mmr - dr wakefield

barbsy · mmr - dr wakefield

Parents voice support for MMR row doctor as he faces disciplinary hearing
Last updated at 11:27am on 16th July 2007

Dr Andrew Wakefield's disciplinary hearing starts today. He first linked the vaccine to autism

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Join the debate » Parents have gathered to show their support for the doctor who sparked the MMR controversy.

Dr Andrew Wakefield arrived at the General Medical Council (GMC) in central London to hear disciplinary charges against him.

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MMR vaccine: How the row developed

Outside, around 30 parents gathered with placards and clapped and cheered as the doctor walked in. Some signs read "We're with Wakefield", while others said "Wakefield Cares".

Dr Wakefield posed for pictures with supporters while a few parents chanted "There's only one Andrew Wakefield" and one shouted "It's a witch hunt."

One supporter was Sue Gilbert, from Bath, whose 16-year-old son, Adam, has Asperger's syndrome. She said: "My son had the MMR jab at 14 months and had a terrible reaction to it.

"About 10 or 11 days later he came out in a measles rash, he was very poorly. Prior to the MMR he was a totally normal child.

"We took him to see Andy Wakefield when he was eight. He was the only doctor who listened to us, who took us seriously.

"Adam was investigated and found to have an inflammatory bowel condition. Andy was willing to treat him whereas our GP was not."

Dr Wakefield and two other doctors stand today before the GMC's Fitness to Practise Panel, accused of serious professional misconduct.

The GMC will hear allegations that Dr Wakefield, who now works in the US, and Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch failed in their duty to act in the best interests of children.

At the start of a threemonth hearing into Andrew Wakefield's fitness to practise, doctors from 14 royal colleges, hospitals and charities have united to support the jab.

Bodies endorsing a statement denying a link between the vaccine and autism include the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The joint statement will be released today to coincide with Dr Wakefield's appearance before the General Medical Council's fitness to practise panel, which could strike him off the medical register.

Research on 12 children at the Royal Free Hospital in North London by Dr Wakefield and 12 other doctors sparked an international scare over the safety of the jab when it was published in The Lancet in 1998.

As lead researcher, Dr Wakefield advised parents to reject the combined vaccine - which is given in two doses, with the first at between 12 and 15 months old - in favour of separate jabs against measles, mumps and rubella, or German measles.

Thousands of parents boycotted the vaccine, and with immunisation rates slumping cases of the infections it was designed to prevent soared.

Tony Blair was accused of adding to the confusion by refusing to say whether his youngest son Leo had received the jab.

However, dozens of other studies, including other work carried out at the Royal Free, have failed to find any evidence of a link between the vaccine and autism and the Government has repeatedly assured parents it is safe to vaccinate their children.

Despite this, the fears have failed to go away. Last year a study by doctors in North Carolina found measles in the intestines of autistic children.

Last Monday, it was revealed that autism is at a record high, with as many as one in 58 children having some form of it.

Now Dr Wakefield, who left the Royal Free in 2001 and lives in the U.S., and colleagues Professor John Walker-Smith and Professor Simon Murch must explain their actions to the GMC.

One of the charges he faces is failing to disclose he was paid by solicitors to do separate research for parents who said their children were harmed by the jab.

It is also alleged that he broke the hospital's ethical rules by subjecting the children to unnecessary medical examinations and "abused his position of trust" by taking blood samples from children at a birthday party.

The GMC insists it will assess Dr Wakefield's fitness to practise, not the validity of his research.

Although being struck off for serious professional misconduct would not prevent him from working in the U.S., it would be a serious blow to the doctor, who sees the hearing as an opportunity for "the truth to emerge".

More than 7,000 people have signed an online petition in his support. Jackie Fletcher, of anti-MMR pressure group Jabs, accused the GMC of conducting a "witch hunt". She added: "All he was guilty of was doing his job."

The statement backing the jab says it "protects the health of children", adding: "A large body of scientific evidence shows no link between the vaccine and autism."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "MMR is the safest and most effective way of protecting children from measles, mumps and rubella. MMR is recognised by the World Health Organisation as having an outstanding safety record."

pixie

Thanks for posting this Barbsy.

I hope he comes through as I also believe it is a witch hunt. The same witch hunt that is happening to a wonderful lady who is also trying to help Autistic children. (she certainly helped mine and many others that I know).

As for taking blood at a birthday party.... I would imagine the parents gave consent for this and invited him to attend in order to take the blood.
Or are they saying he arrived uninvited and forced a child to have a blood test. No I don't think so.

My son has the inflammatory bowel condition that Wakefield found. I don't know about my daughter or my eldest son as they were never tested but they both have bowel problems just like my youngest.

My son was not tested by Wakefield but by a gastro at Alder Hey so completely independant.

I have my fingers crossed for him.

barbsy

just read this about wakefield.

MMR row doctor 'paid £5 for blood'

The doctor at the centre of the MMR row paid children £5 to take their blood samples at his son's birthday party and joked about it afterwards, a disciplinary panel has heard.

Dr Andrew Wakefield showed "callous disregard for the distress and pain" he knew or ought to have known the children might suffer as a result of his actions, it was alleged.

The Legal Aid Board provided him with £50,000 for research to support legal action by parents who believed their children were harmed by MMR, it was claimed.

The 50-year-old appeared before the General Medical Council (GMC) Fitness to Practise Panel in central London to hear the catalogue of damning disciplinary charges against him.

His wife Carmel accompanied him on the first day of the hearing, which is expected to last several months, while a core of supporters spent the day protesting outside. Dr Wakefield, who now lives and works in Texas in the US, is charged alongside professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch.

The trio, who deny serious professional misconduct, published a paper in The Lancet medical journal in February 1998 suggesting there could be a link between the triple jab, bowel disease and autism. It led to falling numbers of parents immunising their children and a row over whether the then prime minister Tony Blair had vaccinated his son Leo.

The central allegations against the doctors relate to investigations for their study on 12 youngsters with bowel disorders carried out between 1996 and 1998. At the time, all three were employed at the Royal Free Hospital's medical school in London, with honorary clinical contracts at the Royal Free Hospital.

Dr Wakefield's behaviour at his son's birthday party allegedly took place at some point before March 20 1999. It was claimed he took the blood and then joked about it while giving a presentation at the Mind Institute in California, adding that he intended to do it again. Among the 46 allegations, Dr Wakefield was accused of allowing one patient - known as Child 10 - to be given an experimental drug, known as "Transfer Factor", with the view to it becoming a measles vaccine.

He admitted being involved in proposals in 1998 to set up a company - Immunospecifics Biotechnologies Ltd - to manufacture the drug, with the intention that the father of Child 10 become its managing director. He also admitted proposing that the equity in the company would be split between himself, as its research director, the father and other parties. But he denied administering the drug for experimental reasons, failing to get ethics committee approval from the Royal Free, not having the right qualifications, and failing to record the dose or inform Child 10's GP.

One of the key claims is that Dr Wakefield accepted £50,000 for research to support parents' attempts to fight for compensation. The Legal Aid Board paid the cash into an account held by trustees at the Royal Free for the purposes of Dr Wakefield's research, the charge sheet said. It was alleged Dr Wakefield applied for the cash so that five children and their families could stay in hospital during tests and for MRI scans for each child. But, the charge sheet said, those costs would have been met by the NHS. He was accused of using the money "for purposes other than those for which he said it was needed", which was condemned as "dishonest" and "misleading" during the hearing.

pixie

I don't really know what to make of all that Barbsy as I haven't really delved that much into the whole thing.

All I knew was that he and his collegues had found inflammation in Autistic children's bowels and that it was the same inflammation that my son has. I don't think he even initially blamed the MMR as such but the press went to town on it and it all got out of hand.

I should have read more about it really but at the time we were having a terrible time with all 3 of the kids. Trying to cope on my own while hubby was at Uni so no time to investigate further.

I will await the outcome with interest.

Rabid

Alice Cooper

Anyone got an update? I wish i could have been there to support Dr Wakefield. (I'd have probably been arrested, i'm a bit oif a gobby cow)

pixie

Not heard anything and can't find an update on the GMC website.

The hearing is expected to last until October so I've heard.