Last December, Cynthia Standifer killed her adopted son, Rasheed Michael Standifer, who had intellectual disabilities. According to the May 22nd Enquirer (Cincinnati), Standifer injected large doses of morphine into her son and then also injected herself with the drug and was found on December 26. Last Wednesday, May 21st, Standifer was given the minimum sentence of three years by a judge who “praised her for adopting a disabled child and caring for him for two decades.” More from the Enquirer:
Standifer, a nurse, poisoned her son – who had the mental capacity of an 8-year-old – because she feared he soon …read more

The Pathophilia blog looks carefully at IRB Approval of Geier Autism Study: Yes or No?—–this would be the new study on thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders which lists David A. Geier and his father, Dr. Mark Geier, as two of the three co-authors. Aside from noting conflicts of interest, Pathophilia notes:
In a February 2004 letter to the IRB administrator of Kaiser of Northern California, the then Acting Associate Director for Science of the National Immunization Program at the CDC, Jeanne Santoli, MD, warned Kaiser of “potential breaches in confidentiality and execution of analyses that were not approved in advance,” when Mark …read more

There’s a new study published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences that reports an association between increased mercury (Hg) exposure from thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders (go here for a pdf file). The study has three co-authors, Heather A. Young, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and David A. Geier and his father, Dr. Mark Geier. The Geiers have frequently been consultants in “vaccine-biologic cases before the no-faulty NVICP [National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program] and in civil litigation,” and Dr. Geier has also been an “expert witness,” as …read more

That’s how Dr. Steven Novella refers to various alternative medical practices used by parents on their autistic children in the May 8th Neurologica blog. Among those practices is chelation, in which medications are administered to remove “heavy metals” from a person’s body and thereby to “detoxify” his or her system. Dr. Novella discusses the recent dropping of charges against Dr. Roy Kerry, who was accused of causing the death of 5-year-old Abubakar Tariq Nadama. In 2005 Nadama went into cardiac arrest after undergoing chelation therapy with Dr. Kerry. Dr. Novella not only points out the dangers of chelation, …read more