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.
Excellent - I hope this will be expensive for him and his team. The whole suit was frivolous to begin with.
ReplyDeleteGiven Wakefield managed to con donations, unfortunately it isn't him that is out anything.
ReplyDeleteWakefield is honest and is a victim of Whistle blower treatment. Its sad how easily public opinion can be altered by lies comimg from those who are causing an autism epidemic. 90 or more % of people are just that stupid.
ReplyDeleteOkay, if you are part of the other 10%, please answer somethings I cannot find the information for:
DeleteWhich MMR vaccine was Wakefield studying for his now retracted Lancet paper? Was it one of the three used in the UK before 1992, or the one they switched to after 1992?
And could you please the title, journal and dates (only before 1997), of the PubMed indexed papers showing that there was an increase of autism in the USA after they started using the MMR vaccine in 1971? This is to determine what information that prompted Wakefield to investigate the autism/MMR link. Since there was over twenty years of use of the MMR, we can assume that there was some data he used, and it was not the cash he was offered by Richard Barr.