The 2024 Legal Defense Fundraiser has ended early due to the Board's decision to settle the suit. Donations will go towards the creation of a legal defense fund. Discussion on the matter can be found at the RationalMedia Foundation noticeboard. Thank you for your generous support.
Brian Deer
Needles are scary Anti-vaccination movement |
![]() |
Pricks against pricks |
Brian Deer is an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times best known for his work on investigating issues around the MMR/autism controversy, specifically related to the work of the now discredited doctor Andrew Wakefield. Deer's investigation into Wakefield was instrumental in getting the UK's General Medical Council to launch a formal inquiry into Wakefield, which led to Wakefield's being struck off the medical register.
Deer's investigations revealed that Wakefield's research that led to the original paper in The Lancet was funded by the Legal Aid Board as part of a civil suit, and that a number of the children he studied were litigants in said suit.[1]
A 2004 television documentary led to Wakefield suing Deer for libel in the UK, a suit which was later dropped. A series of articles Deer wrote for the BMJ in 2011 led to Wakefield suing him for libel in Texas in 2012; this suit was dismissed by the judge for lack of jurisdiction.
Deer has also investigated other medical controversies including Vioxx (rofecoxib).
External links
References
- ↑ Timeline: How the Andrew Wakefield MMR vaccine scare story spread, The Independent