The report says that doctors admit they don't know how to treat autistic children, yet they are full of criticism and venom for those doctors who have taken their responsibility to do their best for these children seriously by developing treatment protocols. Successes are ridiculed and shunned by the clueless. The medical profession should not be able to claim any expertise or authority when it comes to autism.

Someone please help me here. How would chamomile extract, probiotics, vit d, glutathione building supplements (biomed) equate to child abuse or MUnchausen's by Proxy, as the Scienceblogs crowd likes to suggest? It is preposterous and sick given that the medical profession at the hospital did not help him with his abdominal pain. They didn't even figure out/diagnose/acknowledge that he had pain!

When is this dysfunctional US Medical System gonna' provide treatment and support for the children they damaged and for the abandoned parent caregivers!!!!!

I am so sorry this is what it has come to. And it still won't be enough.

I also want to note that it was ironic that the add immediately following the report was about a drug for joint stiffness. I suffer from that and get alerts whenever new research comes about. Recently a series of reports were made on a study that showed a particular gut bug was hugely beneficial at putting arthritis into remission. It was a very specific bacteria originated in the mouth and populated the gut. Not your usual probiotic species. The next day when I had time to revisit this I clicked on the google links and all.....every single source....was gone. Like it never happened. I should have copied it because it named the specific bacteria and how one particular pharma company was trying to patent it. It's all about the gut. It's always about the gut and it's always about corruption.

Please,you must read Dr. Andrew Wakekefield's Reflections in the Autism File August 30th edition.The truth is the medical system had become dysfunctional and many of the children are not getting the proper medical care they need and they are stamped with autism diagnosis and psychiatric treatment instead of treating or eliminating the root causes of the problem.Alex had ulcerated stomach and intestines,to many to count.This puzzle has more than 10000 pieces,Dr Wakefield can see the picture,the media and most of the doctors are blind.We need to be strong and fight the system so a tragedy like this never ever happens.Again I demand a full INVESTIGATION of the hospital where Alex was left untreated, un-diagnosed and restrained for 12 days.OUR CHILDREN NEED REAL QUALITY CARE,(same level of medical care everyone else is getting)and NOT LIFELONG PSYCHIATRIC MAINTENANCE.The doctors and media need to smarten up and please pull out your head from the big pHarma sand box.

Thank you CBS and Autism Media Channel! Somehow, government and pharmaceutical industry collusion possibly, maybe with other influences, U.S. healthcare has become one of the ugliest of monopolies. I hope the truth obtained in an attempt to help Alex will soon help others to obtain real healing where possible and end the industry descent towards forcing lifelong pharmaceutical maintenance.

Ari Ne'eman does not understand pain. Agonizing, wracking, unending pain. Lucky him. How long would he put up with the misery Alex Spourdalakis endured? At least Ne'eman has the ability to ask for morphine or hydrocodone.

One correction to Sharyl Attkisson's reporting: she said "gastric," limiting the lesions to the stomach. Many children have inflammatory damage that starts with eosinophilic esophagitis and runs through 26 feet of intestines down to the rectum.

How many nonverbal children, teens and adults are trying to tell us that they feel excruciating pain in their throats and guts all day, day after day?

And why can't more medical professionals and psych docs figure that out?

It's absolutely breathtaking to see some real journalism on this subject -- for a change.

One question: Sharyl Attkinson reported that ASAN is a "government-funded" organization. I did not know that, but certainly that would compromise ASAN's independence. My sense is that ASAN says nice things about Obama administration officials and was not terribly militant about opposing the DSM-5. Can anyone tell us more? Which government agency is funding ASAN, and what are they getting for their money?

Thank you, Polly Tommey and Sharyl Attkisson for not letting this sad story just fade away as so often happens.

The question remains: "Who Killed Alex Spourdalakis?"

Sharyl Attkisson points to the answer. "A system ill-equipped to handle autistic children."

At the hospital where Alex was retrained for 12 days without doctor's orders, there had to be "retraining" of ER staff.

Polly Tommey: "Dorothy was like any other autism mother, desperate to get help for her child. His death didn't need to be. It was because there wasn't anything in place for him."

A GI specialist found Alex to be suffering from stomach ulcers, "too many to count," but "no facility would keep him and insurance wouldn't cover it. Dorothy's emails reflected growing desperation and exhaustion...."

What was done to Alex and his mother was neglect and abuse bordering on torture. "Every door closed. She had nowhere to go. She had nowhere to take her son. There was no help for him."

Alex's life and death is a prime example of the abysmal lack of attention autism receives in this country. Health officials and doctors remain clueless. They guess at autism's cause. They have no answers for parents--NONE--except that their vaccines don't cause it.

The really big lie has always been that autism is a genetic developmental disorder kids are born with and we're seeing more of it only because the definition was changed and doctors are better at recognizing it.

Autism seems to be an annoying issue that just doesn't go away. Officials have never called autism a crisis. Doctors still aren't being trained to adequately deal with it and don't offer parents any real help or hope.

Anne Dachel, Media

Did the segment run on CBS This Morning? And I can't access Autism Media Channel. anyone else having a problem?