| The doctor who caused a worldwide drop in childhood | | | | ethics committee". |
| immunisation nearly ten years ago by suggesting there | | | | Many of the charges against Wakefield, Murch and |
| was a link between the measles, mumps rubella | | | | Walker Smith involve giving children medical |
| (MMR) vaccine and autism is facing a disciplinary | | | | interventions they did not need, including colonoscopies, |
| hearing with his two fellow researchers. Dr Andrew | | | | lumbar punctures and barium meal tests. The panel |
| Wakefield, Professors Simon Murch and John Walker | | | | was told they did not have the requisite pediatric |
| Smith, are accused of serious professional misconduct | | | | qualification to do this and that the procedures were |
| in relation to ethical aspects of their research. | | | | not "clinically indicated, when the Ethics Committee had |
| The charges relate to the time when Wakefield and | | | | been assured that they were all clinically indicated". |
| his two colleagues were employed by the Royal Free | | | | Outside the hearing, campaigners and parents of |
| Hospital School of Medicine with Honorary Clinical | | | | children with autism waved placards and chanted in |
| contracts at the Royal Free Hospital, in the years | | | | support of Wakefield and his colleagues. One large |
| leading up to the publication of their research in the | | | | banner read "We're with Wakefield - crucified for |
| Lancet in 1998. Dr Wakefield has since left the UK and | | | | helping sick kids". Flowers lining the pavement were |
| lives in Texas, in the US. Murch and Walker Smith still | | | | sent by supporters from the US. |
| work at the Royal Free, an NHS hospital based in | | | | Another allegation mentions that Wakefield gave one |
| northwest London. | | | | of the 12 children at the centre of the research paper, |
| The three doctors have been summoned before the | | | | child number 10, an experimental drug being tested as |
| General Medical Council's fitness to practise panel in | | | | a measles vaccine when he was not qualified to |
| London to answer over 40 charges of serious | | | | administer it and did not have the requisite ethical |
| professional misconduct in relation to vaccine research. | | | | approval. The father of the boy, a colleague of |
| When the hearing opened yesterday it was made | | | | Wakefield, was going to set up a company, with |
| clear that it was the doctors' conduct that was under | | | | Wakefield, to make and sell the vaccine, it was alleged. |
| scrutiny, and not the link between autism and MMR. | | | | Wakefield admitted that there was a plan to set up a |
| Wakefield, a 50-year old former surgeon who became | | | | joint company with the child's father and other parties, |
| a gastroenterologist, was accused of taking blood | | | | but he denied giving the child the drug as an |
| samples from children at his son's fifth birthday party | | | | experiment and failing to get approval, not being |
| and paying them 5 pounds. | | | | qualified to administer it, not informing the child's GP, |
| The allegation centres on the fact that he chose an | | | | and not recording the dose. |
| inappropriate social setting in which to collect the | | | | Another allegation against Wakefield involves a |
| samples, and showed "callous disregard for the | | | | donation of 50,000 pounds from the Legal Aid Board |
| distress and pain" he may have caused to the children, | | | | to support claims by parents who were trying to get |
| while offering them a financial inducement. | | | | compensation. The money was paid into an account |
| The blood samples were used in the research that led | | | | used by the hospital to pay for Wakefield's research, |
| to the paper published in the Lancet in February 1998 | | | | but the allegation is that he applied for it to pay for five |
| claiming a link between the MMR vaccine, childhood | | | | children to stay in the hospital during tests when those |
| autism and inflammatory bowel disease. The title of | | | | costs would have been met by the NHS. Wakefield |
| the paper was "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, | | | | was accused of dishonesty and misleading conduct, |
| Non-Specific Colitis and Pervasive Developmental | | | | because he used the money "for purposes other than |
| Disorder in Children". | | | | those for which he said it was needed". |
| The allegations state that "the three practitioners | | | | All three doctors deny the charges. If found guilty, they |
| inaccurately stated in the Lancet paper that the | | | | could be struck off the medical register. The hearing is |
| investigations reported in it were approved by the | | | | due to take 15 weeks. |