Daily Telegraph: It’s time for doctors to apologise to their ME patients (Charles Shepherd)

[Simon]

This came out of the MEA's complaint about the Daily Telegraph's shocking "Exercise and positive thinking can overcome ME" piece, which resulted in a correction, and the offer to publish a piece on the MEA's views. This is that piece. It's a very engaging piece, in my view, that will appeal to a wide audience.

It’s time for doctors to apologise to their ME patients
Charles Shepherd, ME Association​

Back in 1955, a mysterious polio-like illness affected 262 doctors and nurses at London’s Royal Free Hospital. The hospital had to close for just over three months.

The outbreak was written up in The Lancet and a new neurological disease entered medical language: myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, as it still remains in the WHO Classification of Diseases. "Myalgic" referred to the muscle symptoms; "encephalomyelitis" referred to the various neurological symptoms...

 

[Countrygirl]

Three cheers for @charles shepherd !!!!!

Excellent article! Thank you!

I do hope I hear that apology before I fall off my perch.

 

[adreno]

Excellent! Thanks @charles shepherd.

 

[RustyJ]

Headline's a ripper. Quite a good article.

 

[Sasha]

Thank you, @charles shepherd!

 

[wdb]

Excellent article. I'd be interested how prominently this is published, the 'Exercise and positivity can overcome ME' article after all was right on the front page.

I don't see it anywhere on the web front page, or in home>news, but it is in home>news>health.

 

[worldbackwards]

Reminded of this post by the comments...

I feel like we need a BINGO game of horrible trite comments from comment sections on ME&CFS articles.

comment about joining the army - check
If there isn't one irrefutable test it must be psychosomatic - check
"she probably has undiagnosed Lyme disease" - check
some variation of "buck up" - check
It must be at least "partly" or mainly psychiatric. because I said so - check.
"this article is dumb" - check

Variations on these three already. Stay tuned!

Edit - further updates!

 

[mango]

thank you so much, @charles shepherd!

 

[moosie]

Thank you @charles shepherd. Brilliant!

 

[moosie]

Shame it isn't in the print copy.

 

[worldbackwards]

Shame it isn't in the print copy.

Is it not? Have you got one? Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Snow Leopard]

Thanks Charles. If only they published this article in the first place, and the other one never happened!

 

[Gijs]

Thank you Charles. I only miss PEM in the article the most important symptom in my view.

 

[msf]

Thank you, Dr. Shepherd.

 

[Aurator]

This came out of the MEA's complaint about the Daily Telegraph's shocking "Exercise and positive thinking can overcome ME" piece, which resulted in a correction, and the offer to publish a piece on the MEA's views. This is that piece

...​

Charles has done a splendid job, both in what he has said and in managing to get it published.

However, I think it needs to be pointed out (ETA: my apologies to Moosie, who I see has already done so) that this has been published in the online version of the DT, not the print version (which still has the far bigger readership), and we should bear this in mind when assessing the extent to which the paper is making amends here for publishing the original damaging piece.

The Health and Features section of the print version is today running an article on - wait for it - how new techniques of CBT such as CFT, ACT, DBT, and MBCT can help patients suffering from a whole range of illnesses. You have to wonder which of these modified versions of CBT the Wessely school are going to seize on and promote as the new answer to ME/CFS.

 

[Keela Too]

Great article. I wish (like everyone else no doubt) that it had been given the same prominence as the original damaging exercise and happiness artlcle. Meh.

 

[jimells]

The Health and Features section of the print version is today running an article on - wait for it - how new techniques of CBT such as CFT, ACT, DBT, and MBCT can help patients suffering from a whole range of illnesses. You have to wonder which of these modified versions of CBT the Wessely school are going to seize on and promote as the new answer to ME/CFS.

So the Wessely School got an all-expense-paid vacation to a tropical resort while Dr Shepherd and the MEA got a biscuit. The message couldn't be any clearer: "No matter how much noise the patients the make, we always have a bigger megaphone." Well done, Science Media Centre!!

 

[SOC]

Great article! Thanks @charles shepherd !

 

[Bob]

this has been published in the online version of the DT, not the print version (which still has the far bigger readership)

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. A front page headline in the news print might have a larger number of readers than an average online article. But the overall picture is different. The readership for the telegraph print edition is estimated at roughly 1 million, while the website reaches roughly an estimated 5 million readers daily and roughly an estimated 100 million readers monthly. (As far as I can work out.)

 

[wdb]

It is on the front page of the on-line edition now, not because it was put there but it is currently in 4th position on the most shared article list.