Ethics quiz: can this schedule of tests on 30 children be clinically indicated?

This page is research from an investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London and the UK's Channel 4 Television into a campaign linking the MMR children's vaccine with autism. | Go to part I: The Lancet scandal | Go to part II: The Wakefield factor

This is a timetable for investigations of autistic children with gastric symptoms (mostly constipation) referred to Wakefield et al in 1996-97. At least 30 were reported to have endured this regime, irrespective of symptoms or history. The researchers didn't have ethical committee approval for these, claiming that they were "clinically indicated" and would have been performed even if there had been no study. Question: do visitors to this site agree?

Notes: The psychiatrist (Dr Mark Berelowitz) and an adult neurologist (Dr Peter Harvey) only saw kids after their brain scans, lumbar punctures and EEGs. Both the Royal Free's ethics committee and the editor of the Lancet accepted the researchers' claim.