Panel says doctor acted ‘dishonestly’
From USA Today
A British medical council has ruled that a doctor who claimed links between a common children’s vaccine and autism acted dishonestly and unethically in his research.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 Lancet study suggesting a link between autism and the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations caused vaccination rates to plummet and measles rates to rise, the BBC reports.
It adds that 10 of the study’s 13 authors have since renounced its conclusions.
The council, in its two and a half year investigation, did not probe whether Wakefield’s findings were right or wrong, focusing instead on his research methods, declaring that he had acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly.”
It also criticized his “callous disregard” for children’s pain in gathering data and also said he should have disclosed the fact that he had been paid to advise lawyers acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR.
Wakefield called the claims “unfounded and unjust.” When the verdict was read, one woman shouted “kangaroo court,” The Times of London reports.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)
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