and stupidity, and still won't admit he was wrong.

Dave!

Good. He's probably making a fortune over in America though with scumbags like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey worshipping him.

Sickening really.

ancapailldorcha

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't understand the graph. There seems to be a very small reduction in the number of MMR vaccinations but an enormous rise in the number of cases.

The measles virus is an RNA virus meaning that it has a high rate of mutation. This means that it can easily mutate, allowing it to circumvent the protection induced by the strain used in the MMR vaccine. Even a small drop in the level of vaccine uptake can facilitate this process.

ejmaztec

Sanjuro wrote: »

Excellent. If everybody was held accountable for whipping up hysteria like Wakefield, then maybe Sky News would finally be shut down or at least gutted and rebuilt. Ah, to live in a perfect world.

fyp