Customer Reviews

Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines: The Truth Behind a Tragedy

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I had the pleasure of thanking Dr. Wakefield, for his work on behalf of injured children, myself at the 2008 Autism One Conference in Chicago. I looked forward to reading the book but having heard Dr. Wakefield speak and reading numerous articles on the issue, knew that there would be no surprises for me inside.

Before ordering the book, I carefully read many of the positive reviews but ALL of the negative reviews and the related comments because I wanted to see it through the eyes of both sides.

I need to preface that I have read the Lancet paper several times. The conclusion never changes for me no matter how many times I read it in light of the accusations against Dr. Wakefield. In the Discussion section of the paper there is this statement "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described" and the last paragraph of the study "We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. Inmost cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."

Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues clearly NEVER said that the MMR was the cause of these children's autism. After reading the book and the timeline of events, it is clear that procedures were followed to the letter to provide clinical care to some very sick children and the findings were reported in an effort to move the discussion forward to help the Lancet 12 children, the many children who were presenting with similar symptoms and open the discussions for research so that more children would not suffer unnecessarily.

If you read the Lancet paper and this book and come to any other conclusion, you are reading with blinders on and an unreasonable bias.

I cannot thank Dr. Wakefield enough for his courage in this situation and for continuing to fight for the children in speight of the absolutely ridiculous charges against him and his colleague Dr. John Walker-Smith.

The book is excellent and meticulously written.

I hope that it will continue to open people's eyes to the issues of informed consent in the US vaccination policy and place a seed of doubt about the safety of vaccines in the mind of parents who have not yet vaccinated their children. I cannot tell my friends with new babies enough times, "Educate before you vaccinate, there are risks, and those risks DO NOT always outweigh the benefits."

You will notice there are many 5 star reviews, no 2 or 3 star reviews, then a hoard of 1 star reviews. I can tell you these 1 star reviewers did not even read the book and are here to spout the same sales pitches from pharma we always hear.

Dr. Wakefield wrote in this book a good history of how he tried to help answer questions about autism, and those that stand to profit from killing and injuring children and adults organized to do everything they could to stop him. While Dr. Wakefield conducted some interesting scientific studies and started to answer some questions he was stopped by those in power. He tells you what he knows, what he discovered, and what happened to him. The book is written like a thriller, but then again, can you imagine being Dr. Wakefield and ticking off a multibillion dollar industry?

Especially since there exists significant controversy surrounding this book, as a reviewer my focus is to help the potential reader of this book understand the content rather than argue about matters that have little to nothing to do with the actual scope of this book. In reading some of the reviews here, as well as the great amount of comments that have been submitted in response to these reviews (especially shortly after book release), it is apparent that some have not actually read this book, and the reader of this review can rest assured that this reviewer has read the entire content (an action which is aligned with his consistent policy to do so prior to submitting any review).

In pursuing possible links between childhood vaccines, intestinal inflammation, and neurologic injury in children, these events concluded with Wakefield losing his position in the Department of Medicine at London's Royal Free Hospital as well as his license to practice medicine in the UK. Because of the complexity of the events leading up to these ends, it is difficult for any review of this size to give this book justice. The first chapter discusses the original paper written by physicians (among them Wakefield) at the Royal Free Hospital and subsequently published in "The Lancet" (the self-described "world's leading general medical journal and specialty journals in Oncology, Neurology and Infectious Diseases") in 1998 entitled "Ileal lymphoid nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis and pervasive developmental disorder in children".

This paper discussed "clinical findings in 12 children with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) occurring in association with a mild-to-moderate inflammation of the large intestine...accompanied by swelling of the lymph glands in the intestinal lining...predominantly in the last part of the small intestine". At the same time, parents of 9 (8 in the original paper) of the 12 ended up indicating that onset of ASD symptoms occurred following exposure to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. As explained by the author, the seemingly small number of 12 reflects the nature of a "case series", of which this original paper was the first. Wakefield sites Hennekens and Buring's "Epidemiology in Medicine" explanation of case series - "the experience of a single patient or group of patients with a similar diagnosis" that "may lead to formulation of a new hypothesis". May. The discussion continues by indicating that an analytic study can then be performed to investigate possible causal factors. The case study itself is not designed to investigate possible causality.

No hypothesis was stated in the paper, and because of this there is no hypothesis to test. The paper simply indicated that the authors "did not prove an association between measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described" and that "further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to the vaccine". If it were not for the seriousness of this topic, the dialogue between medical school dean Zuckermann and the press, the proceedings at the General Medical Council, and the nature of many of the myths surrounding this controversy and the resultant misinformation that has resulted would be rather amusing. Wakefield is very exhaustive in his presentation, so be prepared for one of the most dense texts written for a general audience that you have ever read. While some portions of the text can be difficult to follow at times, the common themes that run throughout enable readability.

In addition to a thorough discussion of the original case series paper, the children involved in the case series paper, the effort to terminate vaccine safety research, the press briefing following case series paper publication, the events surrounding the distancing of the editor and the other authors from the case series paper, and the General Medical Council (GMC) proceedings, Wakefield provides pertinent historical information in the concluding chapters of this book that might be of interest to some readers, especially since context can help provide additional perspective to a topic that has increasingly become more controversial in recent years due to the apparent increase in autism, the desire to discover causes in order that autism might be treated, and the conflicts of interest that reside within and between some of the parties involved in this debate.

While the author provides a historical backdrop throughout this book, it is not until chapter nine that he discusses to any significant degree events prior to the last 15 years. This reviewer paused when he read the first sentence of the tenth chapter, where the author stated that he has "often wondered where autism might be today had it not fallen into the hands of child psychiatrists". While a new syndrome, "dementia infantilis", later called Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), was described in 1908 within the "Journal for Research and Treatment of Juvenile Feeblemindedness", it was not until 1943 that child psychiatrists first laid claim to autism (and readers may recall recent reports in the media that indicate ASD will continue to be listed in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-5) set to be published in a couple years).

Wakefield also provides an examination of the diagnosis process, urging alongside other researchers to standardize studies on comprehensive neurological and medical investigation, because autism rates cannot be compared across studies without regard to statistical sample or comprehensiveness. In the words of Wakefield, "it took a group of gastroenterologists to recognize the significance of these symptoms, not through some preternatural wisdom, but through the diligent application of their training. A new syndrome was described and the findings replicated around the world. Erasure from the Medical Register is a small price to pay for the privilege of working with affected families".

I am an occupational therapist and have talked to countless parents of children with autism who have confirmed his findings with personal testimony. I strongly believe that in years to come other researchers will confirm his research and Dr. Wakefield will finally be honored. Read some very interesting articles below:
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To all the one-star reviewers, the ones that claim that Dr. Wakefield is a fraud, and that vaccines are safe, and that he is just scaring parents: I have one little question for you: WHY is it WHY WHY WHY did I, as a chid in the early 70's, receive in TOTAL 6 vaccines, all spread out by months and now we are told that children must recieve THIRTY SIX AND COUNTING shots, 30+ more shots than the past, by the age of THREE YEARS--and sometimes 6-7 shots in ONE visit????????? Can you PLEASE explain that to me, because NO ONE on your side of the fence can explain that to me! Why is it that when I was a child, autsim was 1 in 10,000 chidren and now it is 1 in 50 for boys????? Are you so blind that you cannot see the connection?? Seriously??? I feel sorry for the people out there that believe everything spooned out to them by the media/govt/pharm. companies, you have no idea whatsoever how much you are getting the wool pulled over your eyes, how sad for you. I applaud any doctor who is brave enough to stand up for what is right. There have been several times in history where one doctor out of a sea of sheep decided to go their own way b/c they knew what was right. Think of hand-washing, (the doctor insisted that hand washing be done in between births to prevent the spread of germs and prevent death-was completely ridiculed until it was found to be true! Ulcers were once thought to be stress alone, until one doctor injected HIMSELF with H. Pylori bacteria to prove that was wrong, and many others) Dr. Wakefield is ahead of his time, and one day in the future (hopefully not too far future) people will look back on this and say "OH MY GOD! Doctors used to give those children 36-40 shots full of toxic material while their immue systems were not even developed, sometimes giving up to 9 shots at ONE VISIT??? What on God's green earth were they thinking????" It will happen, maybe not tomorrow or next year, but it will happen, and Dr. Wakefield as well as countless other doctors that are fighting against the grain of the current system will finally be given the justice they have deserved all along. One day the doctors that are now insisting on (even bullying parents, yes, it does happen!) who are adament that the one-size fits all vaccine schedule is perfectly safe for all, will one day be awakened to the ugly truth, some of the forward thinking ones might even offer an apology, one can dream. The toll this will take on our chidren in the meantime, however, is truly a disgrace in every sense. Anyone who is making billions off of these vaccines, I don't know how they sleep at night knowing they have the blood/souls/lives of these damaged children on their hands.

I read this book in two days. It's a well written, easy to read account of what happened to Dr. Andrew Wakefield when he and his team discovered intriguing potential links between the MMR vaccine and Autism. It reads a bit like a John Grisham thriller. From the beginning, when he first begins investigating why autistic children had painful gut problems, shadowy forces gather to stop him. He and his fellow scientists have no clue they are stirring up a hornet's nest of duplicitous trans-national pharmaceutical companies, sneaky government health departments and cowardly Big-Pharma-funded academic and medical institutions. For reasons that are eventually revealed, it is important for the government to stop Dr. Wakefield's research. 'Callous Disregard' reminds me of the play 'Enemy of The People' by Ibsen - with the difference that this is contemporary and real-life.
I recommend this to everyone. Not only is it a terrific story - truth is stranger (and better) than fiction - but also it illumines the not-often disclosed matrix of medical research, medical institutions, Big Pharma and government. It's powerful, informative, moving and unputdownable. It made me wish I'd studied medicine and become a medical researcher.

Dr. Wakefield merely pointed out his observations in a study of 12 children, and suggested that there was a trend that needed further research. To me, the trend is obvious and large scale research is needed. For this, he was railroaded by corrupt medical people (many with ties to vaccine makers) and reporters who are more interested in protecting the large pharmaceuticals than children. A very telling point he raises - he was prosecuted and had his license removed largely on the false basis that he was being paid for the Lancet study by a legal group looking to sue vaccine makers. Yet, who do you think funds the studies that say vaccines are "safe" and are fully embraced by most of the medical community?

Very well written and logically laid out. A must read for parents.

The scientific studies under question have been replicated in other countries many times proving Andrews studies to be fact, did you wonder why they suddenly tried to attack Mr Wakefield, just as many others are proving his studies true. He also duplicated the results himself. Jenny McCarthy has also used the information from Dr Wakefield's studies to reverse and cure the Autism of her son so have many others, no major media coverage on that though. She reported the procedure to the CDC but they were not interested. To do legitimate research on this subject you can not trust the government or the media as I found out. My son was also effected by vaccinations and so will your kids and their kids if you don't educate yourself to what Andrew Wakefield at a tremendous cost to his career and life has brought to light in his studies and this book.

Dr. Wakefield, a pediatric gastro-enterologist, narrates in plain-spoken English and with meticulous documentation, the audacious treatment of the GMC, the Lancet, et. al., towards him -- for being a member of a medical team that published a case series study suggesting the hypothesis of a link between autism and GI disorder. No where in that now famous -- and retracted -- Lancet article is there a statement that Dr. Wakefield found or believed in a link between autism and the MMR. Rather, eight of the 12 parents of the original patients were reported as stating they believed there was a link.

Dr Wakefield takes us through the details of the politics, the equivocations and downright lies of expert witnesses for the prosecution. No one who reads this book could come away believing that Dr. Wakefield was anyone but a doctor trying his best to further medical science and the health of children.

One reviewer has stated that the U.S. will one day acknowledge the devastation of autism when our autistic children are grown. Oh, how I wish that were true. Vietnam Vets did not get rights until they organized and lobbied hard for the accommodations needed to help them lead more normal lives. How can our children, many of whom do not speak, understand personal interaction, or power and politics, or even their basic rights, organize as adults to convince government that they are much deserving of ongoing home, health, educational, and therapeutic benefits, especially because their government failed to protect them from this devastating disorder?

Yes, here they come. But where will they go?

I'm not sure what book some of the reviewers here are reading. Dr Wakefield supports his assertions in the book with documents that are made available to the reader. Those people who make nearly hysterical claims about MMR rates, measles, deaths, and Wakefield's role in that have obviously not done their research or read the book. Or perhaps they just willfully choose to ignore facts. This book relies on documented facts but if there is emotion in the book, how can that be a bad thing? This book is about children who have suffered needlessly. And for many of them, their suffering has been horrible. Dr Wakefield, Professor Walker-Smith, and Professor Murch have devoted their careers to helping children just like my son, when other medical professionals have turned their backs and still others, with no qualifications beyond a certainty that they are right choose to spend their time writing vicious nonsense on forums such as this.

I can't be certain what caused my son to lose his language, his happiness, his health. I am certain that it will be people like Dr Wakefield who one day understand what did this to him, and maybe prevent other children from suffering the same way my child has.