Trial By Error

Category: ME/CFS

  • Professor Michael Sharpe’s Gaffe on Australian Radio

    *A clarification has been added to this post–see below It’s Thursday morning in Australia, and I’ve just arrived in Brisbane after a red-eye from Perth, with a week left to go on my tour Down Under. Of course I’m backed up on things I need to write about, and hope to have some down time…

  • Guest Post: Crowdfunding David Tuller Is Not a Conflict of Interest

    by Steven Lubet Steven Lubet is the Williams Memorial Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, where he specializes in professional responsibility and ethics. When last we encountered Prof. Michael Sharpe, he was giving a secret speech about ME/CFS at Oxford University’s St Cross College. Titled a “Special Ethics Seminar,” Sharpe’s presentation was closed…

  • Two Interview Podcasts, and “Conflicts of Interest”

    For those not yet sick of my voice, here are two more chances to hear me reiterate variations of my message: On Monday morning, I was interviewed in Perth for the radio show Mornings with Gareth Parker, on the 6PR882 Talk Radio network. (Never mind that the description in the link below identifies me as…

  • My Australian Tour, Continued

    Last week, I spent three days in Hobart, on the island of Tasmania. Besides strolling around looking for cafes where I could drink decent coffee and write, my main work-related activity was giving a talk at Menzies Institute for Medical Research, part of the University of Tasmania. About 40 people attended, a quarter or so…

  • A Terrific Piece about ME/CFS on Australian TV

    SBS, a national TV network in Australian, featured a 12-minute segment last night on a show called The Feed. It was already in the works when I got here, so my visit was timely. I didn’t expect to cry during my interview, but, well, I did. As a journalist, I immediately knew that moment would…

  • A Post About Andrew Lloyd

    I know folks are eager to hear more about what I’m learning in Australia. I’m finding it challenging to have meetings, prepare for talks, conduct interviews, promote the crowdfunding, keep up with my BMJ Open correspondence, and also write posts about what’s happening here. It will take a bit of time to catch up. But…

  • Our Latest Tango with BMJ Open…

    On March 27th, Professor Racaniello and I sent an e-mail to Dr. Trish Groves, editor-in-chief at BMJ Open, declining her request that we send in an e-letter for publication to ensure “maximum transparency.” Two days letter, we received yet another appeal from Dr. Groves. In this e-mail, she promised for the first time that BMJ…

  • My Berkeley-Backed Crowdfunding Campaign

    A couple of times a year, Berkeley offers campus projects an opportunity to crowdfund on the university’s platform. So unlike last year, when I used a third-party site, this time my ME/CFS project is crowdfunding money directly into Berkeley. That saves a lot of hassle, and it also means less money lost in fees. I…

  • A Q-and-A with Scottish MP Carol Monaghan

    On February 20th, Carol Monaghan, a member of Parliament from the Scottish National Party, led an extraordinary debate in the House of Commons about the ethical and methodological failings of the PACE trial. The debate included discussion of the debilitating nature of the illness, the conflicts of interests of the PACE authors, the study’s unfortunate…

  • My Time in Canberra

    I’m in Sydney now, but last week I had a busy few days in Canberra. My hosts were the wonderful duo of Libby Steeper and Eleanor Flowers. They treated me like royalty and shepherded me around town to the various appointments they and others had organized. As a representative of the local ME/CFS organization, Libby…

  • Yet Another Go-Round with BMJ Open

    In response to our last letter to BMJ Open about its ethically challenged school absence study, the journal’s editor, Dr. Trish Groves, once again invited us to submit a letter for publication. We have declined. To recap: In 2011, BMJ Open published a research study that exempted itself from ethical review on the false grounds…

  • Checking in from Melbourne and Canberra…

    So I’ve been in Australia for a week. In Melbourne on Friday, I was happy to spend a couple of hours with Emerge Australia, the local ME/CFS advocacy group. We had video glitches so there is not a continuous tape of the discussion, but here’s a link to at least the first part: https://www.facebook.com/EmergeAustraliaInc/videos/10156242916534111/?fref=mentions&pnref=story On…