Case Study Andrew Wakefield

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On February 28th, 1998, the Lancet released a study by Andrew Wakefield linking the MMR vaccination to autism. Wakefield’s study was later proven false due to unethical practices, falsification of information, and the failure to state his financial gain. Wakefield’s first mistake was not informing the Lancet that he was receiving funding from anti-vaccination lawyers which indicate Wakefield was bias. Wakefield also went into the study knowing he had signed a patent for a new vaccine (Rao, 2011). Another major fault in Wakefield’s claim was that without clinical approval, he practiced unethical procedures including but not limited to colonoscopy’s and lumbar punctures (Dyer, 2010). Using the results of these unethical procedures, Wakefield manipulated and falsified his results. …show more content…

These repercussions can last decades as seen in the Wakefield case. Since Wakefield released his study, the MMR combination vaccination rates have dropped dramatically with cases of measles on the rise around the world exposing millions. The number of measles outbreaks in the UK rose from 56, the year the study was released, to 1,400 in 2008 (Ahearn, 2010). With more people choosing to not vaccinate that number is expected to rise. As one can see, these studies do no disappear overnight even if they are retracted. Often, people tend to be strong willed and will be suspicious of the legitimacy of the new study and refuse to believe anything else as the previous study was embedded in them for years. With medical journals and articles being just a click away, it is more than important to be weary of fraudulent and inaccurate studies releasing false information to the public. Spreading false, misleading information opens dangerous doors in the healthcare field, from epidemics and outbreaks to a misinformed panicking public believing they can receive viruses such as Ebola although they are 1,000’s of miles away from the infected

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