On Media: Why I Hate the British Press By Anne Dachel

By Anne Dachel http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/12/on-media-why-i.html#more

On January 19, 2006, an eighteen month old toddler named George Fisher died in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. On December 4 this year, an official inquest declared that he died of "natural causes."

Many people are asking what's natural about a child who was described as "healthy and robust" in the British press suddenly being found dead in his crib. It seems that in Britain, things like this simply can't be explained, especially if all the alarming points of evidence are considered unrelated.

What has the attention of the autism community is the fact that this toddler received an MMR vaccine just ten days before his death. Not only that, four months earlier, he had a febrile convulsion following a fever. The Daily Express (HERE) told readers, "His parents claim doctors failed to warn them about the potential side effects he faced after the injection. They say doctors did not ask them about George's medical history or warn them that he should be monitored after the vaccination."

The Gloucester Citizen (HERE) quoted a legal representative who said, "It is documented that children who have experienced a febrile convulsion should be closely monitored following their MMR vaccination as it can raise their temperature."

After receiving the MMR on January 9, George developed problems which included loss of appetite, swollen eyes, and diarrhea. The symptoms persisted and his mother had scheduled a doctor's appointment on the day he was found dead.

At the inquest, it was revealed that "his lungs and blood showed measles virus," along with an enlarged spleen, a sign "he was fending off a virus."

Furthermore, the Telegraph (HERE) said that Professor Elizabeth Miller, an immunization expert for the Heath Protection Agency, testified, "The MMR jab can cause a febrile convulsion in one child in two to three thousand." She also stated that "the febrile convulsion would be expected to occur between six and 14 days after an MMR jab."

All this seems pretty conclusive. There were very good reasons to think that the MMR had severely compromised the health of this child, leading to his death. That's not however the way things work out in the British system of justice.

Coroner Alan Crickmore, after hearing the evidence, concluded that George Fisher died of natural causes. This death has been attributed to the mysterious event known as "Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood," or SIDS in the U.S., which the coroner said was because of "an unascertained disease."

It seems incredible that Crickmore could reach his conclusion based on the facts in evidence, but there's a lot more to the story.

First of all, Alan Crickmore is a lawyer, not a doctor. The BBC (HERE) announced that the Crickmore asserted that George's symptoms had emerged too soon after the jab to be related to it.

And Professor Miller may have linked the MMR and the timing to a febrile convulsion, similar to the first one George Fisher had, but she disagreed that this could have caused his death. Miller stated, 'Fatal outcomes associated with MMR vaccination as a result of febrile convulsion have not to my knowledge been reported.'

Miller was the expert and she denied a connection between the MMR and this child's death, but Miller is hardly unbiased in this issue and it seems incredible that she would have ever been asked to testify. For a number of years, Miller has been a strong promoter of the safety of the MMR.

A BBC report (HERE) in 2001 told about a Ł3m publicity campaign to promote the MMR vaccine with TV advertising, videos and leaflets for health professionals and parents as well as information and training for doctors and nurses. The story quoted Professor Miller in defense of the vaccine and denying any truth to the controversial link to autism. It seems that Miller finds nothing dangerous in the MMR. It doesn't cause autism and though it can cause convulsions, they are never fatal.

A representative from Sanofi, the vaccine maker, was also there. His intent seemed to be to blame the medications given to the child, not the vaccine. Anything but the vaccine.

Other experts lined up against the parents. Dr. Alan Day, consultant pediatrician at Cheltenham General, said the staff was correct in giving George the vaccine.

Professor of Infant Health, Peter Fleming, of Bristol University, said it was most likely that George died of SIDS, which also gave Crickmore a conclusion that let the medical community off the hook.

It seems that unless a child collapses and dies at the clinic, vaccines can never be implicated. What stands out to us in the autism community is the continued denial that MMR is a damaging and even deadly vaccine.

The British press couldn't wait to proclaim once again that parents are wrong to worry about the MMR. Where earlier headlines had announced 'Healthy' Baby Died After MMR Jab, and Inquest to Begin into Death of Baby after MMR Vaccination, new ones appeared with reassuring messages:

MMR jab 'played no part in boy's death', coroner rules,
No link to MMR over baby's death,
MMR jab 'didn't kill healthy tot',
MMR baby died of natural causes.

What was really surprising was coverage from FOX News (HERE) in the U.S. They posted the headline, Baby Dies From Vaccine Complication the day after the inquest and announced, "An 18-month-old boy died after doctors vaccinated him with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine while he was sick, the baby's parents told an inquest this week." FOX hasn't caught up with the news that the coroner disagrees that the death resulted from the MMR.

George Fisher was 18 months old when he died. Many parents report that after their children receive routine vaccinations at the same age, they suddenly lose learned skills and regress into autism. Both in the U.S. and in Britain, health officials have refused to honestly and thoroughly address this controversy. This continues to be one of the most contentious issues in medicine.

Allison Edwards of Cry Shame (HERE) was at the inquest and she gave her own account of what happened before the findings were reported:

"We have reason to believe that the faith and trust we parents place in those guardians of public health on immunisations has become much more about their own protection than our children's. We have been betrayed. ... Unfortunately, I predict that no-one will be held accountable and the death put down to an unascertained cause."

Allison was right. The inquest covered for those who have everything to lose if the truth about the side effects of the MMR were publicly acknowledged. John Stone, another tireless advocate in Britain, wrote to me about this decision and the reaction of ordinary British citizens. He said, "They know they now live in a country where increasingly everything can be 'fixed.'"

Anne Dachel is Media Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

Lawyers, judges and doctors...
Flawyers, fudges and moctors.

Wake the f___ up!
Vaccines cause microvascular strokes !
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080927170755tsop.nb/topstory.html
Dr Moulden is right.
www.brainguardmd.com

All these evil monsters will go down in shame with their lies, not soon enough though!

May these little souls lost at sea help us from above.

Posted by: Flipper008 | December 09, 2008 at 07:10 PM

That little boy's pic reminds me of my son at that age.

How many parents with affected kids who are "sitting on the fence" with respect to their beliefs around what injured their child? I was certainly there at one point. Lots of strong voices reassuring us all that the notion of vaccine injury was just way too far "out there". I still cannot say with absolute certainty that MMR did my son in. But nobody can say with absolute certainty that it didn't. I don't know. In spite of all the biomedical clues, the time-lines, the things we've witnessed, the people I've met, the ugly politics - I still don't "know" (I only "believe", so I'm told). But here's the thing - instead of the cavalry when a kid goes down, we get spin doctors - instead of hearing "we just don't know, but we're picking apart every child case-by-case to figure it out" we get excuses that spew forth from a chicken-shit public health regime that's afraid to look in the dark places, like ten thousand kids' guts. And now we get to see this beautiful child get thrown into the SIDS waste-bucket by a stone cold system where, in terms of relative risk, he is statistically insignificant. So what does that do to someone who is still almost willing to cling to a shred of trust and scientific integrity today? For me, it only pushes me farther away. Zero tolerance for "parasites", complete denial of adverse events, the concept of disposable kids upheld, and a convenient hole to toss the "inconvenient truth" cases - this kind of approach is just really really really really stupid, from a public trust perspective. I'd like to just say let these idiots bury themselves, but how many kids might they take with them (what if there's a kid who does suffer from some vaccine-preventable disease, not administered because mom and dad have no trust)?. The bureaucrats apparently don't appreciate how many people are starting to tune in, and how much damage they're doing no matter which way this turns. They screwed up incredibly, and all they can do now is try to turn it around on the victims. It doesn't get any sadder than this.

My God, all the cards on the table right from the start and we would not be in this mess. Are you tuning in, Mr. Pres?

Rest in peace, George.

Posted by: Randy | December 09, 2008 at 05:35 PM

Anne,

Great piece pointing out the complete lack of common sense by individuals like Miller and Crickmore. I always wonder *why* it's so difficult for these folks to see how utterly absurd their logic is and how they would ever think others wouldn't see past it??

Here's the comment I posted earlier on Allison's piece:

"But coroner Alan Crickmore said George's symptoms had emerged **too soon** after the jab to be related to it."

Okay...I thought I'd seen it all but this has got to take the cake!! What the h-e-double toothpicks kind of reasoning is that??

I mean, isn't the science *gold standard* for clincal trials testing based on "short-term" observations???

And doesn't the FDA make a "adverse event" determination based on these short-term studies????

Posted by: Kelli Ann Davis | December 09, 2008 at 01:30 PM

In researching this article, I found information that challenges Dr. Miller's claim that death isn't associated with febrile seizures. There are two kinds of febrile seizure. One source reported, "The death rate for children with simple febrile seizures (lasting less than 15 minutes and none recurring within 24 hours) was similar to that of children in the general population. In contrast, the death rate for children with complex febrile seizures (lasting longer than 15 minutes or recurring within 24 hours) was twice as high in the two years following the seizure than in the general population."

I have it on good medical authority that "prolonged seizures or status epilepticus can be fatal."

Anne Dachel

Posted by: Anne Dachel | December 09, 2008 at 08:59 AM

When the judgements of "scientists" and "judges" defy common sense, scientists and judges lose the respect and trust of the commoners, and their authority turns to pretense.

Sue

Posted by: Sue | December 09, 2008 at 08:28 AM

Is our media any better? We had a baby die after vaccinations this summer and the clinic management even shut down the vaccination program for a few hours. It was all swept under the table. Even as they were reporting the Death, messages like this were included:

If any parent has questions they can turn to their county health department for answers.
Nurse Sherie Dobereiner works at the Rock Island County Health Department specializing in infectious diseases. She explains the risks, "The chance of a child having a severe allergic reaction after one of these vaccines is one in one million even more than that it's very very rare."

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/07/03/news/local/doc486d538b77341169566185.txt?sPos=1

Posted by: Tanners Dad | December 09, 2008 at 08:07 AM

This could have been prevented had the doctors caring for little geirgie seperated out his MMR. It is proven there are less risk with monovalaunt vaccines see study below..I wonder which type of vaccine the doctors children recieve? Stunts like this and followed by attempts at covering up will never get public trust.
PEDIATRICS Vol. 101 No. 3 March 1998, pp. 383-387
Acute Encephalopathy Followed by Permanent Brain Injury or Death Associated With Further Attenuated Measles Vaccines: A Review of Claims Submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

Received Jul 30, 1997; accepted Sep 23, 1997.
Robert E. Weibel*, Vito Caserta*, David E. Benor, and Geoffrey Evans*

From the * Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, Health Resources and Services Administration, Public Health Service, Rockville, Maryland; and the Office of the General Counsel, United States Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland. Objective. To determine if there is evidence for a causal relationship between acute encephalopathy followed by permanent brain injury or death associated with the administration of further attenuated measles vaccines (Attenuvax or Lirugen, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Kansas City, MO), mumps vaccine (Mumpsvax, Merck and Co, Inc, West Point, PA), or rubella vaccines (Meruvax or Meruvax II, Merck and Co, Inc, West Point, PA), combined measles and rubella vaccine (M-R-Vax or M-R-Vax II, Merck and Co, Inc, West Point, PA), or combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (M-M-R or M-M-R II, Merck and Co, Inc, West Point, PA), the lead author reviewed claims submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Methods. The medical records of children who met the inclusion criteria of receiving the first dose of these vaccines between 1970 and 1993 and who developed such an encephalopathy with no determined cause within 15 days were identified and analyzed.
Results. A total of 48 children, ages 10 to 49 months, met the inclusion criteria after receiving measles vaccine, alone or in combination. Eight children died, and the remainder had mental regression and retardation, chronic seizures, motor and sensory deficits, and movement disorders. The onset of neurologic signs or symptoms occurred with a nonrandom, statistically significant distribution of cases on days 8 and 9. No cases were identified after the administration of monovalent mumps or rubella vaccine.
Conclusions. This clustering suggests that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization.
Key words: measles vaccine, encephalopathy, encephalitis.

Posted by: noyfb | December 09, 2008 at 07:40 AM

He said, "They know they now live in a country where increasingly everything can be f'ixed.'"

Everything except the children....

God rest his little soul.

Kim

On Media: Why I Hate the British Press

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