Peter White gets set to speak at Swiss Re Insurance Medicine Summit 2017

[TiredSam]

I prefer a lot of the people who turned them down,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_declined_a_British_honour

Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner, also declined the OBE. "The honours system is a relic of feudalism. Most of the major gongs are handed out to well-paid time servers, political cronies and big party donors."

• 
  

  [*]Kenneth Williams, actor and comedian. "When offered something which obviously isn't worth the price ... we still have the right to say 'No thanks'" (1969)
  [*]Michael Winner, film director (in 2006; saying, "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross station."[99])
  [*]Benjamin Zephaniah, poet (in 2010), stating: "I get angry when I hear the word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised."[100]

 

[SamanthaJ]

There's nowt wrong with cleaning toilets, Michael Winner! And it's more worthwhile and useful than what some of our beloved knights have 'achieved', i.e. cleaning up piles of crap instead of producing them.

 

[Luther Blissett]

There's nowt wrong with cleaning toilets, Michael Winner!

Quite right!

In his defence, at least Michael Winner was an honest snob. At least he respected people enough to be truthful, unlike some knights of the realm.

There is a great clip of him speaking against Richard Littlejohn (Tabloid 'personality') on youtube which I saw years ago which created my soft spot for him.

(Not linking because it's not safe for work, but if you search for 'Richard Littlejohn Live and Uncut (8th July 1994)' you'll find a little piece of TV gold)

 

[Sbag]

I came across another document which I hadn't seen before - Unum’s 1995 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Management Program.
“The objective of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Management Program (CFSMP) is to effectively address the growing number of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome claims through collaboration with attending physicians, claimants, employers, and internal Unum groups, thereby reducing Unum’s financial exposure while simultaneously motivating claimants to gradually and willingly return to work.”

The most amazing thing in the document is the formula they created to explain CFS:
CFS = Negative External Factors (recession, employer downsizing, secondary gain, malingering, etc. +
Negative Internal Factor (stress, conflict, failure of coping mechanisms, etc. +
Entitlement philosophy
= LTD Claim.

I can attach the file if you would like to see it but don't want to bombard the thread with too much stuff

 

[Valentijn]

I can attach the file if you would like to see it but don't want to bombard the thread with too much stuff

Please do!

 

[Sbag]

done

 

[Chrisb]

Do we think that UNUM decided that CFS was "neurosis with a new banner" before or after they received feedback from the DWP through their embedded vice president?

EDIT That should probably be DSS as it did not become the DWP until 2001

 

[Valentijn]

done

... wow, that's some creepy stuff in there. Especially the bit about targeting ME/CFS doctors to persuade them

 

[KME]

I came across another document which I hadn't seen before - Unum’s 1995 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Management Program.
“The objective of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Management Program (CFSMP) is to effectively address the growing number of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome claims through collaboration with attending physicians, claimants, employers, and internal Unum groups, thereby reducing Unum’s financial exposure while simultaneously motivating claimants to gradually and willingly return to work.”

The most amazing thing in the document is the formula they created to explain CFS:
CFS = Negative External Factors (recession, employer downsizing, secondary gain, malingering, etc. +
Negative Internal Factor (stress, conflict, failure of coping mechanisms, etc. +
Entitlement philosophy
= LTD Claim.

I can attach the file if you would like to see it but don't want to bombard the thread with too much stuff

Wow. On p.13 the "claimant"s/people with CFS are described as

"Highly educated
professionals
slipping into
self-imposed
oblivion!"

(That is a direct quote. The exclamation mark is in the original.)

P.17 summarises:

"CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME
CURRENT THINKING AT UNUM

- Neurosis with a new banner

Claimant Profile
- Professional working women ages 30-50
- Susceptible to doctor's power of suggestion
- Self-reports symptoms
- Longer claim duration
- Difficult return to work (recovery claims)"

If I was susceptible to doctors' powers of suggestion I'd have recovered years ago.

Does anyone have an updated UNUM document?

 

[Valentijn]

Do we think that UNUM decided that CFS was "neurosis with a new banner" before or after they received feedback from the DWP through their embedded vice president?

The document using that phrase is dated 1995.

 

[Chrisb]

The document using that phrase is dated 1995.

Yes. So they had only had a year or so to become informed of DWP (EDIT should be DSS) thinking.

 

[Jo Best]

I know the link has been posted two or three times on this thread, but wondered if anyone wants to comment on David Tuller's blog? http://www.virology.ws/2017/08/07/trial-by-error-retired-pace-investigator-peter-white-and-swiss-re/
He always asks for comments.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/894589218567147521

 

[Sbag]

... wow, that's some creepy stuff in there. Especially the bit about targeting ME/CFS doctors to persuade them

It's all very freaky but shows how they started a campaign to influence the doctors one by one and change the thinking to one of psychosis so minimise the financial impact on them. This is where it all stems from and why we are in the situation we are in today.
Re Peter White if you haven't seen it there is a whole section about him at the bottom of the post on the previous link I put here - http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/Notes_on_the_Insurance_issue_in_ME.htm - and how he worked on a UNUM consumer group as an expert!

 

[Robert 1973]

Whilst PDW's insurance work (and that of others) is clearly a very significant conflict of interest which has been repeatedly understated or omitted, I think we should be cautious not to infer or imply causation.

Whilst it is possible that certain doctors may be willing to deliberately harm patients, lie and deceive for financial and professional gain, it seems less probable than alternative explanations. My strong impression is that most if not all, are acting out of a genuine conviction that they are right and that they are doing the right thing. Indeed, it is the degree of their conviction which appears to be a significant part of the problem as it seems to blind them to the validity of any arguments or facts which do not support their beliefs.

Assuming Swiss Re wanted to reduce payouts, it would have been logical for them to approach someone who held deeply entrenched views which supported the company's objectives. In that sense, it would have been PDW's views on ME/CFS which caused him to become CMO, not the other way around.

However, his employment by Swiss Re would almost certainly have made it more difficult for him to change his views on ME/CFS, and may reasonably be assumed to have affected his involvement in ME/CFS treatments and research thereafter. His role as CMO may therefore be seen a perpetuating factor of his false beliefs and unhelpful behaviours, but it should not necessarily been seen as the cause.

Moreover, to imply that it is/was the cause may be counterproductive, as that argument can be effectively countered, thus undermining the credibility of more substantial criticisms (a familiar tactic for PACE Club).

Please note, I am not accusing anyone of falsely attributing causation. I am just making a general point.

[Edited to correct typos.]

 

[PhoenixDown]

The full-text of Wessely's article can be read here:
http://simonwessely.com/Downloads/Other/OldWine.pdf

Wessely & Powell also showed the lack of
specificity of the ' neuromuscular' symptoms,
since the frequency of muscle pain both at rest and after exercise did not substantially differ between ME patients and psychiatric controls with major depression.

I wonder where his evidence for this is, I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't got any. Also is he talking about 24 hours after exercise or immediately after? What useless criteria did he use?

 

[Snowdrop]

I wonder where his evidence for this is, I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't got any. Also is he talking about 24 hours after exercise or immediately after? What useless criteria did he use?

And muscle pain isn't even primary in terms of debility after exercise for many. Flu like symptoms are and they have nothing to do with depression.

 

[Luther Blissett]

Do we think that UNUM decided that CFS was "neurosis with a new banner" before or after they received feedback from the DWP through their embedded vice president?

Look at who was working for the DWP as Chief Medical Advisor from 1996.
Look what he did before 1996.
Look at what he did after leaving the DWP.
Look at the date for PACE etc.
Who would be involved with the DWP funding the trial?
Who has been one of the most enthusiastic proponents behind the scenes of the BPS model?
Who else got knighted from the BPS school?

Mansel Aylward.

From 1996 to April 2005 Aylward was Chief Medical Adviser, Medical Director and Chief Scientist of the UK Department for Work and Pensions and Chief Medical Adviser and Head of Profession at the Veteran’s Agency, Ministry of Defence.[2] He was on the board of the Benefits Agency Medical Service in the 1990s.

Aylward's wife Angela was then involved in setting up a company called Mediprobe, trading under the name Nationwide Medical Examination Advisory Service Ltd., which arranged for the agency's doctors to work for insurance companies.[3] He was involved in the establishment of the new Work Capability Assessment test. When he left the department he headed the UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, at Cardiff University,[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansel_Aylward#cite_note-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansel_Aylward

One of the most important pieces on the theories and history of the BPS 'school'

http://www.academia.edu/1264898/Illness_as_Deviance_Work_as_Glittering_Salvation_and_the_Psyching-up_of_the_Medical_Model_Strategies_for_Getting_The_Sick_Back_To_Work_

A treasure trove of posts examining him are available from the same author
https://downwithallthat.wordpress.c...universities/professor-mansel-aylward/page/2/

I would appreciate if someone would let David Tuller know of this work and the links.

 

[Sean]

Mansel Aylward

...is one of the more disturbing characters in this ongoing tragi-farce.

 

[Chrisb]

Here is an interesting article from the Independent on Sunday 29 March 1998 showing Aylward's involvement in the employment of Benefit Agency Medical Service doctors by insurance companies. It doesn't look good.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/top-doctor-in-job-for-wife-row-1153041.html

 

[Chrisb]

Further to the last post, a possibly interesting scenario is developing.

Benefits Agency doctors were encouraged to freelance for insurance companies, presumably including UNUM.

UNUM has in place a system for "educating" doctors it employs in its own belief systems.

UNUM believes that CFS is neurosis with a new banner.

So how did benefits agency doctors regard people with ME when they (the doctors) did benefits agency work?