Andrew Wakefield, the British gastroenterologist who sparked a worldwide scare over the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, has been found guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council.

In its summation of the case against Dr Wakefield the GMC fitness to practise panel concluded that erasing Dr Wakefield’s name from the medical register was “the only sanction that is appropriate to protect patients and is in the wider public interest, including the maintenance of public trust and confidence in the profession and is proportionate to the serious and wide-ranging findings made against him.”

Dr Wakefield now has 28 days to appeal against the judgment before he is officially struck off.

In January Dr Wakefield was found guilty of dishonesty and irresponsibility by the GMC, the UK’s regulatory body. The fitness to practise panel held that Dr …