Doctor behind MMR vaccine scare was 'dishonest'and 'irresponsible'

Published on Monday 24 May 2010 22:58

A "DISHONEST" doctor at the centre of the MMR row will be struck off the medical register, the General Medical Council has ruled.

Andrew Wakefield was found guilty of serious professional misconduct at a hearing in central London yesterday.

The 53-year-old, who is currently in New York, is expected to appeal against the decision.

A GMC panel ruled Dr Wakefield acted in a way that was "dishonest", "misleading" and "irresponsible" while carrying out research into a possible link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, bowel disease and autism.

Furthermore, he "abused his position of trust" and "brought the medical profession into disrepute" in studies he carried out on children.

In a statement, Dr Wakefield said:

"Efforts to discredit and silence me through the GMC process have provided a screen to shield the government from exposure on the (Pluserix) MMR vaccine scandal."

Another doctor involved in the research, Professor John Walker-Smith, 73, was also found guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck off.

A third doctor, Professor Simon Murch, was found not guilty.

Dr Wakefield caused controversy with his study suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease and autism.

The research, which appeared in The Lancet medical journal in 1998, sparked a massive decline in the number of children given the triple jab.

Yesterday, the GMC described how Dr Wakefield took blood from his son's friends at a birthday party, paying them 5 each. "He callously disregarded the pain and distress young children might suffer and behaved in a way which brought the profession into disrepute," panel chairman Dr Surendra Kumar said.

Dr Wakefield ordered some youngsters to undergo unnecessary colonoscopies, lumbar punctures (spinal taps), barium meals, blood and urine tests and brain scans.

Yet most of the children did not meet the criteria for the research, the GMC ruled.

Furthermore, Dr Wakefield and profs Walker-Smith and Murch did not have ethical approval to investigate them.

The GMC ruled that Dr Wakefield submitted an application for funding from the Legal Aid Board for research but failed to disclose that some of the costs would have been met by the NHS.

Dr Wakefield was an honorary consultant in experimental gastroenterology at London's Royal Free Hospital at the time of his research, yet he breached its terms by clinically managing patients, the GMC said.

Dr Kumar said: "In all the circumstances and taking into account the standard which might be expected of a doctor practising in the same field of medicine in similar circumstances in or around 1996 to 1998, the panel concluded that Dr Wakefield's conduct not only collectively amounts to serious professional misconduct over a timeframe from 1996 to 1999 but also, considered individually, constitutes multiple instances of serious professional misconduct."

The GMC hearing, which lasted 217 days, and cost more than 1 million, is the longest in the GMC's history.

Regarding Prof Murch, Dr Kumar said he should have ensured there was ethical approval for research on the children.

But he said the doctor brought carrying out lumbar punctures to an end and his involvement was subsidiary to, and more limited than, that of Dr Wakefield and Prof Walker-Smith.

Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), said the suggestion of a link between autism and MMR had done "untold damage" to the UK vaccination programme.

Believers in vaccine danger support controversial medic

PARENTS who believe their children's health was devastated by vaccines gathered in support of Andrew Wakefield yesterday as he was struck off.

Allison Edwards, chairwoman of campaign group Cry Shame which has supported him throughout the proceedings, said: "I knew they would do this, they've had the intention of doing this for the past three years.

"This is to issue a warning to doctors not to dissent. No children were harmed in the clinical tests, they were trying to look at the problems and treat them, and the children improved. How do you get charged with doing your job?"

She believes that her son was left with neurological damage after having the MMR jab at the age of one. He is now 13 and cannot speak, or wash or dress himself.

Dr Wakefield was accused of carrying out unnecessary tests, including lumbar punctures, on children as part of his research.

Isabella Thomas, 53, from Somerset, insisted that her two sons Michael, 18, and Terry, 16, received "fantastic" treatment at the Royal Free Hospital under Dr Wakefield.

Wakefield's findings contradicted since first study 12 years ago

&#149 February 1998 – A study led by Dr Andrew Wakefield suggests the MMR vaccine might be linked to an increased risk of autism and bowel disorders in children.

&#149 March 1998 – A panel of experts convened by the Medical Research Council on government orders says there is "no evidence" of a link between the MMR jab and bowel disease or autism.

&#149 June 1999 – Two studies published in The Lancet conclude there is no link between MMR jabs and autism.

&#149 April 2000 – Dr Wakefield and Professor John O'Leary, a director of pathology at Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin, tell the US Congress there is "compelling evidence" of a link between autism and MMR.

&#149 February 2001 – An analysis published in the British Medical Journal finds that rising autism rates are almost certainly not due to MMR.

&#149 December 2001 – A review of research carried out on behalf of the Department of Health finds no link between the vaccine and autism.

&#149 February 2002 – A team from the Royal Free Hospital publishes a study in the British Medical Journal saying there is no link between MMR and autism.

&#149 November 2002 – A study looking at the records of 537,303 children born in Denmark between January 1991 and December 1998 finds no link between MMR and autism.

&#149 April 2003 – A review in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin finds no convincing evidence that MMR causes autism or bowel inflammation.

&#149 March 2005 – Japanese scientists say they have strong evidence that the MMR vaccination is not linked to a rise in autism.