"MMR doc's just guilty of caring"

By Fiona Phillips 30/01/2010

Surprise, surprise, the doctor who highlighted a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been found guilty of a series of misconduct charges.

Well, Dr Andrew Wakefield didn't stand a chance, did he? Not up against the might of the medical profession.

He has been branded dishonest, irresponsible and that he showed a "callous disregard" for the suffering of children.

Odd, then, that he now continues to work in the field of autism in Texas, where he set up Thoughtful House, a non-profit autism centre.

His passion for the subject, and refusal to abandon children with autism to a life of respite care and pity, earns him plaudits from parents grateful for his work.

His aim, he says, is still "to provide the best possible treatment for these children and to conduct research in order to ensure continuing improvements in the quality of treatment available".

The General Medical Council (GMC) verdict, which ruled that Wakefield and two eminent colleagues, Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, had acted unethically, did not investigate whether Dr Wakefield's findings regarding a possible link between MMR and autism were right or wrong.

It focused on the methods of research used, some of which were undoubtedly questionable, but which were performed in the name of finding solace for desperate parents convinced their children had changed for ever following their one-size-fits-all MMR injection.

Dr Wakefield has said the findings were "unfounded and unjust" - and he was backed by parents who, rather than thinking him to be dishonest and irresponsible, actually consider him to be a hero who might eventually guide them out of a long, dark tunnel of despair and disbelief.

In court after the verdicts were read, one woman shouted: "These doctors have not failed our children.

You are outrageous!" And outside another said: "They were just trying to protect our children."

For hundreds of parents like these, the thought that the GMC may now strike Dr Wakefield and his colleagues off the medical register will amount to a light being switched off in what is, for them, an already bleak world.

eddie wrote:Seven years ago I believed this doctor and gave my son the separate MMR vaccine - paying £180 per injecton (3 in total) at his clinic.

We were then told by the clinic that some of the batches were 'faulty' and that he may not be immunised properly! I was furious!!

It ended up that I had to give him the triple vaccine anyway and was out of pocket by £540.

Photon wrote:

eddie wrote:Seven years ago I believed this doctor and gave my son the separate MMR vaccine - paying £180 per injecton (3 in total) at his clinic.

We were then told by the clinic that some of the batches were 'faulty' and that he may not be immunised properly! I was furious!!

It ended up that I had to give him the triple vaccine anyway and was out of pocket by £540.

It's a disgrace Eddie - parents should be allowed to choose.