It “took a village” to “raise”/create Andrew Wakefield - it is common for everyone to back away once accountability happens but Andrew Wakefield did not do this all by himself.

What about medical culture and who is not policed on professionalism that allowed him to get so far?

When I look at Wakefield, I see the same kind of lack of ethics evident in #Medbikini study

but Wakefield was far further down the spectrum

because he was doing invasive GI procedures on children for his study, funded by a lawyer

First: consent matters
Informed consent matters
What incentives exist in healthcare & academia that shaped his mindset & behaviors?

What was Wakefield rewarded for throughout his career?
Where did he NOT get questioned?

Look as this patent he had filed to compete vs MMR
Gibberish
+
His 🤑incentive

https://t.co/NRqXvBCGvB
Please note in his patent application Wakefield used those 12 samples that he cited in his @TheLancet study. He was not the only author. There were reviewers. There were editors. He was not alone in a cave. He was bullying his staff too

This was NOT “one man”
And lots of silence
“Joking” about kids crying & vomiting? Sounds like a massive jerk.

Erased/changed data

I have a hard time believing no one found him problematic before

Were people afraid to report?

When held accountable, he catastrophized, claiming he was being “persecuted”

Sound familiar?
Is Wakefield the only scientist or doctor funded by shady sources? Unfortunately no

Increasingly science serves the wealthy

The incredible irony is that he claims to be “exposing” the very thing that he himself is - HE was driven by money instead of sound science or ethics
My 🧵 on the pattern of anti-vaxxers targeting traumatized or marginalized groups - like refugees with valid distrust of authority/government - and/or those having a narrative of being “done wrong “by the system.

Wakefield claims his being held accountable = “persecution”
=hook https://t.co/l7XRK7jGoV
people who are manipulative & have no concern about harm/consequences they cause others

can be very good at storytelling

engage others’ emotions
tap into emotions of trauma

while themselves focus on wealth, fame, power

=manipulate emotions
use a “hook”
https://t.co/AFkQK0U5nz
Am unapologetic on protecting medical students’ & trainees’ ability to report
+
psychological safety

Check Wakefield types early
Who abuses power?
Students know

This hit piece written on me

Notice “hook” of unrelated shocking event to trigger emotions

https://t.co/jmiiBZ2OgI
Anyone who follows me knows I tweet incessantly on every topic

“vet” & “verify” = my mantra
my credibility as an expert witness depends on being factual

Regardless of individuals in question, professionalism must entail

-consistent standards
-verified facts
-verified identity
Personally, as a pediatrician, working in vulnerable & marginalized populations like refugees, the reviewers & editors that I face are EXTREMELY stringent on ethical standards

I don’t understand why we have repeated examples of others bypassing this level of scrutiny/standards
I happen to have a name that is likely unique in the world as well as throughout human history given the unusual spelling of multiple names.

I am not at risk of this kind of mistaken identity but many people I know who are Muslim are, even babies.

“Verify” for identity matters. https://t.co/gZTw0LXwHY
Can you honestly tell me that this Black male doctor

has ANY chance of ever committing the level of ethical violation & harm to our profession as Wakefield?

He was handcuffed for #publichealth best practices & volunteering

Our bias = wrong policing

https://t.co/HVr0xY2GsQ
There is SOOO much written on the problems with #Professionalism

= exactly WHY we end up with people like Wakefield
who get through gate after gate

while others, doing the RIGHT thing

are held back on petty issues or pushed out
FOR doing exactly what they were asked
The narrative that Wakefield

is an aberration
an individual who uniquely did unusual harm to our profession

is a false narrative

that fails to attribute accountability appropriately

Wakefield is a predictable result of our system

Who is rewarded for acting without #ethics?
@threadreaderapp please unroll

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this simple, counter narrative fact keeps cropping up all over the world.

hospital and ICU utilization has been and remains low this year.

it's terribly curious that so few of these monitoring tools provide historical baselines.

getting them is like pulling teeth.


we might think of this as an oversight until you see stuff like this:

this woman was arrested for filming and sharing the fact that their are empty hospitals in the UK.

that's full blown soviet. what possible honest purpose does that

this is the action of a police state and a propaganda ministry, not a well intentioned government and a public heath agency.

"we cannot let people see the truth for fear they might base their actions on real facts" is not much of a mantra for just governance.


90% full ICU sounds scary until you realize that 90-100% full is normal in flu season.

staffed ICU beds are expensive to leave empty. it's like flying with 15% of the plane empty. hospitals don't do that.

and all US hospitals are mandated to be able to flex to 120% ICU.

the US is currently at historically low ICU utilization for this time of year.

61% is "you're all going to go out of business" territory as is 66% full hospital use.

can you blame them for mining CARES act money? they'll die without it.

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