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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Now you know I love to sh-t in Harvard. But I also like accuracy. So I decided to go look at Harvard’s catalog to see its lack of military history that this article describes (they only teach history of pets it claims) and what I found shocked me! Shocked me! A thread: 1/


First off, Harvard students literally have multiple sections of military history that they can take listed. (It appears these ones are taught at MIT, so they might have to walk down the street for these) but... 2/


Say they want to stay on campus...they can only take numerous classes on war and diplomacy...3/


They have an entire class on Yalta. That’s right. An entire class on Yalta. 4/


But wait! There is more! They can take the British Empire, The Fall of the Roman Empire for those wanting traditional topics... 5/

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(1) Kushner is worth $324 million.
(2) Since 2016, Kushner has connived, with Saudi help, to force the Qataris (literally at a ship's gunpoint) to "loan" him $900 million.
(3) This is consistent with the Steele dossier.
(4) Kushner is unlikely to ever have to pay the "loan" back.


2/ So as you read about his tax practices, you should take from it that it's practices of this sort that ensure that he's able to extort money from foreign governments while Trump is POTUS without ever having to pay the money back. It also explains why he's in the Saudis' pocket.

3/ It's why the Saudis *say* he's in their pocket. It's why emoluments and federal bribery statutes matter. It's why Kushner was talking to the Saudi Crown Prince the day before the murdered Washington Post journalist was taken. It's why the Trump administration now does nothing.