Wakefield drops libel case against Channel 4

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Wakefield drops libel case against Channel 4

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent

1 BMJ

Wakefield, the British gastroenterologist whose comments at a

press conference in 1998 sparked a scare over the safety of the

measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR vaccine), has dropped his

libel action against Channel 4.

The case was due to go to trial shortly after the end of a three

month disciplinary hearing, which Dr Wakefield faces at the General

Medical Council this July.

RadcliffesLeBrasseur, the solicitors acting for the Medical

Protection Society, which was funding the libel case, said in a

statement, " Consecutive hearings would have compromised Dr

Wakefield's preparation for both hearings and would have placed an

intolerable burden on him. " They added, " He remains confident that he

will be vindicated. "

Lawyers say that the society could face a legal bill of more than

£500 000 (740 000; $970 000) for both sides' legal costs of the

discontinued libel action.

Dr Wakefield sued Channel 4, 20/20 Productions, and the investigative

reporter Deer, who presented the Dispatches programme MMR: What

They Didn't Tell You in November 2004. The programme criticised Dr

Wakefield's methods and accused him of undisclosed conflicts of

interest. Dr Wakefield's decision to drop the case comes not long

after a high court judge ordered the disclosure to his opponents of

confidential documents supplied to the GMC for the disciplinary

investigation (bmj.com, 6 Jan 2007, doi:

10.1136/bmj.39084.440509.DB), although there is no suggestion that

the two developments are linked.

The documents included papers from his former employers, University

College London, and from the Legal Services Commission, which funded

Dr Wakefield's research on children whose parents hoped to bring a

compensation claim against the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine.

Dr Wakefield failed to disclose the £55 000 legal aid funding when he

and his coauthors sent a paper to the Lancet on links between the

measles virus, autism, and bowel disease, which included some of the

children in the legal aid study.

He later denied a conflict of interest and said that the money had

gone to his then employer, the Royal Free Hospital in London, and not

to him personally. It emerged last month that he had also received

hundreds of thousands of pounds in expert witness fees in the

compensation case. This was eventually abandoned after legal aid,

which amounted to more than £14m, was withdrawn.

Dr Wakefield said that the work had been spread over almost nine

years, including during holidays, nights, and weekends, and had been

used to fund a treatment centre in the United States for autistic

children, where he now works.