Wakefield's
lawyers hurl abuse
rather than answer public interest questions
This page
is material from the award-winning investigation by Brian Deer for The Sunday Times of London, the UK’s
Channel 4 TV network and BMJ, the British
Medical Journal, which exposed vaccine
research fraudster Andrew Wakefield |
Investigation
summary
In
response to letters from the producers of
Deer's television investigation, Wakefield chose to answer
nothing, but, through lawyers preferred to launch
an attack on Deer's integrity. Here are
numbered claims concerning Deer in
a letter to Channel 4, dated November 4
2004 from solicitors
RadcliffesLeBrasseur, acting for the
Medical Protection Society, on behalf of
Wakefield
1. Mr Deer has
already published a number of
articles and publishes a website
which extensively deals with
these matters and from which his
own views are demonstrably clear
and not impartial.
2. His
published articles concerning
Andrew Wakefield are in most
cases demonstrably false, highly
opinionated and clearly
defamatory of Mr Wakefield. You
should be aware that these
matters are being reviewed by
Leading Counsel.
3. It is
clear and probably not disputed
that Mr Deer is operating on his
own agenda in respect of these
matters and it is also right to
say at this time that he has made
a formal statutory complaint to
the General Medical Council
against Mr Wakefield and others
concerning these matters.
That statutory inquiry within the
auspices of the Medical Act and
the GMC’s Fitness to
Practice procedures is
ongoing. Mr Wakefield will
be strongly contesting the
allegations that have been made
against him.
4.
Whilst Mr Wakefield might have
liked and has in the past
constructively participated in
the debate concerning MMR, you
will understand that it would be
completely inappropriate for him
now to contribute or comment on
these matters in circumstances
where there is an unresolved and
substantive complaint before the
General Medical Council.
5. Mr
Deer’s own published
allegations in The Sunday Times
are the subject of a current
Press Complaints Commission
investigation and it is perfectly
clear that he is a campaigning
journalist who is not impartial
or editorially sound.
Later Andrew Wakefield
published a statement on a website
operated by Carol Stott, but didn't
supply it to Brian Deer or Channel 4. The
Stott website, calling itself
mmrthequestions, was put up on November
14 2004 - four days before Brian Deer's
documentary. In May 2010, Deer was vindicated by the GMC panel, with Wakefield permanently banned from practising medicine
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