David J Black looks at the shameful treatment of ME/CFS sufferers in the second part of his medico-legal series. Read part one here. Before entering the realms of Fraser v NICE one or two other factors have to be considered. The first was the role of the generality of a UK media which was almost ent
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In part three of his series on the ME/CFS saga, David J Black examines the durability of medical dogma in the face of facts and the risk of a new psychogenic orthodoxy prevailing with a generation of Long Covid sufferers, whose malady bears a striking resemblance to ME/CFS. See also: parts one and t
Prone to making the facts fit their theories, academics have, for decades, gaslit ME/CFS sufferers by telling them their condition was all in their heads. To compound matters, a pliant British media happily preached the false biopsychosocial gospel and misery ensued. But the pandemic has changed eve
The final part in David J Black's forensic examination of the ME/CFS scandal looks at alleged scientific misconduct and a possible cover-up. Read the last part here. The tragedy of the putative ME/CFS scandal as the revelations following the PACE controversy emerged, was that, for a time, thing
On the 1st of May Sir Sajid Javid initiated a parliamentary debate on the UK’s abysmal record on the care and treatment of ME/CFS patients, whose ranks are now much augmented by Long Covid sufferers. There was an almost identical debate held in February 2018 in which the member for Glasgow Nor
In the final part of his medico-legal series, David J Black explores how Covid-19 has thrown into relief the maltreatment of ME/CFS victims. The boon to life sciences afforded by the pandemic and the huge sums invested in researching Long Covid have left the psychogenic hypothesis a sinking shi
David J Black continues to investigate the biggest medical scandal of the 21st century. Read part one here and see also his series from last year for SLN. October the 29th 2021 was something of a red-letter day for those who believed the psychiatric biopsychosocial (BPS) model had, fo
It seems odd that a psychiatrist once described in a Times interview with Stephanie Marsh as "the most hated doctor in Britain" should suddenly become the most all-powerful doctor in that very same benighted realm – yet that is precisely what has happened. On January 27th Sir Simon Wessely too
David J Black explores the dangers of orthodoxy in the first in a four-part medico-legal series. "Orthodoxy" wrote Bertrand Russell "is the death of intelligence". Before placing this in a medico-legal context with specific reference to the 2009 case Fraser and another v The National Institute of Cl
Melanie Phillips may not be everyone’s favourite journalist or radio opinion former but who could fail to share her astonishment in The Times at the outcome of one of the greatest corporate injustices of our time? Inexplicably, no-one, it seems, was responsible for the relentless persecution a
One of the most jaw-dropping aspects of the Post Office Horizon scandal and the merciless persecution of its victims was the unfettered power granted to a state-owned corporation which, in England at least, had the singular privilege of investigating itself and bringing private criminal prosecutions
Willie McIntyre We all know that there is a presumption against the imposition of prison sentences, but these days it’s difficult for solicitors, never mind their clients, to access the jail.
An upswing in divorce petitions in one part of Indonesia is being blamed on pigeon racing. An official at the Purbalingga Religious Court in Central Java Province said the office had received 90 divorce petitions in July, the Jakarta Post reports.
A group of Czech tourists have been arrested in Kazakhstan for wearing the immodest "mankini" popularised by Sacha Baron Cohen's film character, Borat. Six tourists posed for photos in the swimsuits in the Kazakh capital, Astana, last week.
A lawyer and former educator has said reusing old questions in a bar exam is “not a big deal”. Antonio La Viña, a former dean at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines made the comments after it emerged that the 2017 bar exams used questions from previous years’ tests.