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Michael Sharpe skewered by @JohntheJack on Twitter

Discussion in 'General ME/CFS news' started by Indigophoton, Apr 9, 2018.

  1. SallyC

    SallyC Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    217
    He should have asked his MP to represent his interests!
     
    MEMarge, alktipping, Jan and 14 others like this.
  2. TiredSam

    TiredSam Committee Member

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    Michael Sharpe doesn't get to define what conduct is becoming for an MP. The presumption of the fellow! He should concern himself with what conduct is becoming of a scientist, because he has continuously fallen way short of the mark.
     
    MEMarge, JaimeS, alktipping and 17 others like this.
  3. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    21,956
    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Personally I'm not keen on MEAction UK taking that kind of direction in their communication. I can understand the temptation to create such an attack on Sharpe, he pretty much deserves all that he gets, but I'm not convinced that this is an effective message. It seems to be an attempt at a meme just for the sake of it.
     
  4. Lucibee

    Lucibee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    That's what *should* happen, but knowing The Lancet's entrenched position, it won't, unfortunately.

    btw - did @Carolyn Wilshire et al submit their paper to The Lancet in the first instance? TL guidelines do say that you can request that certain people don't review your paper. Asking for independent review would have been reasonable in this instance. Then, if TL turn that down, they are the ones being unreasonable.
     
    MEMarge, alktipping, Jan and 12 others like this.
  5. Adrian

    Adrian Administrator Staff Member

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    I think one paper got submitted to the BMJ as reviews were unprofessional and commented on.
     
  6. Lucibee

    Lucibee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    ?
     
  7. chrisb

    chrisb Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I second Andy on this. Unless they are aware of the substance of the communication in which Sharpe used the term this appears very risky. Sharpe is no fool. Unless they know what response Sharpe might have it would have been better to avoid this. Perhaps they have inside information and have assessed the risks and consider them worthwhile. Perhaps not.

    I think there is a risky practice developing of using edited comments for short term gain. It is not a practice which is viable in the long term. I am still dissatisfied with the approach of leading members of Forward ME to this practice elsewhere.
     
  8. Carolyn Wilshire

    Carolyn Wilshire Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    103
    We submitted an earlier version of this paper to BMJ. It did not include as much reanalysis detail, it mainly focused on the recovery data and the arguments concerning the interpretation of subjective measures in non-blinded trials. The authors were myself, Tom Kindlon, Robert Courtney, Keith Geraghty, and Alem Matthees.

    We had two reviewers, one reviewer recommended publication, describing our piece as a "very well-written and incisive analysis" and made some useful minor suggestions. The other reviewer, who is a Scottish psychiatrist that has previously coauthored publications with the Sharpe/White/Wessely group, was (unsurprisingly) very critical, and pretended that he wanted to see a paper this bad being made available publicly so he and his cronies could fully criticise it! It is worth reading the full rant, to really appreciate what passes for peer review at this journal. I would add that bits and pieces from this diatribe were quoted by the editor as justifications for rejecting the paper. What a shabby excuse for a journal.

    Here is the full diatribe:
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
    MSEsperanza, Simone, MEMarge and 38 others like this.
  9. chrisb

    chrisb Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    For the benefit of those who may in the past have seen oblique references to Reviewer 2 and not understood them, this is he.
     
    alktipping, Barry, Inara and 7 others like this.
  10. Lucibee

    Lucibee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I think that warrants a formal complaint to COPE!
     
    Simone, MEMarge, janice and 21 others like this.
  11. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Thank you @Carolyn Wilshire for making public that truly shocking diatribe that pretends to be a review.

    Surely the proper response by the BMJ to receiving such vitriol should be to report the writer to his employers for unprofessional behaviour. To use a current phrase 'conduct unbecoming...'

    The man should be sacked and struck off the medical register.
     
    Simone, MEMarge, janice and 15 others like this.
  12. Carolyn Wilshire

    Carolyn Wilshire Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    103
    PS I know the reviewer's name, and have chosen not to disclose it, as I think its more powerful as it stands - a ridiculous non-scholarly diatribe by a Wessely crony. It is clear the man has no scholastic ability, but his belief in the righteousness of the BPS crew (of which he is a member) is genuine and unshakeable.

    I found this entire enterprise very disheartening, not for me personally, or even for PwMEs (we expected rejection given BMJ's stance, but decided to give it a go), but because it was like the whole psychiatric profession suddenly had no clothes, nothing but the belief in their own authority and righteousness. The fact that we trust these people to care for, and make decisions about, some of the most vulnerable members of our society is chilling.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
    Simone, MEMarge, janice and 36 others like this.
  13. arewenearlythereyet

    arewenearlythereyet Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I also agree with this ...it represents us as infantile and crass, same for the one that says “thank Parliament”. You thank your MP not the legislative body?

    I think MEAction is at risk of becoming disparate and disjointed in its communication if they don’t centralise their comms better.
     
    Simone, sea, alktipping and 9 others like this.
  14. Cheshire

    Cheshire Moderator Staff Member

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    Wow, this is truly unbelievable and totally disgusting.

    It is an empty response, with no substance at all. Not a single trace of constructive criticism, of any concrete point in your paper, but mere ad hominem attacks.

    WTF


    What is the link between this guy's clinical pratice and the paper????

    Yeah, that's the problem!!

    Yeurk
    This is disgraceful
    Especially when you know how kind Tom is and Bob was (and I guess Mathhee, but I've never interacted with him). Precisely the opposite of this mean, pretentious and unscientific reviewer.

    Edit: I am truly in anger. I'm sorry you had to undergo this @Carolyn Wilshire and @Tom Kindlon
     
    Simone, MEMarge, janice and 22 others like this.
  15. Woolie

    Woolie Senior Member

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    Oh, woops, that idiot psychiatrist quoted some of his own work in that review. I guess his identity is now formally outed!
     
    MEMarge, 2kidswithME, JaimeS and 23 others like this.
  16. arewenearlythereyet

    arewenearlythereyet Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I started reading this and had to stop at the doctor shopping bit ...I can’t quite believe what I’m reading.

    I think this should be taken further.

    I am actually lost for words to express myself properly.

    Utterly unprofessional and toxic ..it’s a good example of what we face. Dare I suggest this is sent to Carol Monaghan?
     
    MEMarge, janice, alktipping and 12 others like this.
  17. Cheshire

    Cheshire Moderator Staff Member

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    4,675
    I wouldn't be surprised if it was....

    Deleted as my guess was probably wrong, see below.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2018
  18. chrisb

    chrisb Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I have been doing my best informally.

    One wonders how many other papers he must have reviewed for the BMJ. Do journals tend to use the same reviewers, or do they each have their favourites?
     
    MEMarge, alktipping, Inara and 5 others like this.
  19. Sly Saint

    Sly Saint Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    https://www.bmj.com/content/324/7328/7.1/rapid-responses
    "
    In 1992 Dr Anthony Pelosi , then Consultant Psychiatrist at the
    Lanarkshire Health Board, Hamilton + East Kilbridge Unit, Glasgow, a
    longstanding friend and collaborator of Professor Simon Wessely and Dr
    Peter White, said in a personal letter to me :
    ‘ ...I am rediagnosing a substantial proportion { probably over 50% ) of
    the [ME/CFS] patients who are referred to me. ..The diagnoses so far have
    included thyroid dysfunction, breast cancer, chronic renal failure ,
    severe endogenous depressive illness and severe anxiety states ...’....."

    am I getting warmer?
     
    Simone, MEMarge, alktipping and 11 others like this.
  20. EzzieD

    EzzieD Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Wow, that is truly disgraceful. I'm really sorry you and co-authors were subjected to such an unprofessional and offensive rant. Plus, who does he think he is, to ask "Dr Wilshire and Dr Geraghty – do you have any clinical training and experience?" and to question the credibility of your patient co-authors' diagnoses and that he would only believe it if he diagnosed them himself? He clearly doesn't even know what ME/CFS is, keeps referring to it as 'severe and prolonged fatigue', which shows his ignorance about diagnosing ME/CFS.

    His smugly self-absorbed, self-indulgent writing style reminds me of 'someone else' we know in the BPS field...

    I, too, feel lost for adequate words to express my disgust well enough. The well-worn phrase 'Wow...just wow' comes to mind. Ugh.
     

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