Of charges filed, chelation, and the temptations of a single cause theory of autism
Pennsylvania state officials have filed disciplinary charges against Dr. Roy E. Kerry in the August 2005 death of Abubakar Tariq Nadama at the doctor’s clinic, Advanced Integrative Medicine Center in Portersville, PA. Nadama was undergoing his third chelation treatment as a remedy for autism.
The Department of State alleges, among other things, that Kerry prescribed an IV push - meaning the drugs are administered in one dose intravenously - despite warnings that this method can be lethal. He also prescribed the wrong formula of the drug, officials said.
The six counts filed against Kerry on September 8th include “engaging in unprofessional conduct and breaching the standard of care.” If the PA State Board of Medicine finds any of the charges to be true, Kerry could have his medical licence “revoked, suspended or restricted,” and faces fines of up to $10,000 for each violation.
The use of chelation therapy to treat autistic children is based on the theory that a child has become autistic via poisoning from heavy metals, such as lead. As noted in Med Page Today (August 26, 2005) in an article entitled British Boy Dies After Chelation Therapy for Autism by writer Katrina Woznicki:
“It’s very tempting for parents to look for explanations and treatments that are relatively straightforward.” — Dena Hofkosh, M.D., developmental behavioral pediatrician, Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh (about 35 miles south of Portersville)
If there is a single cause for autism then (one might posit), there would be some one thing—-some straightforward remedy or treatment or approach that everyone could follow for every autistic child, instead of the spectrum of approaches that help children on all parts of the autism spectrum. It might be concluded that, if autism is caused by mercury poisoning from the MMR vaccine, it can be cured by getting the mercury out of a child’s body—-or that, if autism is caused by emotionally frigid mothers who are poor parents, it can be cured by getting the mother out of the child’s environment. Faced with too any different theories, hypotheses, treatment protocol, educational methodologies, and just plain information, it is perhaps no wonder that families might seek a simple explanation and a straightforward package of treatment.
It is perhaps no wonder, but it does not seem to have been the right one for Abubakar Tariq Nadama.
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5 opinions for Of charges filed, chelation, and the temptations of a single cause theory of autism
David N. Andrews MEd (Dec 2006)
Oct 31, 2006 at 5:00 pm
I read the new report on this poor lad’s death.
I am really very unimpressed with his father even going along with this chelation ‘therapy’. It really is unbelievable, to me, that someone with his training would consider this path.
Sorry if this seems unsympathetic, but - as a medical practitioner - Nadama should have known well the dangers involved in chelation when it’s done for the right reasons, let alone when it’s done for the wrong ones. He was prepared to take a very serious risk with his child, one that could have had fatal repercussions for the child (if the initial premise for that action turned out to be incorrect - as it in fact did!). To do such is, as far as the law in England and Wales is concerned, ‘reckless endangerment’ (in the legal vernacular).
I can understand wanting to do something to help one’s child: I have a child of my own who is autistic herself, but there is no way that I would consent to anything that would put her life in any sort of danger in order to save myself from feeling that I was doing nothing to help her.
As it is, I’m doing the job of a professional psychologist with regard to her, since there is nobody here in Finland with this specialist training that I have. Sadly, nobody’s paying me for doing this job, but the local school psychologist attached to her school is less than useless (as most Finnish school psychologists are). With a background in educational psychology, I am determined that any educational methods used with her have a sound basis, and do not strip her of her dignity as a human being. And I can’t help feeling that Nadama should have used his expertise in general medicine (his MB BS degrees) to the same ends for his son, rather than go off hunting for a different child ‘within’ the one he lost. There is no different child in there with autistic children: that child is who you get.
About time really that autism was well and truly (by law if necessary) removed from the clutches of an over-active medical profession and placed where all developmental issues belong: with education and psychology. Might sound a bit partisan, but it does reduce the risk of deaths like Abubakar’s from continuing.
Autism Vox » Vaccines and Autism in India
Dec 3, 2006 at 3:42 am
[…] It seems to me that the “ban” referred to here is on the use of the mercury-based preservative thimerasol in vaccines, rather than the vaccines themselves. The Tehelka article also notes that chelation—”detoxification of heavy metals present in the system and in the brain”—has been proven to be “the most effective treatment to limit the disability caused by autism.” Again, while some parents in the US have claimed that their children have greatly improved due to chelation, not everyone has found this to be the case (this would be my husband and I; highly structured and individualized teaching of our son Charlie has been especially effective, in his case; a child died last year due while undergoing chelation treatment). […]
Autism Vox » Turning a Negative Into a Positive
Apr 17, 2007 at 2:10 am
[…] specific names of the two children—one of whom was Abubakar Tariq Nadama , who died in August 2005—are not referred […]
Autism Vox » What’s breaking news about autism?
Apr 28, 2007 at 12:04 am
[…] chelation “ineffective at best and dangerous, even potentially deadly, at worst” (Abubakar Tariq Nadama, who died in August of 2005 after receiving chelation treatment in western Pennsylvania, is not […]
Doctor Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Abubakar Tariq Nadama
Aug 22, 2007 at 7:24 pm
[…] Dr. Roy Eugene Kerry has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Abubakar Tariq Nadama. Two years ago, the 5-year-old autistic boy went into cardiac arrest while undergoing chelation therapy in Dr. Kerry’s office at the Advanced Integrative Medicine Center in Portersville, Pennsylvania. Notes today’s WXPI News (Pittsburgh): The receptionist at Kerry’s Greenville office said he was too busy treating patients to come to the phone. […]
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