Originally published February 15 2012
Dr. Andrew Wakefield takes legal action against Brian Deer, BMJ and Godlee
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) The scandal involving Dr. Andrew Wakefield's case study research into the link between the combination measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism may go down as one of the biggest cases of malicious fraud in history -- but such fraud was not committed by Dr. Wakefield. In a new lawsuit, Dr. Wakefield is seeking to recover exemplary damages for the heinous libel, slander and defamation committed against him by the British Medical Journal (BMJ); Dr. Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor; and pseudo-journalist Brian Deer, all of whom have worked tirelessly to destroy his life and career throughout the past year.
The lawsuit, filed in Travis County, Texas, District Court, names BMJ, Godlee, and Deer as the defendants for having maliciously published deliberate lies about Dr. Wakefield's 1998 case study paper that was published in The Lancet back in 1998. These lies, which officially began their spread back in early 2010 when Dr. Wakefield's paper was forcibly retracted, include falsely accusing Dr. Wakefield of fabricating and manipulating research data, and using autistic children for his own personal gain (http://www.naturalnews.com/031211_Andrew_Wakefield_BMJ.html).
BMJ first published Deer's "investigative" hit-piece on Dr. Wakefield, entitled Secrets of the MMR Scare: How the Case Against the MMR Vaccine was Fixed, back on January 5, 2011. This was followed by several corresponding editorials written by Godlee that were published just a few days later.
Within days, these vaccine industry-funded slam pieces snowballed into a worldwide slander-fest against Dr. Wakefield, which included several appearances by Deer on CNN's American Morning show and Anderson Cooper's 360 show, where he had the audacity to call Dr. Wakefield a "determined cheat." So not only did BMJ knowingly publish lies against Dr. Wakefield, but Deer traveled the world spreading them as well.
In addition to lying, defendants failed to disclose financial ties to MMR vaccine companies
What BMJ, Godlee, and Deer have together orchestrated is nothing less than total character assassination. Ironically, everything these three have falsely accused Dr. Wakefield of doing is exactly what they have done.
Dr. Wakefield's lawsuit identifies numerous specific instances where both Deer and Godlee deliberately ignored, manipulated, or flat out changed the facts as part of their ruthless attempt to destroy his life and career. Deer, for instance, knowingly spread the lie that Dr. Wakefield altered the medical histories of the 12 children involved in his study in order to reach a preconceived outcome, when it was Deer himself who actually did just that to falsely accuse Dr. Wakefield in the first place.
"Deer misrepresented the facts of the underlying cases, repeatedly misrepresenting or distorting the content of records for the purpose of falsely accusing Dr. Wakefield of having done precisely what Deer has done," says the suit.
Section four of the lawsuit, entitled "Facts," contains many more specific examples of both Deer and Godlee's crusade of perjury against Dr. Wakefield. You may be quite shocked to see how vastly different the reality of the situation actually is compared to the fraudulent version of events that has been peddled by the mainstream media:
http://www.naturalnews.com/files/Andrew_Wakefield_BMJ_petition.pdf
One particular area of interest is BMJ's connections to the vaccine companies that sell MMR vaccines. The lawsuit highlights the fact that, when confronted about receiving "significant revenue from the very vaccine manufacturers" who produce the vaccines named in Dr. Wakefield's original paper, BMJ posted a note online explaining that these "competing interests" should have been disclosed.
But this crucial information was never published with the Deer article, and it never received any critical attention from the mainstream media. BMJ's admission essentially confirms that the publication, as well as both Godlee and Deer, targeted Dr. Wakefield because he threatened their source of revenue, which in this case includes Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline, both of whom manufacture MMR vaccine.
So once again, the very things the three defendants have accused Dr. Wakefield of doing is exactly what they have done. They have accused Dr. Wakefield of manipulating the facts for financial gain, for example, when this is precisely what they have done. They have accused Dr. Wakefield of massaging the data to reach a certain negative outcome about the MMR vaccines when, again, this is precisely what they have done in their crusade to destroy his life.
For their repeated and continual lies against him, both in print and in person, Dr. Wakefield is seeking exemplary damages, which includes nominal damages; actual and compensatory damages; and special damages, including injury to reputation and character, injury to feelings, humiliation, loss of earning capacity, declaratory relief, costs and expenses, and prejudgment and post-judgment interest.
You can view the entire lawsuit at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/files/Andrew_Wakefield_BMJ_petition.pdf
You can also learn more about Dr. Wakefield by visiting:
http://www.naturalnews.com/Andrew_Wakefield.html
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