Antivaxxer Mark Geier has license revoked in Maryland

I first saw this on Bad Astronomy, so I'll use that for my link. The blog has a link to the actual order removing the licensure

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/05/antivaxxer-mark-geier-has-license-revoked-in-maryland/

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The Maryland State Board of Physicians reviewed nine cases of autistic children seen by Geier, of which he treated seven. Of those nine, the Board found he misdiagnosed six of them. He (mis)diagnosed them with "precocious puberty", a medical condition where kids have extremely early onset of puberty. Why would he do such a thing? Well, this condition can be treated with Lupron, a drug which lowers testosterone (it’s used to chemically castrate adult men). Geier happens to think Lupron can also help autism — despite there being no evidence at all that’s the case — which makes his diagnosis very suspect. It implies strongly that he used the precocious puberty diagnosis as an excuse to prescribe the drug.

By the way, Lupron costs $5000 – $6000 a month to administer. The side effects can be severe as well, including seizures, and it’s known that autistic children are prone to seizures. That’s why the Board wrote that Geier’s treatment "exposed the children to needless risk of harm, " (pp 12 – 13). As far as his medical expertise, the Board also wrote that Geier’s "assessment and treatment of autistic children as described herein, however, far exceeds his qualifications and expertise" (p. 13). That dry assessment does nothing to convey the horror I felt reading the Board’s document, though. In several cases, he didn’t even diagnose the children in person.

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And the editorialization that I wholeheartedly agree with:
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I’m very glad to see this happen. So many alt-med promoters can at least claim caveat emptor, but when it comes to antivaxxers, the emptores are children. This puts the lives of kids directly at risk, and indirectly the lives of many, many others.
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Giving Lupron to young boys? WTF? He shouldn't just have his license pulled. He should be prosecuted. I can't imagine the effects of Lupron on pre-pubescent boys, but it cannot be a good thing.

The guy is a monster. Hopefully, we'll see other states follow suit followed by rumblings of either civil suit or prosecution.

to use Lupron in children, but I can also imagine that powerful hormone suppressing drug causing huge problems for pre-pubescent children. I haven't looked for any studies on its use, but jeez...how could a physician interfere with hormones in that way without a really clear indication for the drug's use?

It causes enough problems in elderly men who get it for prostate cancer, as I saw with my father-in-law. My wife had to take it for endometriosis, as well, but for children? Just WTF?

As he believed, for no scientific reason, it would help with autism.

As I said, the guy's a monster.