February 11, 2010
No Parent Ever Complained to the GMC: a Public Statement from the
Lancet Families Supports The MMR3 (Dr. Wakefield, Prof. Murch, Prof.
Walker-Smith.) "All of the investigations were carried out without
distress to our children, many of whom made great improvements on treatment so
that for the first time in years they
were finally pain free."
One fact often lost in the media frenzy over the MMR 3 is that the accusations
against the three doctors came entirely from the medical industry and their
hired guns, never from the parents of the patients who were served. Most of the
parents of the 12 children in the original case series published in The Lancet
(now retracted for no reason that anyone involved in the frenzy can explain
coherently and support with evidence) made a decision to go public.
Last May, we posted a letter from the parents of 8 of the 12 children in which
they express their support for Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues. We thought it
was important enough to post again today.
An Open Letter
To Whom It May Concern
We are writing to you as parents of the children who, because of their
symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease and associated autism, were seen at the
Royal Free Hospital Paediatric Gastroenterology Unit by Professor Walker-Smith
and Dr. Simon Murch with the involvement of Dr Andrew Wakefield on the research
side of their investigations. Our children became the subjects of a paper
published in The Lancet in 1998.
We know these three doctors are being investigated by the General Medical
Council (GMC) on the basis of allegations made to them by a freelance reporter.
Among the many allegations made are the suggestions that the doctors acted
inappropriately regarding our children, that Dr. Wakefield ‘solicited them for
research purposes’ and that our children had not been referred in the usual way
by their own GPs. It is also claimed that our children were given unnecessary
and invasive investigations for the purpose of research, and not in their
interest.
We know this was not so. All of our children were referred to Professor Walker-Smith in the proper way in order that their severe, long-standing and distressing gastroenterological symptoms could be fully investigated and treated by the foremost paediatric gastroenterologists in the UK. Many of us had been to several other doctors in our quest to get help for our children but not until we saw Professor Walker-Smith and his colleagues were full investigations undertaken.
We were all treated with utmost professionalism and respect by all three
of these doctors. Throughout our children’s care at the Royal Free Hospital we
were kept fully informed about the investigations recommended and the treatment
plans which evolved. All of the investigations were carried out without distress
to our children, many of whom made great improvements on treatment so that for
the first time in years they were finally pain free.
We have been following the GMC hearings with distress as we, the parents,
have had no opportunity to refute these allegations. For the most part we have
been excluded from giving evidence to support these doctors whom we all hold in
very high regard. It is for this reason we are writing to the GMC and to all
concerned to be absolutely clear that the complaint that is being brought
against these three caring and compassionate physicians does not in any way
reflect our perception of the treatment offered to our sick children at the
Royal Free. We are appalled that these doctors have been the subject of this
protracted enquiry in the absence of any complaint from any parent about any of
the children who were reported in the Lancet paper.
J. Ahier
P. Aitken
D. Hill
R. Hill
R. Kessick
R. Poulter
R. Sleat
I. Thomas
I. T. Thomas