I Demand the Right to Clear My Name

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I DEMAND THE RIGHT TO CLEAR MY NAME Although he is now unlikely to face charges for questioning the safety of the MMR jab, the doctor ostracised by the medical establishment insists... by Bonnie Estridge in the Daily Express, UK. Not available (easily) online. IT IS 7am and Dr Wakefield has come off the phone to his wife. But while she is in the living room of their comfortable south London family home, he is in the tiny kitchen of his apartment thousands of miles away in Austin, Texas. For the past four years it has been like this; ever since Dr Wakefield sought exile in the United States after being forced out of his job at London’s Royal Free Hospital. His crime? Suggesting that there might be a link between the MMR vaccination and autism and bowel disease in certain children. His research whipped up a storm of controversy, led to inoculation rates

plummeting as worried parents refused to let their children have the jab and saw him ostracised by the medical establishment in this country. The debate was fuelled further by the Prime Minister’s refusal to say whether his son Leo had been given the MMR injection. Yesterday, after a 20-month investigation which has left him not just parted from his family but with his professional reputation severely compromised, it was revealed that the General Medical Council is now unlikely to proceed with misconduct charges against Dr Wakefield. No formal charges have been drawn up, no date has been set for a public hearing and a spokeswoman for the GMC said there is now "no guarantee" there will ever be a hearing. Yet anyone expecting the 49-yearold doctor to be relieved at this development is in for a surprise. When the Daily Express broke the news to Dr Wakefield in Texas, he replied: "If this is really the case, I would be disappointed because I am

keen for a hearing to go ahead so the issue can be publically aired in order that the truth might emerge. If I am told officially that there has been a decision to drop the hearing, then I will have to discuss the next step with my lawyers." In America, Dr Wakefield is held in high regard for his work. But, whatever the ultimate outcome of the furious debate on MMR that his research sparked, he will not be returning to Britain to continue it. "Whatever the outcome of a hearing, I won’t be coming back to work in the UK. The only chance I will get to complete my work is here in the US. The situation in the UK is so entrenched and hostile – despite the fact that our findings have been confirmed in other quarters recently. However, the Government is determined not to let any aspect of findings in relation to this matter move forward." Nor can those who have ridiculed and vilified his findings expect that Dr Wakefield will

use this opportunity to seek a lower profile. "I’m not going to go away before this work gets done," he says. "This is not my own personal crusade – my job is to find the truth." He is fully backed by his wife, Carmel. She has been left to bring up the couple’s four children (three sons and a daughter aged between nine and 17) and bitterly resents what she calls "the disgusting way he has been treated because his scientific observations were deeply unpopular. It’s staggering just how much he has been maligned". She adds: "We need the hearing to go forward so that Andy can have the opportunity to clear his name. There has been a deliberate slur on his professional reputation and until his side of the matter becomes public, his life is under a continual shadow and therefore so is ours. "We will be moving to the US so that we can give Andy support by being in the same country. His only motive is – and always has been – to

help these disadvantaged children and the only way forward is to dispel the myth created by the Public Health Office. We need a full hearing in a constituted forum." The Daily Express can also reveal today that the demand for single vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella – long advocated by Dr Wakefield – has reached an all-time high in the past three years. There have been 430,000 doses imported in that time as worried parents prefer to pay out rather than run the risk of leaving their children unvaccinated – or let them undergo the MMR jab. The revelation will almost certainly add weight to calls for the NHS to allow single vaccines to be offered alongside the triple jab for parents who remain unconvinced by studies that prove that the MMR route is safe. On learning the figures, Dr Wakefield said: "It’s clear that the protection – against measles particularly – is bigger than we are led to believe, and

that there is a demand from the public who are sensible enough to want to protect their children.It seems that plenty of parents appear to be having their children vaccinated privately and therefore paying out. "I have never said that parents should shun vaccination and the majority of them realise the benefits of immunisation. But parents should be allowed individual vaccines and the Government should provide them instead of banning them on the NHS. Parents must be given the choice." He may be calmly defiant and appear physically robust, but just how has all the stress and public drama taken its toll on Wakefield and his family? A tall, athleticlooking man, he has a friendly demeanour and a wry sense of humour, but one detects both weariness and sadness in his voice. He lost the job to which he had dedicated himself at the Royal Free and has hardly seen his family for the past four years but he refuses to let any anger

show, or to be emotional about the situation that he is in. He simply says: "My family are so understanding. It’s an extremely challenging situation but something we have no choice but to deal with. "I get home for a quick visit every few months or so but it’s awful not seeing the kids every day, not seeing them grow up. Yes, I often have to cook for myself – not something I was used to – but I’m not losing any sleep over that, or any weight for that matter. It’s easy to eat well in America. "My work is here now – and what upsets me enormously is the lack of care for the children affected by autism and bowel disorders in the UK. Crucially, there should be a centre where children can get appropriate clinical care and the origins of their disease can be investigated, as they now can here. "But sadly, this just is not happening in the UK and because of the vaccine connotations, I am aware that many doctors don’t want to get

involved because of the implications for their jobs. I lost mine and they don’t want to go the same way. This unfortunate situation leaves these children without appropriate medical attention." While he denies fighting a personal crusade, Dr Wakefield’s dedication appears to be allconsuming. It has meant that his wife and children have only once been able to visit him all at the same time as his apartment is so small and the air fares so expensive. "It is a very difficult, lonely situation for all of us," Mrs Wakefield admits. "We speak on the phone a couple of times a day and Andy makes sure he talks to the kids every day too. But being on different time zones can make it difficult for any of us to be in the right place at the right time. It’s very empty here without him but, of course, it has to be a lot worse for him. "Andy has had to adapt to living alone and although he has friends there, he’s isolated because he is

away from us and that is very, very hard. Coping with being so vilified in your native country has not been easy for him – or any of us for that matter – but he is determined that he must do what’s right and carry on his research. "The children have been really amazing. It must hurt immensely to know that their father has been ridiculed and that he has had to leave his home, but they don’t complain because they feel it is right that his work should carry on. They know he’s doing the right thing by working so far away – they know that he is doing it to help other children." While she would prefer not to leave, Mrs Wakefield says that she and the children will soon join her husband for good in America. "I may have enjoyed going to the US on holiday but it’s not my choice of home. Before all this we were so settled – Andy was doing good work and we had a great life – but everything was turned upside down. The fact is,

though, that Andy has been welcomed with open arms in the US because of the massive rise in autism there too. "The feeling generally there is, quite rightly, that if a mother’s basic instinct tells her that something in her child had gone wrong after having had the vaccine, then she should be listened to by doctors. And so in the US they welcome someone who is doing research into the problem. "For this reason, he can work comfortably because he knows that they want him and are happy to fund research." Dr Wakefield’s original research was published by the Lancet in 1998, after carrying out tests at the request of the parents of 12 children who had been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital with serious bowel disorders. The children had fallen ill after having the vaccination. He recommended further investigation of a possible link. A further separate research paper two years later reported that the measles

virus was present in the gut of 24 out of 25 autistic children examined. The publication of the research caused panic among parents. Huge numbers refused to inoculate their babies against measles, mumps and rubella with the MMR vaccine, and at that time the option of having single vaccines was abruptly withdrawn on the NHS. Parents wishing to take this option were faced with fees in excess of £100. It was then claimed that Dr Wakefield’s findings were flawed because he had failed to disclose a £50,000 grant from the lawyers of parents attempting to sue MMR’s manufacturers for their children’s disorders. Dr Wakefield has always vehemently denied the claims, maintaining that the grant was for separate research. The debate became even more heated over the question of whether Leo Blair had been given the MMR jab, and his parents’ refusal to confirm or deny it. Again, Dr Wakefield prefers not to be drawn on his feelings over the

matter. "It’s not helpful to be bitter," he says. "The public deserved then, and still deserve, to know what decision he [ the Prime Minister] made at the time." Carmel Wakefield is also emphatic that the strain of the past few years has not embittered her husband. On the contrary, she insists, he is completely absorbed and stimulated by his work. "Andy is determined to do what’s right for children who are suffering or may suffer in the future," she says. "He feels that parents should have the choice between MMR and single vaccines, that it is their right." http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx#