Wakefield Files Appeal in Texas

Thanks to Narad on Respectful Insolence we now have confirmation that Andy Wakefield has filed his appeal in the Texas Third Court of Appeals.  Wakefield's libel suit against Brian Deer, Fiona Godlee and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) was dismissed in August 2012 on jurisdictional grounds.  Of course we will be keeping an eye on this case.

Wakefied Defamation Suit Dismissed

Earlier this year, just shy of the statute of limitations, Andrew Wakefield launched a curious defamation lawsuit against the British Medical Journal (BMJ), journalist Brian Deer and the BMJ editor Fiona Godlee.  His sad rump of disciples even set up a "Wakefield Justice Fund" so supporters could give Wakefield money to pursue the lawsuit. It was curious because Texas, where the suit was filed had just implemented a strong anti-SLAPP statute, Wakefield is a British citizen, the BMJ a British publication and Deer and Godlee also British citizens, and curious because Wakefield has tried to sue Brian Deer before but failed miserably.

Wakefield's defamation suit has been dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.  Wakefield vows to appeal however:

Wakefield, who is 55 and lives in Austin, vowed to pursue it. “We think we have a very good argument, and we plan to appeal,” he said.

The harm caused by Wakefield's fraud will never be fully undone.  Although it is apparent that many have distanced themselves from him and if nothing else, Wakefield's antics provide copious blog fodder and a lesson to others.

Wakefield's Legal "Justice" Fund

A website has recently been launched so that you can donate to Wakefield's Legal Justice Fund.  A legal fund such as this may be set up as a non-profit, tax-exempt charity.  The questions arise; what can one do with the funds once litigation has concluded and why does he need this fund since he is not impoverished and has also enlisted the legal services of his friend, William Parrish?  Parrish, by the way is not an expert in defamation/libel law but rather an intellectual property and business tort lawyer.

Another question arises and that is, why did the Wakefield camp wait until nearly a year, when the statute of limitations for libel was up if the BMJ series about him was so damaging and defamatory?  The first BMJ report on Wakefield was published 5 January 2011 and Wakefield filed suit on 3 January 2012.  Wakefield has unsuccessfully sued Deer in the UK and was Wakefield's undoing actually because the discovery provided Mr. Deer with the children's anonymised medical records.  A formidable hurdle for Wakefield to clear in his latest debacle is Texas' Anti-SLAPP law which not only may not allow him to present his case to a jury but leaves him vulnerable to court, legal and punitive costs owed to Brian Deer and Fiona Godlee (editor of the BMJ).  Of course this will be interesting to see how it plays out in the end but I don't think it will end well for Dr. Wakefield, although that may be what he intends.

As usual, Liz Ditz is aggregating various media discussions on this topic.

Lessons From the MMR Scare

That was the title of Fiona Godlee's webcast from the National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center, Tuesday, 6 September 2011.  Dr. Godlee is the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and published the three part series by Brian Deer exposing the fraudulent research of Dr. Andrew Wakefield.  Her talk can be viewed in its entirety here.

She reviewed the key points of Mr. Deer's protracted investigation of Dr. Wakefield's MMR research and the painstaking measures the BMJ took to review and validate Mr. Deer's reports.  She raised concerns of fraud in science and what medical/scientific journals could do to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.  She also discusses the role of the media and their contribution to the legitimising of Dr. Wakefield's, now retracted, Lancet report.  Dr. Godlee also makes an intriguing proposition for improving public health communications by entreating investigative journalists to work with epidemiologists.  We have already seen the success of solid science reporting by the likes of Brian Deer and Seth Mnookin so it is a feasible proposition.

Dr. Godlee provides an honest and thorough analysis of fraud in science/medicine and public health communications deficits along with some criterion to prevent fraudulent scientific reporting.  All in all, an informative talk and interesting points made during the question and answer session.  Jake Crosby from the Age of Autism made an embarrassing showing by introducing himself as "Jacob Crosby from the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services", not disclosing himself as a student and implying he represented the school as faculty or staff.  Not to mention, I doubt the George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services sent Mr. Crosby as their representative, but rather, he attended as Age of Autism's lackey.  Mr. Crosby also missed the point of a "question and answer" session and launched into a churlish diatribe of fraud allegations against Brian Deer which can be viewed at the 54:04 mark on the webcast.