The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield [Comic]

Here.

Not only spinal taps, but colonoscopies, and blood sampling. There's a 'great' clip of Wakefield joking about the blood samples taken at a birthday party. The lack of empathy astounds me.

I've got triplets with autism, and the last time that we even had to draw blood from my son it took 4 adults (using approved restraint techniques) to get a sample. He had to have an MRI for a different reason, and the amount of sedation it took to even get him to stay still for that was frightening- in retrospect, and with that experience behind us, he will have general anesthetic for any further tests which are necessary for his health. He was also in hospital for 2 days last year because of impaction which was horrible enough...I don't even want to think about how they did the colonoscopies on those poor kids.

And Wakefield jokes about it.

The one thing that the comic doesn't mention is that fortunately Andrew Wakefield is no longer practicing in the U.S....he resigned from Thoughtful House, and from anything I've heard on the autism boards in the last few months, he hasn't yet got a new position anywhere.

My children are all over the autistic spectrum, from "can't tell that she has autism" to "lives in a group home due to aggression and self-injury". One of my kids had cancer, and numerous invasive medical procedures (thankfully) that got rid of it. Those were necessary, and we got through it with a lot of help from medical professionals who actually cared, in contrast to what we've seen of Wakefield's public face.

It's not just "kids" getting spinal taps and colonoscopies, which is horrendous enough. Autistic people often have sensory difficulties which make even 'normal' touch difficult...2 of my kids need general anesthetic even to get their teeth cleaned. I know autistic adults who haven't willingly seen a doctor for decades because it's so unbearable for them.

It's horrendous, and Wakefield jokes about it.

And Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are only a small part of the problem...it's people like Oprah, who fund them, that do a lot more damage. (I haven't heard any word about that show being cancelled, but I think that it likely will be as the whole anti-vax movement is finally dying).

But at this point, the fault isn't in greedy doctors, or mainstream media...it's with bad basic science education. At this point (after doing online and real-world support work for almost 15 years), I can still count on my fingers the number of parents I've met who even know what a 'peer-reviewed' study is, or why it's better than something picked up in a flyer from a grocery store.

When you are told that your child is autistic, it's terrifying. My kids were diagnosed in 1997, so all that I had as a guide to autism was Rainman (and he wasn't even autistic), and my best friend who worked as an aide at our local school board and came home with bites all over her every night. Now we're lucky enough to have great role models for autism- Temple Grandin, Ari Ne'eman, Amanda Baggs, etc. But most people don't have those, so they look for easy answers.

If you really care about this issue, go out and vote for your local school board representatives so that you can make sure that your kids are getting a good science education. I am a useful activist for my children's rights, but that's because I am educated, and I understand their rights as patients as well as children. The best thing that you can do for your kids (and mine) is to make sure that the people who are making the decisions about your children's education are educated in science.

(Sorry- soapbox topic for me for obvious reasons).

I tried the XKCD hyphen switch game there, and I'm not sure which is scarier, spinal-fucking taps or spinal fucking-taps.

How is that not a criminal offense?

A few.

The Lancet retracts Andrew Wakefield’s article

The Wakefield Factor by Brian Deer, the journalist who did the most to expose Andrew Wakefield.

MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism

Brian Deer discusses Andrew Wakefield’s “autistic enterocolitis” in the BMJ.

Or, you could just google Wakefield. He's hardly unknown, and his disgrace has been big news for a while now.

My thoughts exactly. It's a really good comic, but the lack of citations brings down its credibility.

Indeed. I'll proud to karma-whore this link, for anyone who in interested in the surrounding issues.

Absolutely. If that was plain text I probably would have given up after 3 sentences.