Friday, February 19, 2010

More info about Wakefield

The previous post about Dr. Melmed on the news, as well as a post last year about a Dateline special featuring Dr. Wakefield can provide more information on this person and what he means to the Autism Community.

Here's the link to the current article about him from The Autism News:
http://www.theautismnews.com/2010/02/19/mmr-vaccine-doctor-andrew-wakefield-quits-autism-centre/

MMR vaccine doctor Andrew Wakefield quits autism centre

February 19th, 2010
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The Autism News English

By Aidan Jones The Guardian

Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose research triggered a health scare over the MMR vaccine in Britain, has resigned from the autism centre he founded in Texas.

His resignation follows disciplinary hearings at the General Medical Council in London last month which ruled he acted dishonestly and irresponsibly over a 1998 paper in the Lancet medical journal which claimed to have found a link between the MMR jab, bowel disease and autism.

The research prompted a slump in the number of children administered the jab for measles, mumps and rubella. At the time of his research Wakefield was working at the Royal Free hospital school in London.

In 2005 Wakefield, 53, established the autism centre Thoughtful House in ­Austin, Texas, while his research came under increasing scrutiny in the UK.

Thoughtful House said Wakefield had left his post ­voluntarily to avoid the controversy overshadowing the centre’s work. “The needs of the children we serve must always come first. All of us at Thoughtful House are grateful to Dr ­Wakefield for the valuable work he has done here,” the clinic said.

“We fully support his decision to leave in order to make sure the recent GMC ­findings did not interfere with the ­important work that our team of clinicians and researchers is doing on behalf of ­children with autism.”

Initially Thoughtful House stood behind Wakefield despite the GMC’s ruling on 28 January, saying it was disappointed by the “unfounded and unfair” charges made against him and two colleagues.

Wakefield has stood by his initial research. With counsel, he took part in the GMC fitness to practise hearing, though he did not attend the day on which the panel handed down its adverse finding.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/19/wakefield-quits-texas-autism-centre
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