Linda- sometimes advocacy will lead one to strange places.

I can't understand why anyone would willingly go into Orac's AKA David Gorski's snake den.

No mention so far of Alex's intestinal lesions by Orac, but we do find out that Orac watches "What Not to Wear."

I have given up on Science Blogs a long time ago. The people are rude and generally lacking in compassion. They think science is a discipline where you win or lose. An open mind is not required. It's a waste of time trying to talk logic with commenters. Science is inquiry and it really requires an open mind. It's a very long haul to change people of that ilk.

Thank you for your comments, John. I do not have a child with autism and as "lilady" points out, I am 'just an aide in a classroom', yet even I feel afraid of them as much as I would have liked to discuss some points around autism. It is not worth the neck and shoulder pain to come so close to a real discussion on "Science"blogs (I think Passionless Drone was a part of some of them) for them to simply attack and ignore the points. I look at what 'lilady' does in terms of mocking people and tracking them like Jake (about his specific course work and dating etc., characterizing him as a stalker which is ironic!) and it just sickens me.
I used to get World magazine as a kid, participated in the Genographic project and have bought things from the National Geographic catalogue. I will have nothing to do with them any longer.

Birgit, thank you for the link, http://www.stanford.edu/~bcalhoun/amalgam.htm

How wonderful that you can read and accurately translate German articles. Prof. Norman Geschwind (who died tragically young in 1984) was upset when Harvard eliminated reading knowledge of German for science majors. He told us that a goldmine of evidence can be found in the pre WWII literature. You have struck gold with the papers by Alfred Stock.

There is more useful evidence to be found in older papers on neuroanatomy and neuropathology, even in this age of fMRI.

I had all my amalgam fillings replaced several years ago. The health benefits were immediate. I no longer need to use Sensodyne toothpaste, and it is wonderful to be able to bite into a hard cold apple again. Removal of amalgam should be mandatory for everyone.

Hi Birgit Calhoun

"Aunt to an Autistic child! Have you ever seen the movie or read the book "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest"? It's a great movie with Jack Nicholson, and it's very disturbing."

Yes - it disturbing. Also, it is a work of fiction, and addressed an older system of care. I used to work at Howe (in Tinley Park). It was a mental health (state run) facility that dealt with all manners of disability and medical issues. It was a wonderful place, but has been closed (budgetary issues). My nephew is higher on the spectrum, and does not have the behavioral issues that Alex had. But my sister would have no qualms about getting him placed in a facility like Howe, if need arose.

"A mental institution does not look for bowel disease especially when there is "No reason to look." Bowel disease needs to be treated in a non-psychiatric facility."

We sent residents for medical care all the time to hospitals, including scans/etc. This was when any medical issue, and also GI issues were suspected (gas, bloating, constipation, etc.). I'm not sure where your information is coming from, but if it is from the "cukoo's nest", then check out some updated material, or visit a local facility. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised :)

So, the news was correct - that he was offered placement in a facility? Was it refused by the family, or was the offer taken away? This story has me floored, and I'm just trying to figure out what happened. Of course, figuring it out won't change that Alex was murdered. :/

So far as Orac goes they get your I.P. Address and allow or block you.
Dr Andy Wakefield will live with all of the autistic community for years to come MARTER IN THE TRUE SENSE.....

God Bless Andy

My understanding was that Dorothy was offered help by the hospital (to place Alex into a facility where he would have medical and psychological interventions). I believe the family turned that down. At least, that is what was reported in Chicago?

This type of situation probably makes people like William Walsh, author of that book Nutrient Power, want to scream at the top of their lungs. This is exactly the type of family epigenetic tragedy he says can be altered or prevented with diligent and specific attention.

Why would anyone think the criminal justice system is any more fair at handling this type of situation than the allopathic medical system? It that naivite or narrowmindedness or what, exactly? They are run by the same folks. To portray these caretakers in the same light as regular killers underserving of pity is to reinforce the false political paradigm that allows both situations to continue to exist. It's like judging slaves, saying slaves were responsible for their own slavery and any of them them that committed suicide or killed their children to prevent them from living through the hell they lived through themselves was unforgivable, instead of placing the blame where it really belongs, the people placing the stressors on another human being and driving them out of their minds. These women are victims of their captors, the same as people with stockholm syndrome, but probably even worse.

Busy casting that first stone? Sh*t always rolls downhill, doesn't it?

So called science skeptics, Orac AKA David Gorski and his team, are nothing more than disingenuous political strategists. Under the pretense of protecting science and humanity, they are waging war on science and humanity. Wolves in transparent sheep's clothing.

Murder is murder and it does need to be dealt with in the courts. What I really need help with here is how on earth is trying to help your child with bio-medical measures abusive to the child?? Vit D, probiotics, chamomile extract, etc. how does that equate to child abuse or Munchausen's by Proxy, as Scienceblogs wants to portray??? Also if a child needs an endoscopy (obviously Alex did!) why is that made out as some sort of abuse?? It seems very sick and selfish not to find the source of serious pain- in fact that could be considered abusive, I would say. I think we really need to hammer on this. Scienceblogs is grasping at straws now, clearly.

Linda, I understand all of that. The legal system can only tackle the murder. I also understand despair and abject hopelessness and have the logical comprehension of how parents murder their children. Stabbing? It's beyond THIS mom's ability to comprehend. There is nothing loving in stabbing. Or sane. And maybe that's the answer. That's my opinion as Kim the Mom.

And as far as preventable? I can assure you that the community moved heaven and earth and that's all I will say. KIM

Kim,
I don't have faith that the legal system will do this case justice. It's the medical community that should be on trial.

You bring up Andrea Yates. I think she was insane and not responsible for her actions. She was also being drugged with a boatload of drugs that had the potential to exacerbate her condition.

Sometimes parents kill because they can't bare life anymore and also can't bare to leave their children behind. In Dorothy's case, I imagine it's possible that she could no longer bare to see Alex suffer and she was completely hopeless. We don't know the immediate events that led to his death. In her mind, he could have been in agony and this was the only way to relieve it. She had already tried to get help and not only didn't receive it, but encountered a dangerous judgmental self-serving system that would torture him. She had to fight to get him out of the grips of this menacing system. We don't know the psychological toll that experience took on her. She knew that if her son was left in their care, they would not recognize his needs or his pain, would drug him into oblivion, and strap him down like an animal. There was no compassion or understanding for him or her.

I can't even imagine what her state of mind might have been at that point, having no where to go, having been tortured, victimized and unfairly judged, and knowing that her child was suffering. It's not like she planned to kill him and walk away. She was intending to kill herself too. I can't judge her. I will only pray for true justice, that the medical community be held accountable.

Thank you John.The bigger picture is,that there is not enough money to treat and help everybody in healthcare.They disregard the needs of disabled kids and adults like Alex.Unless they have a family member who fights for them,these kids are LOST in the system,ignored and not treated properly.I am very disappointed if the comments are misunderstood,murder is a murder (THE WORSE POSSIBLE SOLUTION) and this discussion is not about "its OK to .... your child" it is the opposite,discussing the complexities of the situation and the abandonment of Alex and his mother and prevention of a similar situation.
Lilady has the biggest disability of all,she has no heart or comprehension of the truth.
WHO gives a break (and proper safe care to a disabled family member)to the parents or the single mother when she can no longer provide the care that is required??? This damage was done by the aggressive vaccine schedule,therefore the healthcare system is also responsible.
Rest in peace dear Alex.

If that’s what Alex’s gut looked like, how did his brain look? Did anyone think to do a neuropathological examination?

Autism is a neurological disorder. Parents want desperately to believe these physically beautiful children can be cured. I did, and thought my son (who will soon turn 51) was cured by the age of 7. By age 17 it was clear he was not. Despite being “high functioning” he now lives in a group home, warehoused in the “community.” I continue to try to help him achieve more in life, but remain the target of much disdain.

The opinion of doctors who don’t view autism to be as serious as polio or measles, is not to be trusted. The brain must become the primary focus of research on autism. Symmetric bilateral lesions within the brainstem (hemorrhagic or ischemic) should be looked for in Alex’s case.

Kim
What if both Alex and the mother were both mercury-poisoned and had similar bowel pathologies? Mercury poisoning can make a person violent. What if they were both vaccinated at the same time? What if both mother and child have the same APOE4 genes. Do you know what drove the mother to kill her son? What kind of mind kills? Who is Adam Lanza? She mother was not insane when she kissed him there at the hospital. I agree with you, I wouldn't kill, but what do we know about how the mind pushes you over the edge? I have seen people act under the influence of mercury. It causes you to think differently when it acts on you. There are chemicals that are unpredictable. Think of LSD, think of The Manchurian Candidate. Think that your doctor doesn't know that kind of mind and doesn't care.

That is the scroll that runs during most news shows.

Just curious about the picture of Alex's GI track.
There is a sub script at the bottom updating the pollen allergy count.

Did someone put that in the picture for the article, or did CBS actually have that up and runnig at the time that CBS aired the story?

I make no apologies for Dorothy or the Godmother - I am vehemently against violence toward our children - PERIOD. I hope they face the fullest extent of the law. At the SAME TIME - I hope we can all look at a horrible system that ignores our kids' very real medical problems - how many parents have put their violent kids into residential care - unaware (maybe even unwilling to investigate because that might make them like "us" in the biomed community) that it was the burning decimated intestinal tract or another physical problemdriving the child to behavior and rage? And why does the system fail to look? Because then we'd have to ask WHAT DESTROYED THE GI TRACT and we can't have that now, can we? I won't martyr Dorothy - she could have left Alex on the street corner with a sign - called his father - anything but stabbing him. Same for Karen McCarron, Gigi Jordon - all of them. The only parent I ever felt a bit of sympathy for was the Dad in Canada who shot his son and himself - quick - painless (?) and done.

Larry, I think you're on to something with Dr.Wakefield being a possible witness for the defense, could you imagine all the damage that would do to the medical community as they ignored Alex's vaccine injury.

I read the letter that lilady said she sent to CBS. She is outraged that "semi-nude" Alex's genitals were barely covered. (Yes, I've often thought the big problem with Jesus on the cross was that he wasn't covered up properly.) No mention of Alex's intestinal lesions.

It's a strange letter.

Let's start envisioning what we want. In the spirit of the March on Washington, which took on impossible odds as well, speaking truth to power, let's start to dream.
---All parents out there, who realize that vaccines hurt OUR children, conduct a "no vaccine sit in" to support us. They vaccinate according to the schedule before autism hit, and say "no" to ALL flu shots and all vaccines that are not on that original schedule, to FORCE the CDC and the medical establishment to immediately get the poisons out, identify the children at risk, and decide which vaccines ARE important, really matter.
--People in insurance companies, vaccine industry, doctors offices, large practices, with access to the truth, will blow the whistle, show us what they know. They will be so grateful they were on the right side of history, of the truth. They will play a part, and some have already suffered terribly for their early outspokenness. But they will be seen as heroes. They will never know how many children they saved. Oh yes--that would be 1 in 35 boys. 1 in 80 children . . just from AUTISM. What about the other issues that we would be saved from?
--Everyone will finally get that the "climate change deniers" were the "Vaccine Damage deniers" . So many people had that backward. . . so many people did not want to believe. And the worse it got the harder it was to believe. That's the hallmark of every widespread crime against humanity. Ann Rule didn't want to believe that her friend Ted Bundy was a serial killer because he saved the lives of potential suicides on a hotline . . . and the world can't stand to believe that Medicine can cause so much damage because it does emergency medicine, and so many other types of medicine so well. Even good doctors can't face this. Those who care too much are paralyzed by fear and cognitive dissonance.
--In my dream, Andrew Wakefield and Dr. Krigsman get the Nobel Prize for Medicine. And Jill James, and the Geirs, and Martha Herbert (and nominate your own!)
--A safe test is developed for pregnant women that identifies which Moms and which infants cannot safely get flu shots or the typical vaccination schedule. When vaccines ARE necessary, they are given glutathione or some other supplements to ameliorate issues.
--All Neurotoxins are removed from Vaccines.
--Everyone respects chelation and other therapies, and they become fine tuned and mainstream, just as treatments for diabetes or cancer or other conditions are respected and honored and fine tuned--and covered by insurance .
--Whistleblowers are protected, and those who knew but lied, in the media, in the insurance companies, in the vaccine industry, are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
--Every parent with a child with autism is acknowledged for tragically sacrificing at least some aspect of the future of their child and family for 'herd immunity'. Every child and parent is compensated depending on various levels of severity.
--Families of SIDS victims that were actually victims of vaccination-toxins are identified and allowed to pursue legal actions as they see fit. And they are allowed to tell the truth --Everyone who got a settlement is allowed to tell the truth. Gag orders are lifted.
--The protection against liability is removed from vaccines due to the fact that this horrible multiple-decade experiment proved that liability is necessary to protect public safety. --Anyone on the Vaccine Court or HHS who had a conflict of interest is fired and exposed.
--All criminals who knew about Vaccination damage or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN and all insurance companies that refuse to cover ABA and speech therapy while rejecting doctors who refused to vaccinate are sentenced to working in classrooms with severely aflicted autistc children and adults for the rest of their lives. If they are not empathetic enough to do this without monitoring, then they are sentenced to solitary confinement until they develop such empathy. Not as a cruel and unusual punishment but because that is what they sentenced our children to, because they didn't bother to figure out ways to vaccinate that did no harm. They didn't bother. They didn't care.
--Treatments are developed that work, are covered by insurance, and reverse autism in a majority of children (Yes, it's a dream).
--All DAN doctors, alternative doctors, doctors and nurses who 'got it' , doctors who spoke out, and journalists who saw the truth and risked their careers to speak out, are honored and thanked and redeemed. The public flocks to them, their colleagues admire and respect them, they are given positions of power and honor throughout the world.
--Finally, the world finds out who REALLY had the issue with EMPATHY. Who REALLY had rigid thinking. Who really couldn't add 2 and 2 together and see what was causing autism. It's the Medical Establshment, People.
--We will find out who profits from putting mercury in vaccines. Who profits from seling mercury? Who profits from poisioning our rivers and oceans? Who are these people and why do they have so much control?
--The people who need meds to cope will no longer be the parents, or our children--they will be the ones who have to admit that they knowingly, and willingly, caused severe pain to children over and over because they didn't bother to figure out how to vaccinate in a way that did no harm or how to mitigate or prevent harm. Instead, due to their incompetence and rigid thinking, they simply pretended no harm was caused. This denial will forever haunt those who didn't speak out as soon as they grasped it. If you are one of those people, Speak OUT NOW. You can make a difference, you can make this happen, and you can replace your guilt and dread with action, change, and healing.
--the age of autism will fade into the history books of 1000 years from now as this amazing testament to stupidity, blindness, and greed, that got trumped and overcome by parents, great doctors, great journalists, brilliant research and ultimately, courage.
--Our autistic children will recover, and have healthy children of their own, and we will get to delight in our grandchildren's normal childhoods, the childhood that was stolen from our own children.

I believe that it is quite possible that Ne'eman began genuinely trying to advocate on behalf able autistic people in school who were unsupported and bullied (not an insignificant issue) but he quickly found political patronage and it became something else. If he were responsible he would see that he is being used.

Will Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Krigsman be testifying on behalf of the Mother? Surely they will be able to speak about the horrible conditions that her son endured, right?

What about the lack of support when it was demanded!!! If they can't get a forum, then why not use this as the means to get the message out there as to what these parents are going through!!!

How about getting the real Science up in front of the Court and on the public record!

@patricia meant to say yes they look like measles

So in summary:
1.No support,diagnosis or proper care for Alex.
2.Mistreatment and abuse-four point restraint-for 12 days.
3.His Insurance carrier-refuses to pay for further inpatient care.
4.We have a mother,who is "beyond exhaustion and despair".
5.A total health care system failure.
I just would like to know,WHERE are the Doctors,the Nurses,the Social workers,the support system for Alex and his Mother???!!!Where is a the TEAM??? IS THERE A TEAM???
6.Doctor Andrew Moulden said: "THE SYSTEM IS LOST AND WE NEED TO FIND IT."
7.Loyola University Medical Center and the 12 days Alex spent there NEEDS TO HAVE A PUBLIC INQUIRY AND INVESTIGATION DUE TO THE ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF HIS CONDITION FOR 12 DAYS!!!
8.Please give us the Loyola hospital's phone numbers and contact information so we can let them know just how we feel about their abusive and negligent practices.
9.We must fight together to make the changes we want to see and to create a better future for our children.Thank you.

john stone: thank you, you affirm my point that Wakefield was NOT a lone renegade, It's all about publicity as the Mainstream Media gets $billions annually from Pharma advertising revenues, thus always corrupted in their reporting.

So the public is perpetually conned by advertising and "news" about a few measles cases somewhere in the U.S. (horrors, all my siblings and neighborhood kids had measles as a normal passage of childhood). Or mumps cases, whatever - incredible propaganda always generating false fear.

If you are sick of how autism is covered on Scienceblogs, I would encourage you to write or email National Geographic, which actually owns Scienceblogs. I am sick to death of their bizarre attempts to equate vaccine questions to MSBS or child abuse. I don't think it exactly " inspires people about the planet" to be engaging in 'poll crashing', hate campaigns (against people such as Ms. McCarthy), horrible language (I.e. "take a flying fvck at a rolling donut..." this said to a doctor, no less). All this besides their uneasy mix of advertising and science (see 'Pepsigate' or the Gaia Vince article that was spiked because it was critical of a potential advertiser). Some of you may have other troubling concerns to add.
www.nationalgeographic.com
[email protected]
Main headquarter address:
1145 17 St. N.W.
Washington DC
20036-4688

So many excellent comments below!

It was really something about Alex and his bowel disorder. I think there are probably many different types of bowel disorders and autism. Mine who is nearly age 40 had a Megacolon problem and couldn't push out feces. He could not do a GI exam because he couldn't be cleaned out for it. He does not have regressive autism. He can not communicate well, has IDD, OCD as well. He had autism at birth. A bowel cleanout device that we found out about changed his aggressiveness to calm. We need to realize not all are vaccine-related but some might be related. Some might have environmental issues as cause. We need research. We especially need adult research. If people hurt and can't explain then they certainly may become aggressive.

Jeff C, you absolutely nailed it!!

If they were to compare non ASD children, against ASD children for this bowel disease they would likely find it on both sides. The MMR causes it, they need to compare non vaccinated children against the vaccinated, there is no other way to do this. My son with crohn's,from his measles vaccine, started early, I was sending stool samples packaged for university laboratories before his third birthday, he was NOT diagnosed for many years. My other son, spent four months after his aged 4 measles shot, screaming in pain, he could go nowhere, and had to drop out of pre-school. Another son, and I do NOT care who thinks this can not happen, had a very much measle shot reaction following his brother's shot. YES. Within months he lost his language, had to sleep with me because he's fair and needed quick dirty diaper changes four times in his sleep, and many more during the day. He does have ASD. I've had three in screaming pain after exposure to measles vaccine, with one very verbal little four year old who screamed "please help me mommy, I can't stand the pain". I was a horrible mother, that's the conclusion , I was told to seat my children on potties at certain times of the day, because of my mothering they would withhold bowel movements, leading to cramping and diarrhea . We all cried a lot, as I cry each time I think about Alex. We allow these tyrants , who likely have withheld this knowledge to promote their profit, to horribly harm our children. And while they can hold up a death among an infected group with street banners, they won't accept the deaths of those like Alex, and others who died as a direct result of their MMR to be counted.

This news seems to have shut up the Respectful Insolence crowd somewhat except that "Lilady" has called upon people to contact CBS and complain about this being aired. We should call in and thank them.

Ari Ne’eman knows nothing of my son, nothing of the pain he suffered, nothing of his social isolation, nothing of his seizures, nothing of his physically harmful out of control meltdowns, but most of all, he knows nothing of his recovery. I do. We are so blessed in that my son was one of those that responded to biomedical. Today, he is a happy third grader doing well in school with many friends. His life was turned around and he is extremely grateful. Although he had limited speech and couldn’t tell us back then, he was acutely aware of his situation and remembers it. He’s now told us of the gut pain he used to endure, the loneliness, of wanting to participate but being unable to respond, seemingly unable to make his mouth and muscles respond despite intentions being formed in his brain. He remembers all too well, enough so that he is just as vigilant with the diet and treatment as we are.

Although he was diagnosed as being ASD when he was four, it now seems clear that he was actually suffering the neurological manifestations of malnutrition. His gut was akin to a war zone, unable to properly digest and absorb his food, leading to bacterial overgrowth from all that undigested food rotting in his large intestine. Instead of listening to the pediatrician who wanted to drug him with psychotropics, we pursued biomedical and it changed his life. I realize it doesn’t work for everyone, and our prayers go out to those who have tried it and have not seen the results we have. But it is indisputable that it does work for some.

To Ari Ne’eman and the rest of the neurodiverse crowd, we healed our son from a disease, how hard is that to comprehend? We didn’t try to change his skin color, his religion, his sex, or any of the other ridiculous comparisons you try to make. He had a physical disease that led to altered brain functions. While we would have loved him no less if he hadn’t responded to biomedical, the suggestion that we should have left him in his former condition and “celebrated” his diverseness is almost too vile to contemplate. Doing so with any other treatable condition (celebrate juvenile diabetes?) would be grounds for arrest on child neglect charges.

It’s called Autism Spectrum Disorder for a reason, “spectrum” being a key word. Per the DSM, the diagnosis is based solely on a collection of behaviors. As an umbrella diagnosis, it is likely an assortment of physiological conditions, with different causes, leading to similar manifestations, hence the differing levels of incapacitation and responses to biomedical. You are implying that since some can lead a fulfilling life (as you have) then no one should be treated as it might make others afflicted feel bad about themselves. Yeah, well not my problem. In a general sense, it’s this ridiculous walking on eggshells mentality that has resulted in a generation of poorly prepared (but with high self-esteem!) neurotypical young adults now unable to find jobs. The world is a tough enough place for young adults without ASD, how will this self-esteem pandering help those with it? Warrior parents will do anything we can to help our children be healthy, self-sufficient, and prepared for life’s challenges, even if it causes some hurt feelings among the overly sensitive. We save our compassion for those afflicted who aren't able to do so.

Thank God, you don’t speak for my son.

In the context of what this news story showed about how much Alex suffered and how much his mother loved him and suffered too, Ari's comment about an "ideology" is absurd. Ari is there because that kind of viewpoint is part of the story, and also to make the point that of course murder-suicide isn't being recommended. But of course Alex's mom's problem wasn't an "ideology" but the terrible difficulty of finding help and effective treatment for her son in a world that thinks autism is purely psychological and where the work of Dr. Wakefield, Prof John Walker-Smith et al was scuttled instead of built upon. A few doctors such as Krigsman and Buie are moving forward with investigating and treating the kinds of bowel disease common among people with autism, but for Alex help came too late when his mother was already at her wit's end after many months of little sleep, being beat up, and seeing her son suffer. I'm not clear on what actually happened at the end - it seems they were being offered help. Yet somehow they were still home alone the three of them, dealing with the same problems. At any rate, it is a tragedy which had it's origins in the failure of mainstream medicine to provide effective treatment to Alex. His treatment for GI issues should have started years ago. I look forward to seeing more of the story told by Autism file. Rest in peace, Alex.

Dan, I think Sharyl Attkisson produced a superb story, without reservation. It focused attention on the scandalous neglect of children suffering from autism, it gave invaluable publicity to the Autism Media Channel, and it allowed Ari Ne'eman to hang himself with his own rope.

Loyola Hospital:
Did the insurance company pay that hospital for Alex's care?
Did they take it all and then the insurance companies reached their limit on cost?

Did Loyola take it all till when there was noting left, --and finally real answers came and help could have been acheived --- the financial resourses had been eaten whole by Loyola Hospital?

Look at the detailed coverage this story is getting in the UK Daily Mail. What the American media refuses to talk about is in this report, even the video of Andrew Wakefield's appeal for help.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2407771/How-Dorothy-Spourdalakis-killed-autistic-teenage-son-Alex-restrained-hospital-bed-12-DAYS-doctors-understand-stomach-illness.html?ito=feeds-videoxml

"...The following day Dorothy informed us that the hospital could find nowhere that would take Alex and that his insurance carrier had refused to pay for any further inpatient care at the Lutheran General Hospital.

It appears that, as a consequence, he was discharged from that hospital despite his precarious position and that of his carers. It is our opinion that Alex's tragic death reflects the abject failings of a medical system that has

no effective answer to the autism crisis."

Anne Dachel, Media

What did Ne'eman mean..."Lack of help is no excuse for murder"?
It sounds like the prosecution's argument.

"Lack of help" covers up and dramatically trivializes what was done in Alex's case. This boy was brutalized by a system that will not admit what autism is doing to our children.

Imagine if a child with cancer were admitted to a hospital and instead of treating the real medical problem, doctors simple strapped him to a bed for two weeks.

No one was interested in what was making Alex act out in pain.

Anne Dachel, Media

First of all .. the mom and care-taker of Alex Spourdalakis expected their beloved child would receive "treatment" that would greatly diminish the tremendous pain he was obviously suffering .. instead .. they were forced to witness what amounted to the "torture" of Alex .. who was left lying in restraints .. writing in excruciating pain .. for TWELVE days.

Secondly, the lawyer for both mom and care-taker is considering an "insanity" defense. Should that happen .. the obvious "legal" question for the jury then becomes:

Were there certifiable mitigating circumstances that drove these two obvious loving care-takers to commit an act of insanity .. such as .. being forced to witness their loved one suffering excruciating pain that went untreated for 12 days?

In any event, I wouldn't want to be a member of that hospital staff or administration .. under oath and threat of perjury .. testifying to what they did or did not do to treat Alex as humanely as he deserved.

In a court of law .. the staff and administration ought not be allowed to protect themselves from exposing the despicable treatment they afforded Alex .. by claiming to do so under vigorous cross-examination would somehow violate Alex's "privacy" rights.

As for Ari Ne'eman .. no one promotes an .. "ideology that preaches people with disabilities are better off dead".

What people do promote .. and what Mr. Ne'eman callously disregards .. is a "humane" ideology that expects people with disabilities to be "treated" .. not "tortured" .. when forced endure untreated excruciating pain.

Dan, The fact that Lancet paper in 1998 had 11 coauthors in addition to Andrew Wakefield is NEVER mentioned - in fact it is concealed by the mainstream media who repeat their lies that Wakefield was "discredited" and his work was "fraudulent."

These 11 other coauthors were the finest doctors and laboratory experts in the UK, focused on the bowel diseases of children. It is inconceivable all these professionals conspired to author a phony medical paper that took years to bring their facts together.

What is surely true is the Medical-Pharma Industry lynched Wakefield (and his coauthors) using the despicable Brian Deer as their hangman. And the American press conveniently and deliberately and shamelessly acts as if Andrew Wakefield was a renegade Lone Ranger.

david burd

I suppose Ne'eman is instructively absurd and pompous. Instead of acting as an all purpose autism mouth he needs to attend to what happens when someone is non-verbal, desperately sick and in pain, the system (of which Ne'eman has become a pillar) turns a blind eye, dumps on and scapegoats parent and carer till they have no solutions, are most likely destitute and have no further recourse to any help.

Instead of pontificating could he please explain what he would do? Let's hear it now.