Doctor in MMR storm tells conduct panel he had little ethics experience

Published on Friday 11 April 2008 21:46

The doctor who sparked the MMR controversy had a limited experience of the medical ethics surrounding paediatrics, a disciplinary hearing into his conduct heard yesterday.

GMC lawyers said Dr Andrew Wakefield was not a paediatrician and had only limited experience of handling relationships between his young patients and their parents.

Dr Wakefield sparked controversy in the late 1990s, when he said he believed he had found a link between the MMR jab, bowel disease and autism.

Dr Wakefield, who concedes he has no paediatric qualifications, was cross-examined by GMC lawyers yesterday.

He is appearing before the GMC's Fitness to Practise panel charged with serious professional misconduct, with two other doctors.

Sally Smith, QC, for the GMC, asked Dr Wakefield about the process of receiving parental consent before obtaining samples from patients for testing.

She said: "The question of how a … paediatrician deals with a child who is the patient and with the parent, who … is loving, responsible, often absolutely desperate; that's a difficult dilemma for a treating doctor, don't you agree?"

Dr Wakefield said: "It certainly can be, yes."

Ms Smith added: "It is one for which you had no training and extremely limited experience."

Dr Wakefield said: "Surgery does not discriminate between paediatrics and adults in a general hospital environment."