UK national newspaper: ME parents’ fury at child abuse claims

[Bob]

An article in a UK national tabloid newspaper, which came to my attention via the ME Association.

This is not news to us, but it's good to see it reported in a national newspaper.


ME parents’ fury at child abuse claims
From The Sunday Express
21 June 2015
Story by Caroline Wheeler, political editor.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/585891/ME-parents-fury-child-abuse-claims

HUNDREDS of parents whose children suffer from a crippling illness that leaves them permanently exhausted have been falsely accused of child abuse.

Charities have helped hundreds of families of children with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME, who have been investigated on suspicion of a rare form of child abuse known as Fabricated or Induced Illness (FII).

FII, also known as Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy or Factitious Disorder, occurs when a parent or carer exaggerates or deliberately causes the symptoms of a child’s illness.

Continue reading here:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/585891/ME-parents-fury-child-abuse-claims
Or here:
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...ild-abuse-claims-sunday-express-21-june-2015/

 

[alex3619]

Sigh.

Most of these cases are off the public radar as they involve minors and court gag orders.

 

[Chris from Tampa]

Like hell needs a multiplier. I'd rather suffer this in its worst possible manifestation forever than have my children experience a day of it. That would seem like the worst hell--until someone tried to take them away from me over it.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

yeah you gotta love secret courts, don't ya?
great way to cover up abuse both by cretinous bureaucracy and worse.

 

[Kyla]

Hmmm.
Bit ironic that Esther Crawley is the "expert" quoted here. Seeing as she perpetuates the "illness beliefs" nonsense that makes people think parents are responsible.

ME charities want the Education Department to alert social workers and last year met the Government’s chief social worker for children and families, Isabelle Trowler, to discuss the problem.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Esther Crawley, AYME’s lead medical adviser, said: “ME is really common and runs in families. Having it does not mean a child protection case.”

 

[Bob]

This came to my attention via Tom Kindlon on Twitter, and is originally via AYME (Association of Young People with ME)...

It's a longer (unpublished) version of Sunday Express article:
http://www.ayme.org.uk/news/-/asset_publisher/2uYbtahTJKdk/content/ayme-featured-in-sunday-express-article?redirect=http://www.ayme.org.uk/news?p_p_id=101_INSTANCE_2uYbtahTJKdk&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-1&p_p_col_count=1

Tom Kindlon also quotes Esther Crawley from the article, here:
https://twitter.com/TomKindlon/status/613073412928352256

@Tom Kindlon

 

[Sean]

Credit where it is due.

[Said through very gritted teeth. Crawley still has a long way to go to make up for the crap she has dumped on us, including that appalling Lightning Process garbage. ]

 

[Wildcat]

Being quoted in such articles is no more than raising her public profile for Esther Crawley. There is no evidence that she has changed her ideology or practices. Claiming that children with ME recover in six weeks with merely advice on sleep does not help children with Ramsay/ccc/icc ME. Dr Crawley still conflates ME with tiredness.

 

[Bob]

Tom Kindlon also quotes Esther Crawley from the article, here:
https://twitter.com/TomKindlon/status/613073412928352256

I was wondering why Esther cruelly [genuine predictive text error] Crawley would say CFS is heritable, if she treats it as a functional (psychosomatic) disorder.

Perhaps her comments could be explained by this...

Delighted to see Rituximab featuring at the CMRC conference, and even more pleased to see George Davey Smith is coming to the party. He's a really interesting thinker, and just the kind of scientist we need to bolster the field in the UK - a highly respected researcher.

Profile: George Davey Smith - insight (MRC)
Plus more serious stuff, Professor George Davey Smith - School of Social and Community Medicine (Bristol University)

He's probably best-known for his work on "How our genes conduct radomised trials "

He co-authored and interesting 2007 article with Esther Crawley: Is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) heritable in children, and if so, why does it matter? which I thought showed unusual clarity in this field, and even discussed problems of lack of correction when making many comparisions, a real problem with mecfs genetics studies.

 

[Bob]

Being quoted in such articles is no more than raising her public profile for Esther Crawley. There is no evidence that she has changed her ideology or practices. Claiming that children with ME recover in six weeks with merely advice on sleep does not help children with Ramsay/ccc/icc ME. Dr Crawley still conflates ME with tiredness.

I don't think such abuse [wow, that's another genuine predictive text error!] advice helps most children with CFS either, as opposed to a spell of chronic fatigue.

 

[Valentijn]

I think it's a pretty typical version of the usual BPS "Fund Me" line. "It's a dreadfully serious and widespread illness, please give me more money so I can think of new ways to convince patients that they aren't ill."

Nothing she said was incompatible with her past behavior and statements. Even saying it runs in families (not specifically a genetic claim) is completely compatible with some of the parental blame she's tried to spread around in her research, and probably clinically as well. Even "inheritable" does not mean genetic - simply that it is passed down, which can include genes but also possessions and even positions of authority.

 

[Wildcat]

The Comments below the Express article are critical of Dr Crawley and expose Dr Crawleys modus operandi . Severely sick children with ME who do not recover with dr crawleys treatment for tiredness, are rediagnosed with Pervasive Refusal Syndrome... the province of psychiatrists...