Autism Street

Deth’s Omni Bust

This installment of Ridiculous Autism Treatment Statements comes to us from Northeastern University’s professor Richard Deth, PhD. Dr. Deth is a listed as an expert witness for the petitioner’s steering comittee (the PSC) in the Autism Omnibus Proceeding in the United States Court of Federal Claims (vaccine litigation). Recently filed online at the USCFC’s website, is the PSC’s “Second Theory” Causation Reports of Dr. Sander Greenland and Dr. Richard Deth. The following is the concluding paragraph of the report apparently filed by Dr. Deth.

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Over to you for the spin, Rick.

The desert nights have cooled off
Like a willful child finally giving-in to a good night’s sleep

Originally published at Left Brain/Right Brain

A while back on Autism Street, I questioned the claim by DAN! doctor, Dan Rossignol, that children he wrote about in an article that appeared in the pay-to-publish, not peer-reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses, were treated with “mild hyperbarics” at 1.3 ATA.

In hyperbaric medicine, the term “1.3 ATA” has the very specific scientific meaning of “1.3 Atmospheres Absolute”, and it is a likely overstatement (due to rounding) of the actual treatment pressure in that particular study. Put simply, “atmospheres absolute” refers to the total pressure, and includes that actual pressure of the atmosphere. It’s also an absolute pressure that is apparently beyond the physical capabilities of the equipment that was used (a Vitaeris 320), unless the chamber were located well below sea-level, or housed inside another, larger, and pressurized hyperbaric chamber. I suggested that he publish an erratum. He was kind enough to reply to my e-mail, in which he responded, in part with:

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