MMR row doctor faces GMC

Dr Andrew Wakefield, who sparked national controversy over the MMR vaccine, said he had "absolutely not" been in breach of his position in helping a mother who asked his advice.

He is appearing before the General Medical Council (GMC) in central London charged with serious professional misconduct in relation to his research on MMR, bowel disease and autism. He and several colleagues published a paper in 1998 suggesting a link, which led MMR uptake rates to take a dramatic fall.

Following the publication of an earlier 1995 paper on a possible link between a measles vaccine and inflammatory bowel disease, Dr Wakefield said he received several calls from parents.

One, referred to as Mrs 2, told him her child had regressed into autism following the MMR jab. She also told him her child had "terrible bowel problems" which she believed were related to the autism.

Dr Wakefield said this "made a great deal of sense" to him as a gastroenterologist because of a well-known link between the gut and the brain.

"The story was compelling and certainly merited attention," he said. "Mrs 2 said to me that she was in contact with many parents who had exactly the same experience. Their children had developed chronic bowel problems and autistic regression often following MMR, but not necessarily, and that they believed the two were linked."

Dr Wakefield told the GMC he advised Mrs 2 to ask her GP for a referral to Professor John Walker-Smith at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

Asked by his solicitor, Kieran Coonan QC, if he was in breach of his position at this time, Dr Wakefield said "absolutely not". He added: "I think if I had not given her that advice, if I had not responded in the way I did, then this panel would have every reason to have me before it.

"It was my duty as a physician and as a human being to respond to the plight of this mother, and if I could point her in the direction of someone who could help her, that was my absolute obligation."