The Heart vs. the Brain in Vaccine Court
June 12, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Orac at Respectful Insolence reports on the Autism Omnibus, the vaccine court hearings that began yesterday in Washington, D.C., with the parents of 12-year-old Michelle Cedillo wheeling in their non-verbal, self-injurious daughter. This “tug on the heartstrings” suggests the strategy the plaintiffs’ attorney will use; Orac comments:
Only the most cold-hearted would fail to agree with Special Master George Hastings, Jr., one of the three Special Masters who will preside over the hearings, when he characterized Michelle’s case as “tragic.” Certainly, the Cedillos have a challenge far greater than that of the vast majority of parents face when raising a child. However, just because they have come to believe that vaccines are somehow responsible for their child’s plight and just because we feel sorry for them do not constitute a reason to conclude that vaccines did, in fact, cause Michelle’s plight. We can feel sympathy for Michelle and admiration for their determination to take care of her, but that does not mean that we have to accept their pseudoscientific explanation for how their daughter got the way she is. In my mind, perhaps the most sadly ironic thing about the whole vaccine/autism hysteria is that it’s a huge distraction away from real research elucidating the pathophysiology of autism that might be of value in helping children like Michelle. It’s also an enormous distraction away from putting effort and resources into services that might assist families like the Cedillos deal with the day-to-day struggles of taking care of their daughter. [my emphasis]
Journalist Arthur Allen, author of Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver provides another observation about the lawyers’ tactics in his report on Day 1 of Autism in Court:
With their body language, the lawyers for the claimants and the defense in the case reflected what has always been true about the vaccine-cause-autism theory: one side appeals to the heart, the other to the brain. The claimants’ lawyers, Tom Powers of Portland and Sylvia Chin-Caplan of Boston, spoke with inflection and warmth and turned to face the audience on the courtroom. The government’s lawyer, the colorless-seeming Vince Matanoski, spoke to the special masters—the judges who will decide the case.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers recognize the difference that the presence of one autistic child, of a disabled child in a public place can make. I know this too well: People talk about autism as an “invisible disability” but now, when we talk into the grocery store, the library, a subway with Charlie, I can sense the signals in the crowd: There’s something about this boy. Charlie can walk, talk some, and is no longer self-injurious (which does not mean he might not do those behaviors again; every day we try to teach him other strategies to use instead). People notice that there is a disabled—cognitively? intellectually? neurologically?—-person among them (which is not to say there are not others)—after that, their usual response is to shrug at most, and then to go back to whatever they are doing. I do think that, the more people get used to seeing autistic children who don’t “pass for normal” in public, the better, for them and for Charlie.
Others who know the power that the presence, or the photographed presence, that an autistic child can make are any of your national or local autism organizations whose websites and brochures always feature a smiling, and certainly a cute, child. (My own blog about my son that I used to write is itself stocked full of such photos.) One also sees photographs of children who are not smiling—who may be crying and even in “full tantrum mode”; such photos might be more likely found illustrating a newspaper article about the difficulties of life with autism. All of these photos, and the accounts—brief or not—-of the child in the photo are, too, meant to tug at the heartstrings; to appeal to the heart and gut more than the brain.
And maybe this is why, despite numerous and repeated statements by scientists that there is no valid evidence to support a link between vaccines or anything in vaccines to autism, the vaccine theory could prevail. When it comes to autism, the heart has a way of leading rather than the head, whatever the truth, whatever the real verdict of science.
The fundamental problem with this case is that autism is not caused by vaccination. Destroying the pharmaceutical industry to compensate people with autism is like burning witches to stop an epidemic.
“Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.” —- the late phiosopher Richard Rorty.
Hi Kristina
I disagree profoundly with this statement
“And maybe this is why, despite numerous and repeated statements by scientists that there is no valid evidence to support a link between vaccines or anything in vaccines to autism, the vaccine theory could prevail. “
It is different my opinion about what “prevail” is. I consider , now more than ever, that vaccines can affect very negatively autistic children- or children with a particular combination of polymorphisms, nutritional, biochemical and metabolic differences- many of them from birth and probably related to genetics.
The supposed “evidence” is from epidemiology and from EBV, who has been extremely criticised in conditions strongly related to individual genetics. The epidemiology published- against and favoring- has in general and in particular a lot of non-analyzed confounders, especialy looking at the WHOLE combination of immune insults. Even more the genetic epidemiology analysis has not been done , the epidemiology of autism is in “its infancy” and there is no way to know the real numbers today and before. Under all these considerations there is no valuable and well done evidence to discard more than CAUSAL only relations- and even in this case the epi is many times very ill- analyzed to have such conclussions. Validity depends of the quality of the evidence,. The quality of the epi evidence against the link is as bad as the quality of epi evidence favoring the link. In a final reading, they are almost useless, except in the case to show the lack of validity of DDS data or other sources to have conclusions on autism.
Otherwise, what remains are beliefs, but not evidence. Even more, the clinical picture in autism at the biochemical /metabolic point of view is so far of being known that even the beliefs have been constructed with very partial published incomplete evidence.
What I consider is important to know if there is biological plausible and probable mechanism through what the parents think happened, could happen to her child. What is the truth FOR her to give the proper justice.
Evidence-based medicine
Quote:
Proponents of evidence-based medicine have clearly acknowledged one aspect of this gap: the part that requires the consideration of values, both patient and professional, prior to arriving at medical decisions. Not as clearly recognized, however, is the gap that exists due to the fact that empirical evidence is not directly applicable to individual patients, as the knowledge gained from clinical research does not directly answer the primary clinical question of what is best for the patient at hand.
Quote:
Clinicians, then, need to incorporate knowledge from 5 distinct areas into each medical decision: (1) empirical evidence, (2) experiential evidence, (3) physiologic principles, (4) patient and professional values, and (5) system features. The relative weight given to each of these areas is not predetermined, but varies from case to case
and in my experience THIS is the main issue in autism and the concomitant medical problems.
Medicine and Political Science
Analysis of EBM
When it comes to autism, the heart has a way of leading rather than the head, whatever the truth, whatever the real verdict of science”
NO.
The truth will be known probably in the future
but can not be presented as known based on personal beliefs-even if these beliefs are supported by the actual EBM/epidemiology- that is extremely partial in the analysis when terms to autism.
For the TRUTH and for the SCIENCE, I have not seen a real commitment more than to solve as quick as possible these issues.
What is being here discussed is JUSTICE. There are several truths, depending to who you ask: the parents, the lawyers, me , you , someone else. And the TRUTH can be – and probably will be- different to all in details but probably will have elements of several.
And no, I do not think that the heart and the brain are in conflict here. What you are seeing are lawyers strategies and this is their job.
We need scientists/researchers committed with the brain and analyzing with their minds -but considering with the heart what is told to them as anecdotic evidence to know what elements of the truth they can analyze properly designing the proper questions to propose the proper trials to answer the right questions- that before you do not know what they are.
And this , until now, has not been done with enough care and analysis to have a conclussion.
If mercury is the deadliest substance on Earth (after plutonium), why would anyone let a doctor inject them with it?
Makes no sense. None.
But Big Pharma is not about sense, it is about dollars, a trillion or so, in the long run. Like this: $1,000,000,000,000.
And Big Pharma doesn’t mind throwing a little girl in a wheelchair “under the bus” if it keeps their CEOs eating lobster bisque, at 35,000 feet, in their private jets, while the rest of us try and make it through the broken-down phone tree at our local “doc in the box.”
The special masters of the US Court of Federal Claims deal with heart-rending situations on a daily basis, including claims concerning kids who died. George Hastings has dealt with worse cases than Cedillo. He may have sympathy for the Cedillos, but it will not influence his decision if his track record is any indication.
What if the first child whose case is among the 4800 had been a child whose disability and autism seemed less “visible”?
Science is not about justice, or fairness, or rights or feelings. It is a method, a process that when executed properly sometimes (certainly not always) leads to conclusions. And the science published in peer-reviewed journals indicate that vaccines do not cause autism, and thimerosal does not cause autism. I can sympathize with the familys who are frightened and angry that their child has autism. But it isn’t the vaccines, or evil spirits, or bad air. OK I don’t really know about the bad air…
It is alarming that there are those so invested in the vaccine-mercury causation that when further studies are published casting serious doubt on their claims, these individuals become more entrenched and dogmatic.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Water cracks the stone.
Kristina, well written. Hope Charlie’s ready for the summer?
livewell.
I am very new to this but i will tell you this. My son was typically developing till his MMR shots when he had a reaction. You publishing from this group and that group. But what seems to be left out of those articles is how much are they or there company getting for that article or what grant will they pick up next year for it. People and groups if feel that dont believe their is a link come to my home and watch my video and week before and a month after. You are welcome to look and the medical records. To me it makes no difference i am not sueing anyone and don’t plan to . BUT THIS HAS GOT TO STOP. Quit hurting our children. There are so many reactions that the doctors don’t tell you about nor do they want you to know. he is my first so i had no knowledge i felt the doctors would not lie it is safe and mandated which is not in California if you have beliefs to not vaccinate.
I wish them the best of luck in court because we need this to stop.
FACT:
In the years 2000-2002 Eli Lilly gave $1.6 mil in
political contributions (80% to republicans, $226,000
went to the National Republic Senatorial Campaign run by Bill Frist)
The major drug co’s contributed more than $30 mil to help elect allies to Congress
FACT:
Congressman Dan Burton discovered that some members
of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
that approve vaccines
• owned stock in the vaccine manufacturing firms
• owned patents for vaccines affected by their decisions
• sat on the Board of Drug companies
FACT:
The rise in autism, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, cancer and a whole spectrum of disorders rose dramatically in at the same rate and time as did multiple vaccines added to the schedule
FACT:
Eli Lilly produces stattera- a treatment for ADHD, disorder said to be caused by vaccines
SO DONT SAY VACCINES DONT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR CHILDREN THEY DO……….
Hi Heidi,
I hope your son is receiving the care and education he needs.
Vaccines have a great deal to do with our children – vaccines save lives, especially the lives are some of our most vulnerable citizens – children, and the elderly. And I agree that some vaccines have given some people horrible reactions, some resulting in death. But they do not cause autism. And yes, investigators who publish articles in peer-reviewed journals do disclose the funding of their studies.
Also, I am not a big fan of pharmaceutical companies and their multi million dollar advertising campaigns which eclipse their research budgets. But I am a fan of science and although far from perfect, I put my trust in it.
Hi
Well, the disclosure issue is not so clear:
Conflicts of interest
“And I agree that some vaccines have given some people horrible reactions, some resulting in death. But they do not cause autism”
But neither you or someone else has demonstrated that can not negatively affect susceptible children -genetically- to vaccinations.The CDC is enough worried about to plan a study of the relation of polymorphisms in genetics of the MHC with the answer to vaccines. The fields of developmental enzymology and mucosal immunity are being more and more studied, such as the topics of transport/excretion of toxic and essential elements in ASD. There are reported genetic links to the lack of excretion of several toxic elements and these polymorphisms have not been enough studied in autism (works of Dr Woods and others such as J Bressler).
I trust on science. But the science has been incomplete on the issue and epidemiology such as it has been done- against and favoring the link- has not demonstrated almost nothing because of the lack of a reliable way to know about the numbers of ASD people, now and before. We need genetic epidemiology- and that has not been done. The confounders to the epidemiology in Autism have not been correctly addressed. Even more , only the clinical studies can give some lignt.
MEanwhile, I am as always, alone to get the helo I need to detect/diagnose and treat the concomitant medical problems to ASD in my autistic son.
Hi Maria,
I’m sorry you are alone in your efforts to help your son and I wish you the best.
“…The rise in autism, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, cancer and a whole spectrum of disorders rose dramatically in at the same rate and time as did multiple vaccines added to the schedule. …”
Diabetes????
I’m sure all the refined sugars in our diet and rampant increase in obesity had nothing to do with that.
Joe
People 50, 100, 150 years ago and more must have been a lot healthier, it would seem…..
I think one point that has been made about Michelle was that she was only self-injurious when her gut problems were at their worst.
Krigsman showed a slide of bruises on her apparently, today, and said she probably hit herself because she was in such pain (I think the bruises are on the front of her thighs, her parents gave the news media a photo like that) .
When the gut pain goes away, he was saying, then the self-injury goes away. It’s part of their strategy to make it look like she suffered so because of vaccine damage. So maybe it’s not accurate to refer to her as self-injurious now?
Thanks for the clarification—-I wrote that after reading Arthur Allen’s post on Day 1 of the hearings. But based on what Krigsman says, I gues she is not supposed to be…..
There is something that has been nagging at me for a couple years now, maybe someone can help. I’ve read a few very credible-sounding accounts of children who were apparently normally-developing, and who, after getting the MMR, had a high fever, and sudden withdrawal.
These children get labeled autistic, but is it not possible that their condition – while resembling autism – is actually something else, a severe and very rare reaction to the vaccine? And that’s why we continue to be in a vaccine/autism muddle even after all evidence suggests no link?
I feel for these parents, as they’re made to feel like they’re crazy when it may be just as they say – normal baby, shot, reaction, withdrawal. It just may not be autism.
Does that make sense?
Hi Momma Steph
For me it makes sense; However, we need a lot of research to proof it as not only plausible but probable, even when there are clues about it
(anecdotical and from published evidence).
Hi
Dr Buie in several conferences presentations have shown evidences of the effects of GERD in self-injurious behavior in autism.
C,
Thank you for your kind thoughts and wish for my son.
And yes so vaccines do wonderful things and you are intitled to your opion as well as myself.
All i know is that my child did withdrawl in a way even indecribable.
But what i can tell you rather there is a weak gene to make the shot to have more effect or the shot itself, that is truely my belief.
To tell you the truth i do not feel we will ever not the truth there is to much at state. Lawsuits
injurys and all they need to be informed which was all my fault i did not do my homework. I trusted.
Heidi, this was not your fault. Even if you had “done your homework” your conclusions at the time could have been very similar to my own. And this brings up something so insidious about the entire vaccine/mercury crusade – it makes one feel like crap. Which is why I read Kristina’s blogs – I feel hopeful and empowered to help my child when I read about her adventures with Charlie.
C, I don’t know what to say——it’s a privilege for me to be able to share our adventures with Charlie with so many. Knowing that one is not walking on the long road along makes all the difference.
Heidi, Echoing C here—-none of this was any of our faults—not that I don’t think we can or should ever stop looking for answers!