MMR Litigants’ New Target: Their Own Lawyers

This would be funnier if it weren’t so sad.

Back in 1998, British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published The Study That Started It All: 12 children he claimed had developed autism as a result of the MMR vaccine. Since then, that execrable “study” has been shown to have been an “elaborate fraud”, with findings faked to support Dr. Wakefield’s own patent application for a competing vaccine. He was also collecting payoffs from plaintiffs’ attorneys suing vaccine manufacturers. It was, simply, always about money.

Now, a British gentleman who was the first plaintiff in a huge, failed class action lawsuit is suing his own attorneys—really, the attorneys hired by his family—for pursuing a claim based on bad science, bilking the British government out of millions of pounds.

Matthew McCafferty, who developed autism three years (!) after receiving the MMR vaccine, is now suing his attorneys for “unjust enrichment as officers of the court by litigating a hopeless claim funded by legal aid by which you profited.” The class action lawsuit fell apart in 2003, after Wakefield’s research was fully discredited (he later lost his medical license because he lied and took advantage of vulnerable children.)

McCafferty’s attorney said:

“The original MMR vaccine litigation was supposed to be worth billions in compensation, not mere millions, but it cost millions in legal aid,” Shaw told the Times. “There was also a huge personal cost for the families involved – all the raised hopes and expectations, driven by the irresponsible media frenzy based on an unsubstantiated health scare and junk science. Not one penny in compensation was obtained for any child. The families are now just beginning to recover and take stock. They are scrutinising the actions of their former lawyers and medical advisers.”

It was supposed to be worth “billions.” Again, it was always about the money. It was never about the health of children.

And yet, here we are. Vaccine-preventable diseases are roaring back. Parents are fearful of one of the safest, most effective public health interventions ever developed. And, the biggest losers of all, millions of families affected by autism, distracted by false hope, lured into distrust by charlatans taking advantage of their children for profit. Just imagine:  if not for all of this manufactured, fake vaccine-worry, how much more progress we could have made developing a better understanding of the real causes of autism, and the best ways to help identify and treat it.

The evidence for the safety of vaccines and the lack of any connection with autism is overwhelming. I suppose the lawyers will continue to fight over the money. Can the rest of us move along now, and work together towards actually helping children?

This blog was originally posted on The Pediatric Insider.

© 2014 Roy Benaroch, MD