Tribunal told of 'invasive' MMR tests

Published on Wednesday 18 July 2007 01:26

VULNERABLE children were subjected to "inappropriate and invasive" tests by doctors in breach of "fundamental rules in medicine", a hearing was told yesterday.

Dr Andrew Wakefield, who sparked the MMR controversy, did not have paediatric qualifications and had not worked as a clinical doctor for several years, the General Medical Council's fitness to practise panel was told. His role was as a research doctor and he had no right to investigate the children, it heard.

Dr Wakefield, 50, is charged with serious professional misconduct alongside professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch.

The trio, who deny the charge, published a paper in the Lancet in 1998 suggesting a link between the measles, mumps and rubella jab and bowel disease and autism. The hearing continues.