Trial By Error, by David Tuller
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More Calls to Godlee for LP Study Retraction
Last last month, I resent Dr Fiona Godlee a letter criticizing BMJ’s decision to republish the Lightning Process study with the same findings. The first iteration, in July, was signed by 55 scientists, clinicians and other experts. This version was signed by more than 70 experts and over 60 patient and advocacy organizations. After I…
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Professor Jonathan Edwards’ View of ME
Professor Jonathan Edwards posted this essay a while ago on the Science For ME forum. I only noticed it recently. Professor Edwards, a retired rheumatologist from University College London, has played a key role n the last few years as an advocate for patients as well as proper science. So I thought it would be…
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Open Letter to Dr Godlee about BMJ’s Ethically Bankrupt Actions (2)
In July, I sent Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, a letter signed by 55 experts about her company’s perplexing decision to republish the originally reported–and unreliable–findings from the trial of the Lightning Process. She did not respond. This morning I sent the letter again, with more individual signatories along with dozens of patient…
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A Follow-Up Letter to Bristol
Two weeks ago, I sent a letter to the University of Bristol in which I requested that it withdraw its complaints to Berkeley about my “actions and behaviour.” Not long afterwards, I was informed by my academic department that the Berkeley chancellor had received a note from Teresa Allen, the chief executive of the Health Research…
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My Talk in Newry, Northern Ireland
Last Tuesday, November 5th, I spoke in Newry, Northern Ireland, about that research study from Bristol University with a 3000-word “correction/clarification” now appended to it. The talk was called “The Lightning Process Trial: A Saga of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Research–and Even Worse Editorial Decisions.” The name comes from a well-known kids’ book, “Alexander and…
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The HRA’s Letter to Berkeley’s Chancellor
In an interesting and unexpected development in the ongoing saga of my dispute with the University of Bristol, the chief executive of the National Health Service’s Health Research Authority sent a gracious note about my work to Carol Christ, the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, on Wednesday, October 31. I did not ask the…
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How Bristol Investigators Avoided Ethical Review (Reprise)
Last November 12, I published a post called “How Bristol Investigators Avoided Ethical Review.” That post addressed the series of eleven studies conducted by Bristol investigators and exempted from ethical review on questionable grounds. The lead investigator of these studies was Professor Esther Crawley, Bristol’s methodologically challenged pediatrician, whose work was the subject of a…
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“Bristol, It Is Time to Withdraw Your Complaints to Berkeley”
I have sent the following letter to Jane Bridgwater, Bristol University’s director of legal services and deputy university secretary. ********** Jane Bridgwater Director of Legal Services and Deputy University Secretary University of Bristol Bristol, UK Dear Ms Bridgwater: I have raised multiple concerns in recent years about research conducted by Professor Esther Crawley, a pediatrician…
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The HRA’s Letter about the Investigation of Bristol Research
Last week, the National Health Service’s Health Research Authority published a long-awaited (by me) investigation of 11 studies from Bristol University. All 11 studies were spearheaded by Professor Esther Crawley, the University of Bristol’s high-profile pediatrician. I had flagged these studies as problematic because in every case the Bristol team exempted them from ethical review…
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Bristol’s Report Due Soon; My Oxford Talk
A day of reckoning could be coming for Bristol University and Professor Esther Crawley, the ethically challenged pediatrician whose work has come under official scrutiny (that is, under scrutiny from people with greater authority than me) on multiple fronts. According to the Health Research Authority, the National Health Service unit that oversees research ethics (or…
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More on the Revised Cochrane Exercise Review
Cochrane’s republication last week of its seriously problematic exercise-for-CFS systematic review has triggered an outpouring of comment about the organization’s flawed decision-making and low-quality scientific reasoning. One very smart member of the Science For ME forum, Michiel Tack, posted an excellent overview of the changes between the prior version and the one published last week.…
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Where Is Bristol’s Review of Professor Crawley’s Ethics Missteps?
I have repeatedly raised concerns about Professor Esther Crawley’s habit of bypassing ethical review in her research. This issue first came to my attention in connection with a study she conducted about whether school absence could be used to identify undiagnosed cases of the illness she has generally called “chronic fatigue syndrome.” In that study,…