Trial by error, Continued: PACE Team’s Work for Insurance Companies Is “Not Related” to PACE. Really

BurnA

BurnA

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Tom Kindlon said:
New piece today by David Tuller:



Shorter than some of his earlier pieces.
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The more I read about this and the FOI requests and the harassment claims and wesselys involvement with smc, the more I realise this story isn't about bad science at all.

It is potentially far bigger .... Scientists being influenced by insurance companies to produce studies with no scientific basis whatsoever. An orchestrated campaign to fool everybody into thinking this disease isnt worth researching because it's all the patients fault. This story could be one of the biggest cons of all time. Any why ....greed, power, status. This story has a long way to go.
 
sarah darwins

sarah darwins

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Excuse me for being a bit slow on the uptake. This may be all too well-known to many people. But have I got this right (from reading the forum linked by Tom)? Peter White was (and is?) being paid by Scottish Provident and advising on employment insurance payouts for people diagnosed me/cfs at the same time as he was involved with the PACE trial? That can't be true. Can someone clarify?
 
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worldbackwards

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sarah darwins said:
Excuse me for being a bit slow on the uptake. This may be all too well-known to many people. But have I got this right (from reading the forum linked by Tom)? Peter White was (and is?) being paid by Scottish Provident and advising on employment insurance payouts for people diagnosed me/cfs at the same time as he was involved with the PACE trial? That can't be true. Can someone clarify?
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Absolutely true. Was highlighted in the Gibson enquiry if I recall rightly. Nothing was done.

Some people are above suspicion. Others have their every word trashed in public. Welcome to medical politics. ;)
 
sarah darwins

sarah darwins

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worldbackwards said:
Absolutely true. Was highlighted in the Gibson enquiry if I recall rightly. Nothing was done.

Some people are above suspicion. Others have their every word trashed in public. Welcome to medical politics. ;)
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Bloody hell.

I only dived into this swamp around the start of this year, so I'm still making new, odorous discoveries almost every day. But that one pretty much takes the prize.

And it's thanks to the research carried out by this paragon of impartiality that we have to put up with the likes of Rod Liddle telling the world that the 'science' is clear and ME is nothing that a nice chat and a brisk walk won't cure? I think Liddle still describes himself as a journalist. If he actually was one, this is the story he'd be writing.

I think I need a lie-down. Bloody hell (again). Excuse my language.
 
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worldbackwards

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Here we are, bottom of page 30:
6.3 How the Department for Work and Pensions Formulates

CFS/ME Policy

There are genuine problems in the benefit assessment procedures for CFS/ME and as yet there is no agreement on new written guidance to replace that which is currently in use. This consultation process, involving meetings and redrafting, has been going on for over a year, but government looks like adopting a new benefits policy which may still leave it discriminating against claimants with CFS/ME.

There have been numerous cases where advisors to the DWP have also had consultancy roles in medical insurance companies. Particularly the Company UNUMProvident. Given the vested interest private medical insurance companies have in ensuring CFS/ME remain classified as a psychosocial illness there is blatant conflict of interest here. The Group find this to be an area for serious concern and recommends a full investigation of this possibility by the appropriate standards body. It may even be that assessment by a medical ‘expert’ in a field of high controversy requires a different methodology of benefit assessment.
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They're referring to Peter White, who drew up the DLA guidelines published a year or two after this.
 
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Sam Carter

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sarah darwins said:
Excuse me for being a bit slow on the uptake. This may be all too well-known to many people. But have I got this right (from reading the forum linked by Tom)? Peter White was (and is?) being paid by Scottish Provident and advising on employment insurance payouts for people diagnosed me/cfs at the same time as he was involved with the PACE trial? That can't be true. Can someone clarify?
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And not just Peter White.

During the period when PACE was being planned and executed, Michael Sharpe was involved with Unum Provident, Reassure, Windsor Life, Aegon UK, and others.
 
sarah darwins

sarah darwins

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worldbackwards said:
Here we are, bottom of page 30:

They're referring to Peter White, who drew up the DLA guidelines published a year or two after this.
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So that's in the section of the report called How the Department for Work and Pensions Formulates CFS/ME Policy. Their Research Issues section doesn't mention how these same conflicts of interest raise questions about studies funded by the MRC, which feels like an oversight. They do, of course, mention that in the years 2003 to 2006, when the report was written, the MRC funded 5 essentially biopsychosocial ME projects while rejecting 10 biomedical ones. I'm running out ways to say "Good grief".
 
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Chrisb

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sarah darwins said:
So that's in the section of the report called How the Department for Work and Pensions Formulates CFS/ME Policy. Their Research Issues section doesn't mention how these same conflicts of interest raise questions about studies funded by the MRC, which feels like an oversight. They do, of course, mention that in the years 2003 to 2006, when the report was written, the MRC funded 5 essentially biopsychosocial ME projects while rejecting 10 biomedical ones. I'm running out ways to say "Good grief".
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The only hope is that somewhere there might be issues which could interest the IRS. They have been known to resolve complex cases.
 
BurnA

BurnA

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Sean said:
Yep. This goes way past a little 'spat' in some remote corner of medicine.
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sarah darwins said:
I think Liddle still describes himself as a journalist. If he actually was one, this is the story he'd be writing.
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The good news is that in 2 years time the rtx phase 3 results will tell the world what we already know...that this is a real disease.

Anyone who is associated with cbt/get will have serious questions to answer then.
And any self respecting journalist who was taken in by the psycholobby will turn on them pretty quickly ...

Our PACE authors have 2 years before their careers are over and they face justice. They will come out fighting I am sure but don't worry, every day is one day closer to the end for these fraudsters.

In the meantime we can enjoy turning the screw on them.
 
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