Professor Esther Crawley, Bristol University’s methodologically and ethically challenged pediatrician and long-time grant magnet, gave up her right to practice medicine last September, according to her current entry at the UK’s General Medical Council, which oversees the registration of physicians. The entry does not offer an explanation for why Professor Crawley decided to relinquish her registration and stop treating patients at a much younger age than is standard for retirement.
Professor Crawley qualified as a physician at Oxford University in 1991. She is apparently in her 50s, likely her mid-50s.
Her departure from clinical practice is great news for families with kids suffering from ME/CFS–and now Long Covid. Professor Crawley has been the most influential pediatrician in the field of what she long called “chronic fatigue syndrome,” or more recently “CFS/ME.” She was a gusher of misinformation, publishing seriously flawed and sometimes fraudulent research at a prolific rate. She called PACE a “great, great” trial.
Both publicly and behind the scenes, she wielded her significant power to aggressively push the notion that children with ME/CFS needed graded exercise therapy (GET) and/or cognitive behavior therapy. She failed to change her views even in the face of widespread protests from parents that forcing their kids to do more made them worse. As news of her retirement sinks in, I hope that those who once whispered her name with fear will feel able to openly discuss the clinical reign of terror she appeared to impose on vulnerable families and children.................................
