Bioethicists offer $11,000 for Michelle Bachmann's medical proof on vaccine claim

Boy Wonder · Sep 15, 2011

A University of Minnesota bioethicist is offering $1,000 for medical proof that a womanâ€™s daughter suffered mental ******ation from the vaccine for human papillomavirus virus, a story that was told by Rep. Michele Bachmann after Mondayâ€™s debate.
Bachmann has come under fire from the medical community for suggesting the vaccination for the HPV virus, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer, is linked to mental illness.
Steven Miles, a U of M bioethics professor, said that heâ€™ll give $1,000 if the medical records of the woman from Bachmannâ€™s story are released and can be viewed by a medical professional.
His offer was upped by his former boss from the University of Minnesota, Art Caplan, who is now director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics. Caplan said he would match Miles' challenge and offered $10,000 for proof of the HPV vaccine victim.
â€œThese types of messages in this climate have the capacity to do enormous public health harm,â€ Miles said of why he made the offer. â€œThe woman, assuming she exists, put this claim into the public domain and itâ€™s an extremely serious claim and it deserves to be analyzed.â€
After attacking Texas Gov. Rick Perry over his vaccination executive order at Mondayâ€™s debate â€” which scored Bachmann points from debate pundits â€” the Minnesota Republican said a woman had told her that the HPV vaccine had caused her daughterâ€™s mental ******ation. Bachmann repeated the story on NBCâ€™s â€œTodayâ€ the next morning.
â€œThereâ€™s a woman that came up crying to me tonight after the debate,â€ Bachman told Fox News. â€œShe said her daughter was given that vaccine. She said her daughter suffered mental ******ation as a result of that vaccine.â€
The comment has sparked widespread criticism from the medical community, which has said Bachmann was stoking unfounded fears similar to claims made about vaccines and Autism. The Centers for Disease Control website makes no mention of mental illness in its â€œadverse eventsâ€ report on the HPV vaccine.
Bachmann somewhat walked back her comments Tuesday on Sean Hannityâ€™s radio show, where she said she had â€œno ideaâ€ if the HPV vaccine was linked to mental illness. â€œIâ€™m not a doctor, Iâ€™m not a scientist, Iâ€™m not a physician,â€ Bachmann said. â€œAll I was doing is reporting what this woman told me last night at the debate.â€
Miles and Caplan said they arenâ€™t expecting much from their offer, but they are prepared to pay should the Bachmann campaign provide the woman or if she comes forward independently.
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SOURCE: http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/129821498.html

Technic☆Kitty · Sep 17, 2011

Well from that I believe Bachmann is just making crap up. Honestly, it's not like the woman has to go nation-wide coverage or any coverage at all. A few scientists want to check to see if there is in fact a link between the vaccine and the "mental ******ation" and if they can't then the vaccine will continue to be produced causing further cases like this. If Bachmann is telling the truth then the woman needs to come forward. But in my opinion honestly . . . she's making the whole thing up trying to get publicity. Another friggin' publicity stunt by some stupid person who wants to make it big on the TV. I believe that if the woman doesn't come forward then there is no evidence ere go there is no case and the vaccine will continue to be manufactured.

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Bioethicists offer $11,000 for Michelle Bachmann's medical proof on vaccine claim

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