CBS's Sharyl Attkisson: This time, an apologist for murdering the disabled

Back in March 2013, Age of Autism, Lisa Joyce Goes of The Thinking Moms' Revolution, Jeanna Reed of Autism is Medical, and Polly Tommey and Andrew Wakefield of the Autism Media Channel made much of an hospitalized autistic teen, Alex Spourdalakis, using his health woes to advance their own agendas. 

Wakefield and Tommey shot videos of Alex,  showing him in 4-point restraints and semi-nude with a diaper barely concealing his genitalia.  These videos were posted to YouTube, presumably with the consent of Dorothy Spourdalakis. Autism Media Channel is seeking to develop an "autism reality show"; the videos made of Alex would presumably be part of the show.

After March 23,  these people -- so concerned-- appeared to drop the Spourdalakis family. Oh, there was that tear-jerking video by Wakefield on May 23, but actual published support? Nada. 

On June 9, Alex Spourdalakis was brutally murdered.  His mother and godmothers -- his caretakers -- have been charged.

Sharyl Attkisson, a CBS reporter,  has a history of reporting as if she is deep in the pockets of the anti-vaccine, autism-hating movement.  On August 30, 2013, in a report entitled, Film provides glimpse into life of autistic teen killed by his mother,  Attkisson became an apologist for accused killers Dorothy Spourdalakis and Jolanta Agata Skordzka, who had first drugged Alex Spourdalakis , and when he didn't die fast enough, stabbed him repeatedly and hacked his hand nearly off. 

The report featured clips from a documentary-in-progress, produced by something called Autism Media Channel, which is Polly Tommey's and Andrew Wakefield's enterprise for spreading fear,  uncertainty, and doubt about vaccines, and to denigrate autistics and spread fear of autism.  

The purpose of the CBS report was to paint Spourdalakis and Skordzka as victims of "the system". Attkisson quotes uncritically Tommey's claim:

"Dorothy was like any other autism mother, desperate to get help for her child," Polly Tommey, who is producing Alex's story for the channel, told CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson.

"His death didn't need to be," Tommey, who is the mother of an autistic son herself, said. "It was because there wasn't anything in place for him."

No, Dorothy Spourdalakis isn't like other autism mothers.  She refused appropriate services and medical care, demanded inappropriate medical care, and ultimately murdered her son after a week of planning the crime.

Notice what Tommey said.  She is not placing the responsiblity for Alex's death on his mother and godmother, but on a "lack of services."  How callous can you get?  It isn't even factual.

Mary Kay Betz, is the executive director of the Autism Society of Illinois, in March went to the hospital to offer support and services to Alex and his mother.

Betz recalled how she told Dorothy Spourdalakis that, although she couldn't promise her state money, she would do whatever she could to help get the support the mother needed.

Spourdalakis said all she wanted was an attorney.

Betz found a lawyer and thought the boy's mother was doing better. Then she learned that Alex had been stabbed to death in his bed.

According to a local report, Alex's 

Family members refused DCFS referrals to community-based services ranging from respite to psychological counseling, said Dave Clarkin, DCFS spokesman.

While he was alive, Alex Spourdalakis was used by anti-vaccine activists to promote their beliefs about vaccines and autism. Now he is again being used by the same individuals, with Sharyl Attkisson's collusion.

Text: ACTION ALERT!!!!! Watch this important story about the medical neglect of Alex Spourdalakis. Please call CBS viewer line at 212-975-3247 to let them know how much we appreciate this important factual coverage of Alex's journey to get the same health care as all other children. Alex's bowel disease was ignored and he was illegally restrained without doctor's orders!!!!!!!!!!! Share and retweet. Let Sharyl Attkisson know how much we needed this important story and how grateful we are that she covered the FACTS. Let CBS know we need MORE!!!!!!!

The Facebook post above is from a group of three women, Jill Rubolino, Amanda Lochbaum, and Jeanna Reed, who have formed a support group for parents called "Autism Is Medical". Back in 2009, the trio had planned to start a company flogging "autism recovery", but four years on, it is just a series of meetings.   Jeanna Reed visited with Dorothy Spourdalakis while Alex was hospitalized, and encouraged her to distrust Alex's care team and refuse the care Alex's medical team was planning.  

Text: Alex Spourdalakis. May he never be forgotten. May his story serve to remind us... we need each other. We can't do this alone. These children and their families need help/support. I never want to hear about another tragedy like this one as long as I live.

Please call CBS and tell them we appreciate autism related stories at 212-975-3247. We have to keep autism in the headlines. Keep telling your stories. We are making a difference!

The Facebook post above is by The Thinking Moms' Revolution, a group of autism-hating, anti-vaccine mothers who believe autism is vaccine injury.  Lisa Joyce Goes is a founding member, and was one of the people telling Dorothy Spourdalikis that her son could be "cured" of autism if only he recieved the correct treatment.

Text: thinkingmoms ‏@thinkingmomsrev 30 Aug

ACTION ALERT: Sharyl Atkinson has asked that we all call CBS and tell them that we appreciate autism related...

http://fb.me/Wl4wsz5m

Retweeted by Autism is Medical

More CBS News View this content on CBS News's website Behind the tragedy: Mother murders autistic son A new documentary produced by the Autism Media Channel shares a wrenching glimpse of a desperate mother who murdered her 14-year-old autistic son, Alex Spourdalakis. Sharyl Attkisson reports.

I find this very curious.  A presumably objective reporter is asking a group she has interviewed to publicize her piece.  

Text: Who Killed Alex Spourdalakis? CBS and Autism Media Channel Present a Prelude to Tragedy

In an unprecedented insight into the apparently senseless and violent death of Alex Spourdalakis, a 14 year-old boy with autism, CBS in collaboration with Austin-based Autism Media Channel presents a game-changer – intimate documentary footage of the unfolding crime.

Autism Media Channel: Alex was one of millions of children at risk. Without a complete overhaul of our approach to autism treatments, therapies, and services, tragedies like this are inevitable.

CBS This Morning (PRWEB) September 01, 2013

Where: CBS THIS MORNING

When: Friday August 30, 2013, 8.00 am EST

In a country where 1 in 25 children born today will develop autism, this compelling story is certain to create universal debate. Alex’s tragedy is a story of our time, pitting the old against the new, capturing the iniquity of autism when perceived as a psychiatric oddity rather than a medical disease - an epidemic in an unprepared world. Using exclusive footage that followed Alex’s journey leading up to his death, CBS and Autism Media Channel present a story, unique in documentary history – one whose outcome should have been prevented; one that will change perception.

Polly Tommey, autism advocate, Autism Media Channel director, and founder of The Autism Trust, says the answers are staring us in the face. "Alex was one of millions of children at risk," she said. "Without a complete overhaul of our approach to autism treatments, therapies, and services, tragedies like this are inevitable."

For interviews with Autism Media Channel and professional enquiries please contact Ryan Parmenter at Modern Panda Pubic Relations on 512 797 2219 or email ryan(at)modernpandapr(dot)com.

MISSED IT! Watch it now at autismmediachannel.com

See also: The Autism File magazine free at autismmediachannel.com

Clearly, Polly Tommey and Andrew Wakefield are using Sharyl Attkisson to advance their own business and ant-autism agenda.  Is Attkisson a patsy or a willing participant.

If you are disgusted by the video, please sign this petition: Petitioning CBS Chairman Jeffrey Fager: CBS News: Take down the video Behind the Tragedy: Mother Murders Autistic Son 

Elsewhere, responses to Sharyl Attkisson's reporting at CBS on Alex Spourdalakis's murder

• August 30, 2013: Paula C. Durbin-Westby CBS Provides Glimpse into "Documentary" Defending Autistic Teen Alex Spourdalakis' Killers
• August 30, 2013: Reuben Gaines, It is now okay to kill your child
• August 31, 2013: Matt Carey,  Whitewashing the brutal murder of Alex Spourdalakis
• August 31, 2013: Michael Simpson, Vaccine deniers think the murder of Alex Spourdalakis is acceptable
• September 1, 2013: Science Mom Sharyl Attkisson and CBS Dehumanise Autists for Ratings
• September 1, 2013: Scott Gavura No, autism doesn’t justify murdering your child
• [edited to add] September 1, 2013: Paula C. Durbin-Westby CBS Touts Film Preying on Murder of Autistic Teen Alex Spourdalakis
• September 2  2013: Orac: Sharyl Attkisson and CBS News: Lying by omission about the murder of autistic teen Alex Spourdalakis
• September 2, 2013: David Gorski MD,  Sharyl Attkisson and CBS News: Lying by omission about the murder of autistic teen Alex Spourdalakis
• September 2, 2013: ToddW, CBS News Sympathizes with murderers
• [edited to add] September 2, 2013: Maegan Whitewashing of Alex Spourdalakis Murder
• [edited to add] September 3, 2013: Tommy Christopher, CBS News Should Retract Report Excusing Mother’s Murder of Autistic Child
• [edited to add] September 4, 2013 Paul Canning: The People We're OK with Killing
• [edited to add] September 5, 2013: Emily Willingham  If A Parent Murders An Autistic Child, Who Is To Blame?
• [edited to add] September 6, 2013: Orac, Is Sharyl Attkisson feeling the heat over her irresponsible reporting of the Alex Spourdalakis case?
• [edited to add] September 6, 2013: J.J. Pitney, Controversial TV Report on a Murder

Previously:

• July 31, 2008: Liz Ditz, Two-part criticism of Sharyl Attkisson's lace of journalistic ethics
• October 8, 2009: Matt Carey, LB/RB Sharyl Attkisson interviews David Kirby…and oh is it bad
• June 9, 2013: Police find Alex Spourdalakis murdered in his bed
• June 12, 2013 Kassiane S., My response to the murder, yes murder, of Alex Spourdalakis
• June 16, 2013: David Gorsky MD The murder of autistic teen Alex Spourdalakis by his mother and caregiver: What happened?
• June 16, 2013: Michael Scott Monje, jr  His Name was Alex Spourdalakis
• June 16, 2013: Lexi Magnisson Alex Spourdalakis didn’t die because of his autism.
• [edited to add] June 16, 2013: (Facebook) Autistic Community Vigil in Memory of Alex Spourdalakis
• June 17, 2013: ToddW Struggling to understand the muder of Alex Spourdalakis
• June 19, 2013: Jeff Rosen, Chairperson National Council on Disability, NCD Calls for the Prosecution of Hate Crimes against People with Disabilities Following Death of Autistic Teenager
• June 23, 2013:Vikki Ortiz Healy, Christy Gutowski and Matthew Walberg, Chicago Tribune reporters,  Slaying of boy with severe autism leaves community searching for answers

Age of Autism, Greater Good, Thinking Moms' Revolution, Autism Media Channel, etc. Coverage 

• March 8, 2013: AoA, Lisa Joyce Goes, Day 19: Chicago Hospital Locks Down Autistic Patient
• March 10, 2013: AoA, Interview between Andrew Wakefield and Arthur Krigsman 
• March 11, 2013: AoA, Lisa Joyce Goes Day 22 of Autism Agony at Loyola U Medical Center
• March 11, 2013: AoA, Lisa Joyce Goes The Case of Alex Spourdalakis: Continued Ineptitude at Loyola University Medical Center
• March 11, 2013, Examiner.com, Chiromother  'Thinking Mom' tells Loyola Univ. Medical Center that autism is not "a mystery"
• March 12, 2013: AoA,John Stone, Alex Spourdalakis and the Future
• March 13, 2013: AoA, Office of Civil Rights Notification on Behalf of Alex Spourdalakis
• March 16, 2013:  AoA,Dan Olmstead: Weekly Wrap: Alex and His Mom, Autism and Suicide, and Psychiatry's Hysteria Hangover
• March 23, 2013: AoA, Dorothy Spourdalakis, Update: Alex Spourdalakis
• May 27, 2013:  AoA Appeal to Chicago Autism Community Alex Spourdalakis About to Be Moved to Psychiatric Facility
• June 9, 2013: Police find Alex Spourdalakis murdered in his bed
• June 10, 2013: AoA 14 Year old with Autism Alex Spourdalakis Found Stabbed to Death
• June , 2013: AoA: Autism Media Channel on the Tragic Death of Alex Spourdalakis
• June 11, 2013: AoA First Degree Murder Charges Filed in Alex Spourdalakis Case
• June 12, 2013: AoA Mother, Godmother Charged with First-Degree Murder
• June 13, 2013: TMR, "Goddess" Making Sense out of Senseless
• June 13, 2013: Eve Vawter at Mommyish Severely Autistic Boy Murdered By His Mother But Don’t You Dare Judge Her
• June 16, 2013: AoA, Natalie and Anthony Palumbo Candlight Vigil for Alex
• June 23, 2013: TMS Amy Rosenquist Featured Guest Blog: With Sympathy
• July 10, 2013: AoA, Lisa Joyce Goes, LJ Goes, Journal Entry, July 10, 2013
• August 30, 2013: AoA, CBS and Autism Media Channel: A Prelude To a Tragedy The Case of Alex Spourdalakis
• August 31, 2013: Dan Olmsted, AoA  Weekly Wrap: A Death Illumines the Autism Nightmare
• September 1, 2013: Press Release from the Autism Media Channel 
• [edited to add] September 1, 2013: Pam Byrne A Cry for Help: The Tragic Case of Alex Spourdalakis
• [edited to add] September 5, 2013: Dan Olmsted, AoA  Contact CBS: Support its Strong Reporting on Alex Spourdalakis
• [edited to add] September 5, 2013 Anne Dachel: Forbes slams Alex Spourdalakis’ mother and the autism community
• [edited to add] September 6, 2013: Harold Doherty: Alex Spourdalakis Killing Exploited by Neurodiversity Extremist Emily J. Willingham

Note: links to content I do not wish to promote are via  donotlink.com.  Read more at http://www.donotlink.com/dnl-why

Comments

[AQuietWeek]

Thank you for the time you took to put this together. I am appalled and saddened.

[Liz Ditz]

An anonymous caller to Orac's place of work left this charming message:

Are you aware that Dr. [Orac] is writing about an area out of his expertise, autism and pediatric gastroenterology? Are you aware of these things that he is—because he has a blog and he’s making comments about? I think that you should advise Dr. [Orac] to stick to what he practices and to stay out of the autistic community’s business and to stay out of the business of advocates who are trying to help families. And he’s crossing a very dangerous line here, because he is dissuading people from getting the help that they need for their children, and he should be reprimanded for this. He does not have any business crossing those lines and talking about issues that do not concern him. And, quite frankly, you know, I think that it’s a conflict of interest, and I think that he should lose his job and his license. But that’s just my opinion as one person who is an objective observer, and I honestly feel that what he is doing is not helping anyone, except maybe himself, and he needs to stop being so self-serving and so selfish.

Tell me again how anti-vaxxers never threaten and bully those who disagree with them?