Autism Vox

Trial of Karen McCarron: Day 8—-Closing Statements and Jury Deliberation Begins

by Kristina Chew, PhD on January 16th, 2008

On January 14th, drug company Wyeth said that a court in Maryland has rejected “some expert witnesses from testifying that exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines can cause autism and rejected the compound’s link to autism”; the case in question involved an alleged vaccine injury. More than a few mothers I know have had their amalgam fillings replaced because of concerns about the mercury content: On January 15th, an EU scientific committee stated such fillings “pose no health risk to the human nervous system.” This is only one measure that parents have taken out of fears of a mercury-autism link.

“Mercury in Retrograde” was the subtitle of the paper published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry in which authors Robert Schechter, MD, MSc, and Judith K. Grether, PhD, reported that exposure to thimerosal, a preservative that contains ethylmercury, during childhood is not a primary cause of autism. The authors do not directly explain what they mean by “mercury in retrograde”; as retrograde means to “move backwards” or a “direction contrary to the usual one,” I gather that they mean that mercury, contrary to what some autism activists claim (if one is an autism activist who believes that mercury, in the form of thimerosal, causes autism), is moving “back out of the picture” as a cause of autism.

And it’s about time. There are many other pressing issues that should be at the center of discussions in the autism community—the possibility of a mercury-autism link has taken center stage for too long.

As more scientific studies are published refuting such a link, proponents of the belief that mercury causes autism steadfastly continue to argue that other sources—-”China’s coal-spewing power plants,” smoke from crematories—are sending dangerous levels of mercury into the environment. And some (as in this natural history of autism) will continue to post dire pronouncements to the contrary, and look for sources of mercury and chemical exposure in anyone with an autism diagnosis, and make claims about vaccine injuries, and try to make the case that autism is really mercury poisoning.

Indeed: “’It is not at all easy getting into orbit around Mercury,’” said Marilyn Lindstrom, NASA’s program scientist for a $446 million mission to fly around the planet closest to the sun and take more than a thousand photographs and measurements, as reported in the January 15th New York Times. While Lindstrom refers to the planet Mercury, I think it possible to revise her statement to refer to the curious sway that mercury has held in discussions about autism. When it comes to talking about autism and its causes these days, it has not been at all easy to get around talking about mercury. And it is time to refocus the discussion about autism research and treatment towards thinking about how to best help autistic persons today.

The obsessive talk about a mercury-autism link keeps the focus on autism research on the causes of autism and on one cause in particular. More and more, such a focus seems to be uninterested or at least indifferent to the needs of autistic children who are becoming adolescents and teenagers and to autistic adults who will need lifelong support in employment, housing, and more. The constant attempts to redefine autism as “mercury poisoning” are in serious danger of deflecting attention from the every day concerns of families witah autistic children and of autistic adults, and come close to denying the real and pressing needs of many of us in the autism community. And, too often, proponents of the belief that a vaccine or something in a vaccine causes autism distract themselves by imagining conspiracies and making petty references to individuals whose views are opposite to theirs.

Whatever their views about what causes autism or how best to teach autistic children, families with autistic persons have pressing, and often highly stressful, day to day concerns and are in need of practical solutions and supports, to teach a minimally verbal adolescent to tell you that he feels an anxiety attack arising or that he might need to use the bathroom in a few minutes when you are out in public. Our first priority should be to take care of those who already have autism and to think of how best to help them achieve their full potential and to support their families.

Mercury is in retrograde. If I may invoke the planetary analogy once again: It is time to turn our eyes away from the sky and look back down to earth, to the autistic children and adults who are here with us, right now, right beside us.

Closing statements were heard at 9am today in the trial of Karen McCarron, the former pathologist who is charged with suffocating her three-year-old autistic daughter, Katherine “Katie” McCarron on May 13, 2006. On Monday, psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen testified that Karen McCarron was suffering from a psychotic disorder when she killed her daughter. Yesterday, another psychiatrist, Dr. Terry Killian, testified the opposite as reported in the Peoria Journal-Star:

“People who are rational and in control of their senses do stupid things at times,” including murder, Killian said. “At that moment, they were angry enough to do something stupid.”

Killian said he reviewed the hundreds of pages of documents in McCarron’s file and has interviewed her but never found any evidence that she was insane or suffered any type of psychosis before or after the killing.

“Dr. McCarron was not affected by a psychotic condition,” Killian said. “She knew what she was doing. She was stressed, yes, but she was able to make a rational decision.”

Prosecutors say McCarron was completely aware of her actions and has never been diagnosed as psychotic by anyone but Glenmullen.

“There’s nothing in the police interview, there’s nothing in the 500 pages I’ve read to support she was delusional,” Killian said Tuesday.

Karen McCarron is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of obstructing justice and one count of concealment of a homicidal death. Her attorneys have entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. According to the Peoria Journal-Star,

Jurors will have four options to choose from on each of the charges: guilty, not guilty, guilty but mentally ill or not guilty by reason of insanity, said Assistant Tazewell County State’s Attorney Kirk Schoenbein.

The sentencing range for first-degree murder is between 20 and 60 years, Schoenbein said. But because Katie was younger than 12 years old, that sentencing range increases to between 60 and 100 years.

These are some other posts by autism bloggers about the trial; if you have written one, please leave a link in the comments section or email me.

• Moi on McCarron, mental illness, and the penal system
• Ari Ne’eman, President of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, on phony ransom notes can have real consequences in Talking Justice
• For Katie, Never Forgotten is by Kassiane
• Niksmom Maternal Instincts writes that words cannot do justice.
• Kev (it is very good to hear your voice) at Left Brain / Right Brain posts Dear Katie
• SL at Stop. Think. Autism calls shame on the media (again).
• 29 Marbles references a post he wrote back in May of 2006 while we wait.
• Ed posts a short video remembering Katie.

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POSTED IN: Crime, Legal Issues, Psychiatry