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Dr. Daniel Neides, the medical director and COO of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, penned a fiercely anti-science and anti-vac opinion piece. There are, at least, two big problems with that. First, that he believes anything that he said and disseminated, without authorization from the hospital, the myths to the general public. The second, that Cleveland.com casually published the piece on Friday afternoon, lending authority and a megaphone to the nonsense.
In the rambling piece, which reads like a chain letter or a sub-Reddit conspiracy screed, Neides tees off on a wide range of debunked theories, including a nod to the fear-mongering and disproven link between vaccines and autism and a half-dozen or so other generally misinformed opinions — again, from the mouth of a Cleveland Clinic doctor through the region’s largest media outlet.
The post quickly spread over the weekend and attracted nearly universal scorn from the medical community. The Clinic issued a blunt statement in the aftermath:
“Cleveland Clinic is fully committed to evidence-based medicine. Harmful myths and untruths about vaccinations have been scientifically debunked in rigorous ways. We completely support vaccinations to protect people, especially children who are particularly vulnerable. Our physician published his statement without authorization from Cleveland Clinic. His views do not reflect the position of Cleveland Clinic and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”
Neides, for his part, apologized and retracted his statements, though they remain online in the original article.
A Plain Dealer article posted on Cleveland.com (the website) about the behind-the-scenes action at Cleveland.com (the company/publication) attempted to clarify how it got published in the first place.
Neides has been blogging on Cleveland.com’s South Euclid-Lyndhurst community blog for about two years on a variety of wellness-related topics.
His most recent column, posted on Friday afternoon, quickly sparked outrage when it was discovered by the medical and scientific community on social media sites. The column was removed briefly from the site Sunday afternoon, though it’s not clear if Neides, who had privileges to log into and alter content on the community blog, or someone else removed it. It was restored shortly after.
Which isn’t all that clear.
We’ve reached out to Cleveland.com for further information and will update you if/when they respond.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2017.
As a doctor he shouldn’t have used this outlet to question vaccine schedules and links to autism (due to mass hysteria caused by patients that trust him because he’s a doctor), but I think it’s totally fair to question additives in food and other chemicals in our environment.
As a parent of a young child, I’ll admit I was nervous about vaccinating our child with additives like mercury and formaldehyde. I understand it’s in very small and safe doses, but why does it need to be in there at all? We did as much research as we could, consulted with our doctor, and trusted the vaccinations, but I think it’s fair to question what the authorities tell us.
I’m not trying to be a conspiracy theorist here, but just because something is legal and “safe” doesn’t mean there aren’t unintended consequences and harmful side effects that we will discover later on (see pesticides and herbicides).
It’s the similar discussion with GMO foods. There are many positives to the idea of developing foods that can grow in a variety of environments and may aid with global hunger, but we just don’t know the long term consequences of eating a GMO crop. Science says it’s safe, but do we really KNOW the long term effects? Why try to prevent GMO labeling if it’s completely safe? That’s a side conversation but one the doctor was alluding to from what I could tell?
Vince,
I think you were a little heavy handed with your criticism of the doctor’s blog post. Reading your article I expected to find wild accusations linking to anti vac lifestyle. What i found was a blog decrying the link between capitalism and our health care system… Unnecessary additives in our food and medicine… and possibly delaying some vaccination schedules for small children. All very moderate and sensible ideas. Nothing “conspiracy” worthy. I dont work at the clinic so this is not a comment on the ethics of his post. People in the medical community, could there possibly be a better, less toxic way to vaccincate?
Agreed Reggie. The blog post wasn’t nearly as conspiracy laden as this piece suggests or the hyper overreaction in other arenas. As I said above, the doctor probably shouldn’t have used this open forum to question links to autism as it can lead to hysteria, but I think his general points are worth considering.
we MUST stop this ability of people to speak freely! At least not until they have had their ideas vetted and approved by others first..
He must have studied the issue while flipping through the nude photos of Playboy playmate Jenny McCarthy.
I would guess he is correct about how he felt after getting vaccinated, and I believe that was the source of his grouchiness toward vaccines. He was quickly able to find out what was in it, which most of us can’t do, and quick to blame his mini-flu on the formaldehyde. And its legit to question whether babies need HPV shots. His mistake was to publish in the name of the Clinic.
They overreacted. His article was about nothing but common sense.
Honestly, this article by Vince reads like a paid attack on Dr. Neides. My opinion is that if you don’t possess the qualifications to directly question or disprove a professional, stick to unbiased reporting of facts you can prove. I don’t care who you cite, if you’re going to write with attitude, you need to be on the same level as your opponent.
Well, how many vaccines would be too many? If you calculate out from the introduction of vaccines until now, then extrapolate into the future, we could have literally 1,000’s of vaccines in a few decades! How much is too much, and how will we know? The Cleveland Clinic’s response is best characterized as MEDICAL FASCISM, and blatant CENSORSHIP! And, I would like to see a detailed discussion, by a couple of other commenters, above, as to exactly *what* they think “hysteria” actually *IS*. So-called “hysteria” USED TO BE a (supposedly) valid medical diagnosis, not too long ago. But I doubt that’s what they mean…
How unfortunate that Scene magazine would throw in their unwarranted bias in to this reporting. Scene should report on the real issue on vaccines:
1. Why are they held harmless from Civil Suit (1986 Federal Law). Our US and Ohio Constitutions guarantee every citizen a fair jury trial with a jury of our peers. The reason the founders were so adamant about this right was just this very case. Where high powers impose their will on the citizens through corrupt government collusion. This 1986 law IS Unconstitutional. And rightfully so.
2. Why are vaccines not evaluated for Carcinogenic, Mutagenic and Infertility affects (Sect 13 of insert). These are the very high risk issues that the Doctor is concerned about. Combining a lack of testing/evaluating for the very thing that can permanently damage you, and being held harmless is the definition of corruption.
3. How did the World Health Organization get away with inserting an infertility agent into a Tetanus vaccine in Kenya two years ago. That can happen here.
In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that vaccines are unavoidably unsafe. We need less medical censorship/fasicm and more discussion about this particular medicine whose makers enjoy total legal immunity to any harm that comes to those who use it.
Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come
when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict
the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to
others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a Special
privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom.
Benjamin Rush
First do no harm.
Looks like Vince is stuck in the early 90s. Lots of woke folks here, good to see. Feel bad for Vince though, it’s really just the nano bots in his blood stream (from his recent flu vax from CVS) spreading the propoganda. Vaccine 101 folks, MMR is causing autism, the CDC covered it up. Google it. Fight the power.
I had measles….no lasting effects, but certainly that was possible. It is irresponsible to motivate parents to resist vaccines as these diseases are reappearing.
It is not a free speech issue. This man is a doctor in a highly visible position inside one of the nation’s best hospitals. He was addressing the general public, not fellow scientists. The harm associated with failing to vaccinate is not negligible.