Sir.—I read your very interesting editorial in the August 1990 issue of AJDC1on the pertussis vaccine myth and its death.
I have been practicing pediatrics for 30 years in West Texas and have administered the diphtheria and tetanus toxoid and pertussis vaccine to more children, I am sure, than many physicians in the academic centers. I have probably examined more children than many of the physicians in institutional centers. I have never seen a reaction supporting the findings of encephalopathy that were previously thought to occur in conjunction with diphtheria/pertussis immunizations, particularly pertussis immunizations.
What disturbs me most about your editorial is your discomfort with the fact that there are many unexplained results in medicine leading the "experts" to render opinions that become irrefutable early on, to the degree that they are used by courts of law to hold the practicing physician responsible for injury and therefore financially liable. This