By the CNN Wire Staff
London, England -- The doctor who sparked fears that a childhood vaccine was linked to autism has been barred from practicing medicine after his study was discredited, Britain's General Medical Council announced Monday.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield "repeatedly breached fundamental principles of research medicine," a council disciplinary panel found, adding that "his actions in this area alone were sufficient to amount to serious professional misconduct".
The British medical journal The Lancet, which published a paper from Wakefield in 1998, retracted it in February.
Wakefield has 28 days to appeal or his name will be "erased from the Medical Register," the medical council said in a statement.
He apparently did not fight disbarment, the council said. No evidence was offered on Wakefield's behalf, the council said, and "no arguments or pleas in mitigation" were addressed to the panel.
The council could have given him a lesser punishment, such as disbarring him for a year, but it ruled that his conduct was so dishonest that temporary suspension was not appropriate. Link
