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Dr Myhill’s complaint to GMC about PACE authors.

Discussion in 'General ME/CFS news' started by Robert 1973, Jan 15, 2018.

  1. Robert 1973

    Robert 1973 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Full letter (very long) and template for patients to submit their own complaints can be found here: https://t.co/YPXTiR7Vsc


    Dear Sir Terence

    ‘THE PACE STUDY AUTHORS COMPLAINT’

    COMPLAINT RE AUTHORS OF PACE STUDY [Reference 1]

    I am referring such authors of the PACE TRIAL [Reference 1 below] as are subject to GMC regulation to the GMC investigation team.

    https://www.gmc-uk.org/DC6046_Hardcopy_form_52934724.pdf ) as its format does not lend itself to the complexities and details of this case. I would be grateful if you would pass this on to the relevant department.

    ....

    Edit: There is now a petition you can sign if you wish to support Dr Myhill's complaint: https://www.change.org/p/the-genera...s-complaint-to-the-gmc-about-the-pace-authors
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2018
    Annamaria, Barry, Louie41 and 25 others like this.
  2. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    She's accusing the PACE authors of fraud. Previously the thought was that it would be difficult to prove that but it looks like the need to prove intent to deceive may have been relaxed.
    So it will be interesting to see if this argument is accepted. My (complete, uneducated) guess will be this will be rejected initially to see if she will push it on to whatever the next step in the process is.
     
    Annamaria, Woolie, Simone and 27 others like this.
  3. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

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    Yes I think it is nailed on that she/they (it seems there is a small group of Drs involved) will get pushed back but she strikes me as a determined person who isn't going to be brushed off.
     
    Annamaria, Simone, PeeWee and 21 others like this.
  4. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I've not read this yet, but I'm not sure Sarah Myhill is the best person to be doing this, seeing as the GMC has previously made rulings against her for making misleading claims. Also, in that video of her speaking about the problems with PACE, it sounded like she wasn't clear on all the details.

    Additionally, I'm not sure this is a good idea coming from anyone. Is anyone aware of an example of a complaint against researchers like this being successful in the past?
     
    Simone, Inara, ladycatlover and 4 others like this.
  5. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I am not so sure it is a bad idea. From a brief glance I suspect the arguments are not that tight, but all the stuff that has come out in the last year or two is cited. I see no harm in the GMC having to think about it.

    I cannot think of a successful complaint quite like this but to be honest I cannot think of a set of circumstances quite like the PACE scam. Companies pointing out serious ethical flaws in widespread policy have been successful in the past, although the context has usually been a bit different. Individuals have been struck off or even imprisoned for unethical clinical practices purporting to be a form of research - particularly in the context of cancer surgery.
     
    Annamaria, Woolie, alex3619 and 42 others like this.
  6. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I'm sure this is one of those "How long is a piece of string?" questions that is completely unanswerable, but how quickly does the GMC reply to accusations against doctors?

    In the online magazine, Pulse, I remember a doctor mentioning in some comments that it took several years for a complaint against him from a patient to be finalised and rejected. I would assume a complaint of this complexity from Dr Myhill might take 6 - 8 years to wend its way through the system?
     
    Annamaria, Simone, Joh and 5 others like this.
  7. Barry

    Barry Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I think the process could be more important than the result. A win being a bonus rather than the main event.

    Edit: Not a response to any particular post, just an off-the-wall comment.
     
  8. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

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    Location:
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    politicians will be saying to people that they need to use available routes to complain in order to achieve change. Eg you have to have complained to any govt department before MPs will refer your case to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.


    I don't think many people genuinely thought that NICE were going to review the guidelines but that paid off. (Obvs still a long way to go on that but miles better than waiting X years to even get them to start a review)

    Even if this isn't successful it could still chip away at the medical establishments support for BPS and anything that causes a few cracks in the wall is positive.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2018
    Annamaria, Woolie, Skycloud and 22 others like this.
  9. Londinium

    Londinium Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    My personal view is that I would need an infinitely long spoon here: ME/CFS critics of things like PACE have already been portrayed as (and I believe I'm pretty much repeating an SMC quote verbatim here) 'little different to anti-vaxxers'. drmyhill.co.uk still (I just checked) contains the following on its autism page [bold mine]:

    Anti-MMR horseshit? No thanks. I don't want to be associated with that and I don't want ME/CFS patients as a whole to be associated with that.
     
  10. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    It's possible that any complaint that isn't cautious and accurate will then be used to try to discredit wider concerns about PACE.

    Problems with the case presented at the judicial review of the NICE guidelines were used to disparage wider concerns about CBT/GET for a long time after.

    I'd feel nervous with anyone making a complaint like this, and I've got less than full faith in Myhill at the moment.

    Having said that, things have progressed a lot over the last few years, and it's possible any investigation could shake something useful loose. Do those at the GMC even have any sort of background in assessing research though? Aren't they just going to defer to authority figures telling them it's just a campaign of anti-science harassment?
     
    Annamaria, Woolie, alex3619 and 11 others like this.
  11. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

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    I think there’s a place for different people taking different actions. Has anyone else in the ME community raised the treatment of ME patients with the GMC. It might be a bit radical but every campaign has a spectrum of mainstream and radicals.
     
    Annamaria, Skycloud, Simone and 15 others like this.
  12. Keela Too

    Keela Too Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    I think timing is right and if Dr Myhill is gutsy enough to do it then it looks like she is the right person to ask these questions.
     
  13. Londinium

    Londinium Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    IMHO, the odds that the GMC would do anything is tiny. The odds are significantly higher that making overblown claims about fraud, orchestrated by a practioner who herself has had run ins with the GMC and who makes somewhat dubious claims about alternative treatments/vaccinations, would feed in to the vexatious anti-science nutters narrative. Let's face it: ME/CFS patients have a PR problem - and this would likely make it worse. I can't see how this action would do anything other than score an own goal.
     
    Simone, wdb and TiredSam like this.
  14. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Oh it would be wonderful to see the PACE authors struck off. Don't wake me up from this lovely dream...

    I have mixed feelings about this. I think they should be disciplined, but I can't see it happening, and am worried it might backfire, and actually strengthen them as they will be able to say the GMC have investigated and found no case to answer. And this could backfire on the NICE guideline review if they are found not to have fraudulently distorted their data.

    I also have mixed feelings about Dr Myhill. She seems sincere and dedicated to helping ME patients, but she seems to have some unscientific ideas too, and doesn't come across well as a speaker.

    Would she have to present the case in person, or is it all done through documentary evidence?
     
    Annamaria, Woolie, Simone and 15 others like this.
  15. guest001

    guest001 Guest


    I think that's an interesting ploy. I'm sure the team behind this have considered all the possible ways this might play out. I find it riveting.
     
    Annamaria, Simone, PeeWee and 9 others like this.
  16. guest001

    guest001 Guest

    Myhill has won ALL her GMC complaints . I think the team behind this venture are more than capable of creating a very tight evidence base in the legal sense. I don't think the Establishment are going to play 'easy' with this, but playing 'hard' might actually turn out to be very embarrassing for them. I sense we're looking at this as a 'long game'.
     
    Annamaria, Louie41, Simone and 20 others like this.
  17. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    I suspect they will want to cover their backs but would prefer not to have to deal with it.
     
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  18. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    I've had a look through the document now. I do think she has done a pretty thorough job, all based on the JHP special issue on PACE as evidence. And I like her idea of inviting patients who have been harmed to submit their own testimony directly to the GMC - I hope a lot are able to do so.

    One point I didn't see that I think she perhaps should have included is the fact that White and others didn't declare their conflict of interest as advisers to the DWP and insurance industry to patients on the consent form at the start of the trial, which, as David Tuller pointed out, negates the consent, and makes all the trial data unusable / invalid, and the consent form information fraudulent.

    I really hope she succeeds.

    A question about submitting evidence. I have not been directly harmed by CBT or GET of the PACE variety, but I, like many of us, believe I have been harmed by the NICE guidelines, both in refusal of referrals to specialists to check for alternative or additional diagnoses, and in consistent encouragement to push myself to exercise more. I don't think this is the sort of evidence required, so don't intend to submit it. Am I right?
     
    andypants, Woolie, Louie41 and 17 others like this.
  19. MeSci

    MeSci Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Does/should David Tuller know about this?
     
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  20. guest001

    guest001 Guest

    I suspect wishing 'not having to deal with it' is their overriding response this morning ;)
     

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