Trial By Error: Where Is Bristol’s Review of Professor Crawley’s Ethics Missteps?
http://www.virology.ws/2019/10/02/t...review-of-professor-crawleys-ethics-missteps/
2 October 2019
By David Tuller, DrPH
I have repeatedly raised concerns about Professor Esther Crawley’s habit of bypassing ethical review in her research. This issue first came to my attention in connection with a study she conducted about whether school absence could be used to identify undiagnosed cases of the illness she has generally called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” In that study, published in BMJ Open in 2011, she shattered ethical principles by interviewing more than 100 minors and their family members without the typical oversight and scrutiny mandated for research with human subjects. She managed this feat by falsely claiming this research to be “service evaluation,” as I documented at length on Virology Blog. (The original post explains the distinctions between “research,” which requires ethical review, and “service evaluation,” which does not.)
When confronted with clear evidence of the problem, BMJ Open obfuscated, dodged and dissembled in its efforts to deflect responsibility–as I documented in multiple subsequent posts. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, the journal accused me of inaccurate reporting. (I have requested an apology for this untrue allegation but have not received one.) So I brought my concerns to the attention of the UK Health Research Authority, the arm of the National Health Service that oversees the work of research ethics committees. As it turned out, Professor Crawley exempted at least 10 other studies from ethical review on the same questionable grounds. Perhaps in some of these cases it was warranted; perhaps not…
http://www.virology.ws/2019/10/02/t...review-of-professor-crawleys-ethics-missteps/
2 October 2019
By David Tuller, DrPH
I have repeatedly raised concerns about Professor Esther Crawley’s habit of bypassing ethical review in her research. This issue first came to my attention in connection with a study she conducted about whether school absence could be used to identify undiagnosed cases of the illness she has generally called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” In that study, published in BMJ Open in 2011, she shattered ethical principles by interviewing more than 100 minors and their family members without the typical oversight and scrutiny mandated for research with human subjects. She managed this feat by falsely claiming this research to be “service evaluation,” as I documented at length on Virology Blog. (The original post explains the distinctions between “research,” which requires ethical review, and “service evaluation,” which does not.)
When confronted with clear evidence of the problem, BMJ Open obfuscated, dodged and dissembled in its efforts to deflect responsibility–as I documented in multiple subsequent posts. Instead of acknowledging the obvious, the journal accused me of inaccurate reporting. (I have requested an apology for this untrue allegation but have not received one.) So I brought my concerns to the attention of the UK Health Research Authority, the arm of the National Health Service that oversees the work of research ethics committees. As it turned out, Professor Crawley exempted at least 10 other studies from ethical review on the same questionable grounds. Perhaps in some of these cases it was warranted; perhaps not…
