Posted on 01/29/2010 1:50:12 AM PST by bruinbirdman
The doctor who sparked a worldwide panic over the MMR vaccine could be struck off after being found guilty yesterday of a series of misconduct charges related to his “unethical” research.
Andrew Wakefield, who in 1998 claimed an unfounded link between the vaccination and autism, “showed a callous disregard” for the suffering of children, subjecting them to unnecessary, invasive tests, a hearing found.
The General Medical Council (GMC) ruled that he abused his position of trust as he researched a possible link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease and autism in children.
It found that Wakefield and two colleagues acted dishonestly and irresponsibly in carrying out research on children against their best interests and without official permission.
The GMC ruled that Wakefield, who was working at the Royal Free Hospital in London as a gastroenterologist at the time, did not have the ethical approval or qualifications to oversee the study, which involved children undergoing colonoscopies, lumbar punctures, barium meals and brain scans.
He was also found to have brought the medical profession into disrepute after taking blood samples from youngsters at his son's birthday party in return for payments of £5 and failing to disclose vital conflicts of interest.
He received £50,000 to carry out the research on behalf of solicitors acting for parents who believed that their children had been harmed by MMR, but could not account for how at least half this money had been spent.
He also did not declare any conflict of interest to The Lancet medical journal, which published the research.
The GMC found the charges against Wakefield, and the professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch were “sufficient to amount to serious professional misconduct”.
But as he delivered the verdicts, Dr Surendra Kumar, the panel’s chairman, was repeatedly heckled by distraught parents who support Wakefield
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
wonder if algore and his “scientists” are paying attention.
Are they saying a doctor must get approval from some ethical nazi before they research the root cause of a disorder? I know pharma is disappointed that people are beginning to opt out of some vaccinations. I worry a bit myself about the return of some childhood diseases, but hope our hygiene standards and mostly vaccinated population keeps that in check. Maybe they should simply develop better vaccines. The recipe for a vaccine is still relatively unchanged over the years.
So doc, don’t forget to check into the ethics czar before you get a wild hair to prevent diseases.
“Struck off” means what, exactly? Executed? I’m not sure that’s harsh enough, the man [i]is[/i] single-handedly responsible for a world-wide outbreak of stupidity.
To answer your question in brief, yes, doctors must get permission from "ethical nazis [sic]" before researching the root cause of a disorder, if their research involves living subjects. And the "ethical nazis [sic]" were established after WWII in reaction to and to prevent further Nazi atrocities.
It is a shame, there are some “conservative” FR people who have fallen for this hoax....but try to tell them anything about this from a scientific standpoint and they call us a “troll”, so I quit trying to educate people from a biotech standpoint on this subject a long time ago.
It is a shame, there are some “conservative” FR people who have fallen for this hoax....but try to tell them anything about this from a scientific standpoint and they call us a “troll”, so I quit trying to educate people from a biotech standpoint on this subject a long time ago.
It is the same kind of ethical “scientific” shadiness and con-jobbery (made that word up) that is being practiced by the proponents of “global warming and climate change”. False correlations, phony statistics, and a susceptible and naive public to swallow the hoax.
Understand....but a lot of people took advantage of this to promote an agenda.
That I’ll agree. A shame really.
LOL.. thanks for the information and the spanking. The atrocity is government and corporate standing between doctors and patients. While research should, of course, be monitored by peers, I simply question the motive for the witch hunt. I am torn between required immunizations and the devastation each of these diseases cause. Maybe I should have used Ethics Czar.
I don’t claim to know all of the details, but I have tried to follow some of this because it has affected some of my children. In any case, it is good to hear the other side of the story. Here are two links which tell the other side:
1) Much false testimony against Wakefield - http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/01/-false-testimony-denies-lancet-doctors-a-fair-hearing.html
2) Wakefield’s clearing up of misconceptions - http://www.rescuepost.com/files/autismfile_us33-wakefield.pdf
3) The context of the “birthday party incident” - http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/04/the-last-day-of-andrew-wakefields-defence-at-the-general-medical-council.html
From article #3 -
* The occasion had been managed according to contemporary advice about taking blood samples from children under relaxed conditions (rather than in a hospital, which might not be so pleasant)
* The samples were taken not by Wakefield, but by someone practiced in taking blood samples from children as they had arrived at the party, and using appropriate equipment.
* A group of parents (some of whom were medical people) were approached before the party to ask whether their (healthy) children would be happy to give blood to help sick children – no inducement was offered in advance (but five pounds had been slipped into the party bags of the children who had helped out at the end)
....a lot of people took advantage of this to promote an agenda.....
Remember when Don Imus and that shrew of a wife of his were flogging this vaccine/autism link like it was a borrowed mule?
I haven’t heard anything from them lately.
Yeah, I agree completely, she was really promoting her business.
Therein lies the problem. The more people who fall for this moonbat idiocy, the more kids go unvaxed...the less "herd immunity" there is to rely on, and the child-killing diseases of yesteryear re-surge.
I am all for immunity, but my trust in the pharma industry is non- existent. With the extreme advances in genetic engineering I am a bit careful about what goes into my body. Thankfully, I don’t require any vaccinations.
bump & a ping
Wakefield, in my estimation, is being destroyed because he dared to tell the truth, just exactly like they destroyed the scientists that dared to contradict global warming. Think of the fallout if the pharmaceutical companies were found poisoning our children who happen to be the most vaccinated in the world and, coincidentally, have the highest rates of neurological damage. It is probably toxins, such as mercury and aluminum and preservatives being injected into our children. (Just common sense!)
Skeptical??? Read this article?? How could this happen????
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166102.php
I am all for letting idiot parents withhold life-saving vaccinations from their children on the word of celebrity dingbats like Jenny McCarthy. It’s their funeral.
I am also in favor of mandatory quarantining of unvaccinated children whenever there is an epidemic. Don’t like it? Tough s**t. Home-school them until the epidemic passes.
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