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Consumer Health Digest #10-04
January 28, 2010
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Vaccine scaremonger slammed.
The British General Medical Council (GMC), which
registers doctors in the United Kingdom, has
reported that Dr. Andrew Wakefield had acted
dishonestly and irresponsibly in connection with
a research project and its subsequent
publication. The hearing, which started in July
2007, centered on a study of children by
Wakefield and twelve others that linked the
measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism
and bowel problems. Subsequent studies found no
connections, but sensational publicity caused
immunization rates in the UK to drop more than 10
percent. Ten of the study's authors have since
renounced its conclusions; and Lancet's editor
said he should not have published the study and
that Wakefield's links to litigation against the
manufacturers of the MMR vaccine were a "fatal
conflict of interest."
The GMC began investigating after learning that
Wakefield had failed to declare he had been paid
£55,000 to advise lawyers representing parents
who belived that the vaccine had harmed their
children. The GMC said that Wakefield had
improperly recruited the patients at his son's
birthday party, paid them £5 to give blood
specimens, and later subjected some of them
inappropriately to colonoscopy, lumbar punctures,
and other tests without approval from a research
review board. Wakefield was also criticized for
not disclosing that he had filed a patent for a
vaccine to compete with the MMR, and for starting
a child on an experimental product called
Transfer Factor, which he planned to market. The
GMC panel concluded that the allegations against
Wakefield could amount to "serious professional
misconduct" and will deliberate on what action to
take at a hearings scheduled to begin in April.
http://www.casewatch.org/foreign/wakefield/gmc_findings.pdf During the investigation, Wakefield relocated to
Austin, Texas, where he helped found Thoughtful
House Center for Children, a "nonprofit" clinic
that offers many unsubstantiated treatments for
autism. He does not have a medical license but
oversees the clinic's research program. The
clinic's latest (2008) tax filing lists his
salary as $270,000.
http://www.casewatch.org/990/thoughtful_house_2008.pdf###
Former medical director of shady cancer clinic disciplined.
Dr. Eoghan O'Shea, who served as medical director
of the Canadian Cancer Research Group (CCRG) from
2000 to 2002 and from September 2005 through June
2006, has been disciplined by the the College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. In response
to a complaint, the College's discipline
committee ruled that O'Shea had committed
"professional misconduct" and:
**Must not engage or associate himself with the
provision of "complementary" medical treatment
for terminal disease
**Must not prescribe or compound products to
treat terminal disease in the context of a
complementary medicine practice
**Must never again work for or associate himself
with the CCRG or its related organizations
**To the extent that he is permitted to practice
"complementary medicine," must adhere to the
College's corresponding policy, including, but
not limited to, obtaining informed consent and
examining patients before prescribing to them
**Within one year, at his own expense, must
complete the College's medical ethics and
informed consent course
**Must pay the College $3,650 for costs.
http://www.cpso.on.ca/docsearch/details.aspx?view=4&id=%2063236Critics wonder why Canadian law enforcement
agencies ignore what CCRG does. For further
information about its activities, see:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/ccrg.html ###
Court bars manipulation under anesthesia by Texas chiropractors.
A district court judge has ruled that Texas law
prevents chiropractors from performing clinical
needle electromyography (EMG) or spinal
manipulation under anesthesia (MUA). The ruling
granted a Texas Medical Association (TMA) and
Texas Medical Board request for a partial summary
judgment against the Texas Board of Chiropractic
Examiners and the Texas Chiropractic Association.
http://www.casewatch.org/civil/mua/summary_judgment.pdf The suit, initiated in 2006 by the TMA, seeks to
block the chiropractic board's rules that would
permit chiropractors to perform these procedures,
which, the plaintiffs charge, constitute the
clinical and legal practice of medicine and are
beyond the chiropractors' lawful scope of
practice. The TMA also challenged whether
chiropractors have the right to "diagnosis"
medical conditions. The chiropractors tried to
have the suit dismissed on jurisdictional
grounds, but the lower court would not do so; and
in 2008, the Texas Court of Appeals concurred.
http://www.casewatch.org/civil/mua/appeal_opinion.pdfMUA has some respectable use for treating frozen
shoulder or knee problems, but spinal MUA has
none. Aetna's Clinical Policy Guide provides a
detailed discussion of
MUA.
http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/200_299/0204.html The "diagnosis" issue will be addressed in a
trial scheduled in April. Regardless of who
prevails at the trial, the matter is likely to be
appealed.
###
Other issues of the Digest are accessible through
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
Chatham Crossing, Suite 107/208
11312 U.S. 15 501 North
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
Telephone: (919) 533-6009
http://www.quackwatch.org (health fraud and quackery)
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