Andrew Wakefield suing British Medical Journal for claiming MMR study was fraudulent

Andrew Wakefield, the discredited British doctor who linked the measles, mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, triggering a health scare, is suing the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and two journalists for defamation.

Wakefield, who was stripped of his medical license in the UK in 2010 after a lengthy investigation into his research on children with autism, filed a complaint filed to a district court in Texas where he now lives.

CNN reported that:

In his lawsuit, [Wakefield] alleges that the British Medical Journal (BMJ), and specifically writer Brian Deer and editor Dr. Fiona Godlee, defamed him.

The lawsuit concerns a 2011 BMJ article by Deer titled "Secrets of the MMR scare: how the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed" and an accompanying editorial by Godlee that called Wakefield's research on autism fraudulent, according to the American Statesman.

Wakefield was lead author on a paper that appeared in the Lancet in 1998 — and was retracted by the editors 12 years later — suggesting a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

According to the Guardian, Deer, an investigative reporter, covered the controversy over the MMR vaccine, which led to a drop in MMR vaccination rates to dangerous levels.

In 2004, only 80 percent of children received the triple jab, far short of the 95 percent required to achieve the "herd immunity" that prevents disease taking hold in a community.

Deer’s work, writes the Houston Chronicle, found essentially that Wakefield falsified the data for his original 1998 study.

Lawyers acting for Wakefield claim that articles, editorials and other statements that appeared in the BMJ were "false and make defamatory allegations" about the doctor.

The petition also denies that Wakefield fraudulently and intentionally manipulated or falsified data or diagnoses in the 1988 study.

CNN cited a statement on behalf of Deer and the BMJ, defending the articles: "While we await formal service, unsurprisingly the BMJ and Mr. Deer stand by the material published in the BMJ and their other statements and confirm that they have instructed lawyers to defend the claim vigorously."

Britain's General Medical Council (GMC), in its 2010 ruling against Wakefield found that he had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in carrying out his research and "'failed to act in interests of children," the Guardian wrote at the time.

The GMC also said that:

He had gone against the interests of children in his care, and his conduct brought the medical profession "into disrepute" after he took blood samples from youngsters at his son's birthday party in return for payments of 5 pounds [about $8].