Andrew Wakefield Struck off

[ShadeofViolet]

here

Finally! this is a great piece of news. The man is a fraud and the low MMR uptake in the wake of his so-called 'reasearch' has been an absolute scandal. Very very pleased indeed.

As the parent of an autistic child, I really resent the time and money wasted disproving what was obvious nonsense in the first place ! Why can money not be spent helping autistic children learn and develop? We should stick to importing crazy soap opera plot lines from the US not crazy theories about vaccinations.

good

Finally.

Deservedly so. Good.

Absolutely right. No doubt his loving defenders will be along soon to talk about how he has been the victim of a "witch hunt" and other blah-di-blah.

Good job

My children had the MMR, but I do feel slightly uncomfortable with a doctor who challenges the status quo being struck off.

At the moment I feel that all areas of science are potentially going to be held back if we lose our mavericks. Of course, they rarely get the research funding if they do not tow the line anyway!

He was struck off for multiple separate incidents of serious professional misconduct. No one is trying to say that research, however speculative, should not happen. The status quo is challenged almost every day in science. That's how it moves on.

He's a 'maverick' who brought his demise on himself. I think he actually had scant regard for the children involved in his purported research, too.

It is nothing to do with his research funding, but with the unethical way he conducted his research. Unorthodox ideas are not a problem, performing research without the correct ethical approval or requisite qualifications are a problem.

Andrew Wakefield - or to give him his full medical title: Andrew Wakefield.

This has been all over the webs but in case anyone has missed it.

the ethical approval bit is a ted herring. they are splitting hairs between dx's of CDD and autism. they hauled Wakefiled over the coals for including both dx's in his research, and then the day after the hearing findings, thevery people who had spoken against him on htis went on the record as saying it is impossible t distinguish between CDD and ASD dx in young children, and that itisi only a matter of when the dx is made which determines which one is given.

and, FWIW, the research hasn't been discredited (a witness for the prosecution at the hearings described it as "good science, which still stands". and then again the day after the hearing ended, went on to distance himself from it - so whichis it? Can't have it both ways )

on the subject of him being struck off, well, the gmc could do nothing else following the farce of a hearing he had.

oh my God! what a surprise! who would have seen that coming!

this could have been predicted he gave his press conference all those years ago

what was that you said Leonie, a fucking charade? hear hear

dittany, don't you know, parents know nothing

so, all the parents who sought him out (because he was the onlydoc who would listen to htem, nd the only one who would invstigte a non-verbal child in extreme pain, rather than just saying "oh, well, yes. lots of ASD children have bowel issues" without bothering tolook to see if there was anything that oculd be done) were actually poor, deluded sous, with little idea of what their children needed

I will be forever grateful to him for his work. Work which in turn helped the ARU with their work, I belive. WHich has enabled my dd to live pain free,with slight dietary modifications. For whichI am ridiculed and patronised by doctors.

BUt, my dd has normal bowel health now, is verbal, and has good pain recognition. all things which were apparently notpossible, if I had listened to the rest of the docs around...

It's all to do with the government feeling the need to crucify him now to save their own agenda. Oh, if he's been struck off he must never have known what he was talking about.

No, the ethical bit is not a red herring. He admitted children to a clinical study for which he had no ethical approval. The project he proposed was approved on 18th December 1996. There is documentary evidence showing that he and his colleagues were investigating children for that project (and therefore carrying out tests which were not clinically indicated) as early as June 1996.

Oh please, how can anyone defend him even now when his research methods have been so roundly discredited?

Are we seriously meant to believe that it is a big conspiracy by the GMC who don't want the 'truth' about MMR to get out? Of course, the GMC has a vested interest in ensuring that autism rates continue to rise...

Perhaps someone should do a proper peer-reviewed piece of research on MMR and possible links to autism, with a large survey population, over a long period of time, to really prove once and for all what the situation is.

Oh hang on, this research have already been done

All the proper scientific research shows that there is no link. What more do you want? He is a fraud, get over it.

Dittany - do you mean none of his patients' parents complained about him? There is a difference...

Besides, some did complain actually.

Children in the UK have died of measles since the MMR scare. They shouldn't have. That is why people are pleased he has been struck off. Perhaps people don't like a man who takes blood samples from children at birthday parties for personal gain. Funny that.