Is there a doctor in the (Thoughtful) House?
What are we to make of recent events at Thoughtful House, the integrated autism clinic and research centre that, until recently operated under the auspices of Dr Andrew Wakefield as director of research? First Wakefield resigned. Then the Times carried a story (now confirmed) suggesting that Arthur Krigsman was standing down as well.
Following the recent GMC hearings whose findings of fact confirmed a series of damning breaches of research ethics, dishonest reporting and callous disregard for the suffering of children it was no surprise that the Lancet finally retracted the paper that marked the start of the MMR scare in 1998. Then his latest paper, Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight, was withdrawn and removed from the Neurotoxicology website. Although they are refusing to comment, the editor at Neurotoxicology may have been influenced by the revelations at the GMC and the Lancet’s decision and taken another look at Wakefield’s study and decided that the faults identified by Prometheus Orac and others were too serious to be ignored.
All this was to be expected. Wakefield is isolated both as a doctor and a researcher. His links to the mainstream are damaged beyond repair. But he has managed to retain a loyal following of parents and until now Thoughtful House has provided him with a firm base in America and a source of income.
So Wakefield’s departure from Thoughtful House came as something of a shock as much for the manner of his leaving as anything else. Although the press release defending Wakefield that was issued after the GMC announced its findings is still on the website it is no longer featured on the home page. Stranger still, there is no press release concerning Wakefield’s resignation on the website even though his name has been removed from the staff list.
We do have this statement from Jane Johnson first posted on the Thoughtful House email list on Wednesday 17 February and widely repeated in all the press reports and blogs that this news has generated
The needs of the children we serve must always come first. All of us at
Thoughtful House are grateful to Dr. Wakefield for the valuable work he has done here. We fully support his decision to leave Thoughtful House in order to make sure that the controversy surrounding the recent findings of the General Medical Council does not interfere with the important work that our dedicated team of clinicians and researchers is doing on behalf of children with autism and their families. All of us at Thoughtful House continue to fight every day for the
recovery of children with developmental disorders. We will continue to do our
very best to accomplish our mission by combining the most up-to-date treatments and important clinical research that will help to shape the understanding of these conditions that are affecting an ever-increasing number of children worldwide.
Jane
The most favourable interpretation, and the one that Jane Johnson is promoting on the email list in response to the loyal parents who are upset by Wakefield’s departure is that
Dr. Wakefield feels he needs to pursue the GMC issue, and he’s concerned that the continued press coverage will hurt Thoughtful House. Those who know Dr. Wakefield will not find it implausible that he would step aside in order to protect an institution he helped found.
It is not implausible. Neither is it very convincing. Why has Wakefield remained totally silent? He has issued statements every step of the way during this long and sorry saga designed to make his supporters feel informed and happy. Why is there no official statement on the Thoughtful House Website? And if he really needed time off to concentrate on the GMC wouldn’t it have made more sense to do that during the hearing instead of waiting until they they found against him?
And what of Jane Johnson’s role in all this? She has been a wealthy backer of Thoughtful House in the past. Her wealth derives from Johnson and Johnson, the pharmaceutical company. Now that is ironic. A constant jibe thrown at all Wakefield’s critics is that we are bought and paid for pharma shills. Now it turns out that Wakefield has his own links to Big Pharma. Ms Johnson is described as the co-managing director of the board of Thoughtful House. I gleaned this from the dust jacket of a book she co-authored with Bryan Jepson MD, who is described as Director of Medical Services at Thoughtful House. I tried to verify this but the current list of directors at Thoughtful House has been removed from their website. I can confirm that Ms Johnson is executive director of Defeat Autism Now.
It has been suggested that Thoughtful House has some major financial backers: wealthy parents of autistic children and corporate sponsors, who are unhappy with the publicity that Wakefield is attracting. Brian Deer has suggested that some may be genuinely shocked by the revelations about his character and his research credentials.
Perhaps the most surprising feature of Wakefield’s departure is the total lack of comment by any of the bloggers who traditionally support him. Take Age of Autism. They have posted 36 articles supporting Andrew Wakefield since the GMC verdict on January 28th. The last one was on February 16th. In the five days following his resignation they have posted nothing about him at all.
It is plain that this has taken his supporters by surprise and not everyone is happy with it. One of the first objections came from an Italian organization, again taken from the Thoughtful House email list but repeated elsewhere.
Emergenzautismo (Italy) feels TH’s acceptance of Wakefield’s resignation
to be extremely detrimental to current science, our children and, not least,
Andrew Wakefield. Never has there been a more important time for a united front.
We are very confused and disappointed.
Ornella
administrator www.emergenzautismo.org
The feeling was compounded when it merged that Arthur Krigsman was also leaving Thoughtful House. This story broke in the Times but it was not until a concerned parent posted the LBRB version on the Thoughtful House email list and parents started to question what was happening that Jane Johnson again responded.
Dr. Krigsman’s decision to relocate his clinical practice to a facility outside
Thought House reflects his belief that the complexities inherent in a referral-based practice can be best addressed by his working independently. We will continue to refer patients for GI evaluations when appropriate, and we look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Krigsman on research projects. We are grateful to Dr. Krigsman for his dedication to Thoughtful House and for the work he does on behalf of the children we serve.
Just to be clear, this is official.
Jane
In my opinion the two events are not linked. If they were we would have seen a much more polished PR operation from Thoughtful House. Krigsman was probably already planning his move and will continue to see children at Thoughtful house until his new office in Austin is ready. His main clinic is in New York and he visits Thoughtful House for a few days once a fortnight. it looks like he is regularizing his business arrangements - a private practise that enjoys an association with Thoughtful House but is not part of it.
But the timing of the two events has caused a lot of parents to wonder just what is going on. Just as with the Autism Omnibus Proceedings they have been fed a line that everything is going well and the GMC is going to vindicate Wakefield. Now some of them must be wondering if they are being fed another line.
It would be tempting to think that Wakefield and Krigsman have been ousted in a power struggle that sees DAN doctor Jepson and DAN director Johnson firmly in control. But unless I see hard evidence to the contrary I will settle for the cock-up theory of history over the conspiracy theory.
As Oscar Wilde wrote in The Importance of Being Earnest
To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
But if Bryan Jepson MD is the next to go I may have to revise my opinion and quote the words Ian Fleming gave to Goldfinger:
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action!
While writing this post I have learned of a new article by Brian Deer exposing a failed attempt by Mark Blaxill of Safe Minds to employ Max Clifford to manage Wakefield’s PR disaster. Instead he is adding to it. Perhaps Jane Johnson’s do nothing approach was for the best. You can join the discussion on this latest development over at LBRB
UPDATE
Age of Autism has finally broken its silence with “an exclusive interview” with Andrew Wakefield. Four days after he was sacked by resigned from Thoughtful House the announcement comes, not via a press release or a public announcement on the Thoughtful House website, not even an exclusive interview with Sally Beck or Melanie Phillips or another of his remaining friends in the mainstream media. No. He is reduced to talking to ex journalist and Generation Rescue PR hack Dan Olmsted on a fringe anti-vaccine website.
Wakefield claims to be looking forward to an
entirely new sort of opportunity that will allow me to continue my work on behalf of autism families.
Perhaps his friend Mark Blaxill will create a job for him at Safe Minds. Or maybe Jenny McCarthy’s Generation Rescue beckons. Either way it is a sad end to what could have been a distinguished career.
Comment by Anthony's Dad | February 21st, 2010
We can only hope that Jepson is next, but I seriously doubt it. Besides, it’s not like they’re all going to go away and give up what they’re doing. A thousand more studies debunking this and that and emphasizing the danger and risks involved in most of these “treatments” would not be enough for any of them to admit the error of their ways. It’s simply not in their nature; you’d have to ask a psychologist why.
And Mike, your statement about Krigsman flying into Austin once every week or two for a few days is correct: he loads up the colonoscopy procedures on those days. Believe me, I know, I reluctantly agreed to one for my 3-year-old son 2 1/2 years - not knowing any better - and I live with that mistake every day of my life. But we were lucky.
Thanks, have always enjoyed your site.
Comment by Peter | February 21st, 2010
I think it’s just the people involved in the colonoscopies who have been ejected. Think about what would have happened if and when Krigsman injured a child whose charts showed didn’t need scoping (which is probably true for most of the kids lured to Thoughtful House by Wakefield).
If you look at Brian Deer’s website, you can see what could have been coming: lawsuits alleging conspiracy to procure biological materials from autistic children without clinical grounds. That would could have seen Jane Johnson and all the rest of them taken away in handcuffs.
http://briandeer.com/solved/max-clifford.htm
http://briandeer.com/mmr/thoughtful-clinical.htm
Comment by Peter | February 21st, 2010
second link should be http://briandeer.com/wakefield/thoughtful-clinical.htm
Comment by Mike | February 21st, 2010
Anthony’s Dad,
we do the best we can and when we know better we do better. You did well to see through the hype and back away. I know some smashing parents who only want the best for their kids. They raise money. They raise awareness. They campaign for services. They are alive to the needs of autistic adults and rather than resenting neurodiversity they are sympathetic to people with Aspergers.
And still they believe in Wakefield. I think it is because he offers an answer to the question “Why?” it is a very plausible answer that is easy to buy into. And once you have an answer it is so empowering that it is very hard to exchange it for the uncertainty that comes from a more realistic appraisal of the current state of our knowledge.
Comment by Laurentius Rex | February 21st, 2010
One has to ask (using the Galileo Gambit in reverse)
Why when faced with the evidence, the Catholic Church so obstinately denied it. (and continues to this day to support the insupportable in terms of the child abuse scandals and interference with equal rights legislation for gays)
Unfortunately it IS psychological, it is an unfortunate bad meme in human society (cognitive dissonance that is, not the Catholic Church, which would manage fine without the corruption of the Vatican heirarchy)
It will take more than chelation to purge the mind viruses from society.
The only solution will have to be the full sanction of the law for as Martin Luther King, (not to be confused with his earlier namesake) once said.
“Morality cannot be legislated, but behaviour can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrict the heartless”
Comment by Sandra | July 22nd, 2010
I just want to say, that my foster son was seen by Dr. Krigsman, and I don’t care what no one says, the scope helped him. For years I had watched this child scream in agony on the toilet, and could not for the life of me figure out why this was happening. All I could do was try to comfort him until what ever pain he was expericing passed. After the scope, and diagnosis, we knew what to do, and I did what was suggested, and for 3 years now we have not had any more bouts with the screaming in agony on the toilet, nor have we had the usual constipation, diahrrea, back and forth day in and day out for years. I feel if a person doesn’t like a doctor, don’t go to them, but why try to influence someone else’s decision to try what they feel necessary to help their child?
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