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S Lubet - Trial by Error, Guest Post: Questions About Professor Sharpe’s ‘Special Ethics Seminar’

Cheshire

Senior Member
Messages
1,129
On 1 June 2017, Professor Michael Sharpe presented the “Special Ethics Seminar” at Oxford University’s St Cross College. In his posted abstract, he asserted that “some areas of scholarship are politicised (U.K. spelling in original),” including “the role of psychiatric or psychological approaches in the treatment” of ME/CFS patients. Sharpe also likened ME/CFS patients to climate change deniers, claiming:

The use of such co-ordinated pressure group action against science was prominently seen in the field of climate change research but is now emerging in other areas.

Chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME for short) is one of these.

http://www.virology.ws/2017/07/03/t...out-professor-sharpes-special-ethics-seminar/
 

Jill

Senior Member
Messages
209
Location
Auckland, NZ
liked the fact Peter couldn't be arsed to reply to emails from a legal ethicist. kinda speaks volumes. why doesn't he just publicly say "i'm going to hide under a rock, i've made a big mistake and my career is ruined". too early to hope for that. he should run for the hills whilst he's got chance. thing is we all know the close clique will stick together. Will be interesting....
 

Jill

Senior Member
Messages
209
Location
Auckland, NZ
@Jill, I think you mean Michael Sharpe, not Peter White. An easy mistake to make, since they are both PACE authors.
yes, its late here!!! crumbs libelling the wrong clown!!

Ive only seen the sly Weasel speak here at Auckland Med School on some topic about postmodern illness constructs. God, what a slippery , bow tie wearing clown he was. Audience lapped all his bull up though.......
 

Demepivo

Dolores Abernathy
Messages
411

lilpink

Senior Member
Messages
988
Location
UK
Fwiw. Comment deemed 'spam' on Disqus:

"
This is an excellent commentary, not least for being so benevolent in giving Sharpe the benefit of the doubt given the secrecy and (by implication of the non-responses to a request for information) reluctance to provide proper evidence of the complete lecture, such that Lubet does not 'pronounce' on the basis of the abstract alone. A very professional approach. Sadly unmatched by a similar professionalism on the side of the PACE PI.

As a patient I don't have to be so even handed. I suspect the short abstract is indicative of the presentation itself. The irony is of course that the 'deniers' with all the backing of an Establishment political clout (not to mention thumbscrews on UK media) are indeed the members of the cabal sometimes known as The Wessely School, of which Peter White is a central character. When he says "The use of such co-ordinated pressure group action against science was prominently seen in the field of climate change research but is now emerging in other areas." he is describing himself & the juggernaut of the BPS model which via MUPS is invading every area of British medical life from the top down. It's insidious and very worrying.

We know that PACE has acquired a reputation for being an example of such problematic research practice that it is now being used, & with some amusement in some quarters, in US university lectures and presentations as an example of how NOT to 'do' research. For anyone in doubt about quite how bad the PACE Trial actually is and might ponder the calibre of mathematician who recognises its flaws and is prepared to write about them, look no further than Recbecca Goldin, mathematician par excellence (and clearly a far better statistician that those who cobbled the PACE Trial papers or whom The Lancet employed for its 'endless rounds of peer review' ): (links seem to trigger a spam response. for interest please search for "PACE: The research that sparked a patient rebellion and challenged medicine. Rebecca Goldin').

As a patient it is a relief to witness people of equivalent calibre in their different fields interrogating the 'evidence' that the BPS/ Wessely School have been promulgating for years, and finding it wanting. Thankfully we now have Nobel laureates at work to untangle the intricacies of the mechanism of this severe and very disabling disease (and it has nothing to do with 'aberrant thought processes') , we have journalists (not from the UK needless to say) who are willing to write about the way in which the David and Goliath fight has been maturing over the last 30 years to the detriment of all patients (because until very recently sick patients have had to fight the battle unaided) and we have academics such as Lubet willing to make observations based, in his case, on a proper understanding of what 'ethical' actually means.

When one is told 'black' is 'white' for decade after decade then the acknowledgement that others recognise one's truth for being the reality is reassuring. However, suffering very real and exquisitely disabling physical disease for multiple decades needs more than this. We need care, we need ameliorative options.... biomedical options. The sooner the BPS model is annihilated the better. My thanks goes to all those academics with the intelligence, the morality and the will to change this appalling state of affairs."
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
liked the fact Peter couldn't be arsed to reply to emails from a legal ethicist. kinda speaks volumes. why doesn't he just publicly say "i'm going to hide under a rock, i've made a big mistake and my career is ruined". too early to hope for that. he should run for the hills whilst he's got chance. thing is we all know the close clique will stick together. Will be interesting....


From his point of view no doubt he rises above such petty wonderings by not responding. They are all very vexatious. What none of us can see and what we fail to understand is that it's his birthright to to be correct in whatever he says and it is never to be in dispute.
 

Demepivo

Dolores Abernathy
Messages
411
liked the fact Peter couldn't be arsed to reply to emails from a legal ethicist. kinda speaks volumes. why doesn't he just publicly say "i'm going to hide under a rock, i've made a big mistake and my career is ruined". too early to hope for that. he should run for the hills whilst he's got chance. thing is we all know the close clique will stick together. Will be interesting....

Sharpe's passive aggressive response is not to reply.

Instead there has been an ongoing Crawley/Sharpe/Wessely roadshow decrying proper investigation of the dodgy stuff as an attempt to save their repuatations & careers. Pity people keep phptographign the slides :p

Peter White has retired,a normal person would enjoy his sizeable pension. However paranoia keeps him going

The emails are worth sending it let's them know patients are well informed, which must be very scary for Team PACE.