Trial By Error, by David Tuller
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BJGP Correction Coming, BMJ Still Stonewalls
Today I received an e-mail from Professor Roger Jones, editor of British Journal of General Practice. I’ve been nudging him to correct a false statement in a 2017 editorial about the cost of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” to the UK National Health Service. The false statement involved a misquotation of a key statistic from a…
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Hey BJGP, Where’s That Correction about the Cost of MUS?
Earlier today (Sunday, June 9th, in San Francisco), I sent the following e-mail to Professor Roger Jones, the editor of the British Journal of General Practice. I first wrote to Professor Jones in early May, seeking a correction to a 2017 editorial about the cost of so-called “medically unexplained symptoms” to the National Health Service.…
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A Second Letter to LP Study’s Senior Author
Alan Montgomery is a professor of medical statistics and clinical trials at the University of Nottingham’s School of Medicine. He is also the senior author of the Lightning Process study, which was published in 2017 in Archives of Disease in Childhood, a BMJ journal. I wrote him a letter in January of this year, alerting…
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My Follow-Up Follow-Up with Dr Segal about LP Study Citation
Fans of Bristol University’s team of pediatric ME/CFS researchers could be forgiven if they hoped a recent citation of one of the group’s most high-profile studies would help bolster its wobbling reputation. Yet the suggestion that the Lightning Process is an “effective” treatment for kids–highlighted in the abstract of a pediatric review of “CFS/ME”–has focused…
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Re-Visiting My Questions for the Science Media Centre about Bristol’s LP Study
The recent publication of a review of pediatric “CFS/ME” that promoted the Lightning Process as “effective” has triggered renewed concern–well, ok, I’ve triggered much of that renewed concern–about the 2017 study on which this specious claim is based. That study, from an experienced team from Bristol University, was published by Archives of Disease in Childhood,…
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Time to Retract the LP Study; Letter to Archives of Disease in Childhood
Let me say this directly: It is way past time for Archives of Disease in Childhood to consign the pediatric Lightning Process study to the trash bin. As I have pointed out repeatedly, the Bristol University investigators recruited more than half their participants before trial registration, swapped outcome measures based on the early results, and…
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A Freedom of Information Request to Bristol About LP Study
On Friday, I sent the following request to the University of Bristol. I cc-d Sue Paterson, the director of legal services. I received an automatic reply alerting me that Bristol was behind in responding to FOI requests, meaning that a response is unlikely within the mandated period of twenty working days. One point of this…
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Professor Edwards’ Letter to BMJ’s Dr Godlee About the LP Study
On May 15th, I sent a letter to Dr Fiona Godlee, BMJ’s editorial director, alerting her that a new review in Current Opinion in Pediatrics had highlighted the Lightning Process as an “effective” treatment, based on a flawed study in one of her journals–Archives of Disease in Childhood. The subject line: “a plea about addressing…
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British Journal of General Practice Agrees to Correction about MUS
This week I’ve been taking some days for family stuff. But I have a minor victory to report. After a series of e-mails with the British Journal of General Practice about a false statement concerning the cost of “medically unexplained symptoms” to the UK National Health Service, the editor has agreed to make a correction.…
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My Latest Letter on The Lightning Process Study; and an Update
Update: May 23, 2019 I received a response today from Dr Terry Segal, the senior author of the review in Current Opinion in Pediatrics that claimed the Lightning Process had been shown to be “effective.” Dr Segal was not responding to the e-mail I sent her directly last week but to one I sent yesterday…
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The Lightning Process Is “Effective”? Really?
BMJ seems to be in a state of paralysis over what to do about the Lightning Process study. The fact that this study was cited positively last month in a major review of pediatric CFS/ME (as the review called the illness) raises the stakes all around. The other day I sent the following letter to…
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My Follow-Up Letter to the British Journal of General Practice
Two weeks ago, I exchanged e-mails with Professor Roger Jones, editor of the British Journal of General Practice. I asked him to correct a false statement in an editorial about the cost of so-called medically unexplained symptoms to the National Health Service. In response, he invited me to send in “one or two short sentences”…