Jabs

The GMC Hearings

The UK General Medical Council (GMC) against Dr Andrew Wakefield, Professor Simon Murch and Professor Walker-Smith.

On the 16th July 2007 Professor Simon Murch, Professor John Walker-Smith and Dr Andrew Wakefield began what was initially supposed to be a 16-week hearing into allegations of professional misconduct. The GMC had brought the case itself claiming that it was in the public interest. In our view no parent of a child has complained. No child has been injured. Parents of children who have been treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London have nothing but praise for the way their children were cared for and treated by the three doctors. Parents have informed us that their children's conditions were not being taken seriously or treated appropriately by their own GPs or paediatricians.

JABS believes that the only reason these doctors are being brought before the GMC is because the Lancet report published in February 1998 referred to the combined measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccines given to the 12 children mentioned within the report. Eight of the twelve children's parents blamed the vaccine for their child's condition. Attention was therefore brought to questions over the MMR programme, autistic spectrum disorders and bowel disease and further investigation was called for by the publishing doctors.

JABS believes that if MMR vaccines had not been mentioned within the report there would have been no criticism of the report and no GMC hearing would be pending for these three doctors.

The GMC is not allowing public access to the daily transcripts of the hearing until a decision has been reached. We have recently been advised that the hearing is to be suspended until March 2008 and could run on into the autumn.

Martin J Walker has been attending the hearing and his diaries have been published on CryShame.com and are linked here with permission.