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Docs Throw Stones at ABC's Eli
Eli Stone is caught between a rock and a hard place.
ABC has said that it’s going ahead with its plans for the premiere of the new legal dramedy on Thursday, despite the recent backlash over a controversial medical issue tackled in signature melodramatic fashion in the series pilot.
The network has agreed, however, to run a disclaimer at the beginning of the show reiterating that the story is fictional. At the end, viewers will be referred to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Website for more information.
In episode number one, the hallucination-prone title character played by Jonny Lee Miller, who's both quirky and actually sick, goes after the pharmaceutical industry at the behest of a mother who's convinced a routine vaccination containing a mercury-based preservative caused her son's autism.
(SPOILER ALERT...)The jury eventually awards the family $5.2 million in damages after the CEO of the company that manufactures the vaccine admits that he wouldn't have used it to immunize his own daughter because of autism concerns.
Although it was almost certainly more of an attempt to jog viewers' interest rather than any moral stance on ABC's or the producers' part, a variety of groups such as the CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics and the March of Dimes foundation are concerned about possible fallout from the plotline and implored the network to scrap the episode.
"The implication that vaccinations cause autism is irresponsible and counterproductive," Dr. Michael Katz, senior VP for the March of Dimes' Research and Global Programs, said in a statement Tuesday. "Although this is just a television show, and not reality, it may scare parents into not having their children immunized, leaving them vulnerable to serious disease, disability, and even death."
Several studies have shown no link between autism and the mercury-based thimerosal used in vaccines, but the substance has not been used in vaccines given in the U.S. since 2002, according to a press release issued by the foundation.
"Many people trust the health information presented on fictional television shows, which influence their decisions about health care," AAP president Dr. Renee Jenkins wrote in a letter to Disney-ABC Television president Anne Sweeney, adding that her fellow pediatricians are "alarmed that this program could lead to a tragic decline in the immunization rate."
A compliment to Eli Stone's ratings potential, for sure, but the possible consequence was not enough to prevent ABC from axing the series opener.
"We actually share the concern of the American Academy of Pediatrics," Eli Stone cocreator Greg Berlanti told Reuters. "We believe that children should be vaccinated. We hope that people do watch the episode and draw their own conclusions."
The immunization question has also been tackled by the medical dramas House and ER, although neither addressed autism.
In the former, House pokes characteristic fun at a mother who thinks vaccines are a big financial scam perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry, telling her that "tiny coffins" are a good example of an honest business.
On ER, a child who hadn't been vaccinated dies of measles and his entire class at school has to be quarantined.
Eli Stone, which has otherwise garnered positive early reviews, airs Thursday at 10 p.m. following the fourth-season premiere of Lost.
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