Trial By Error, by David Tuller
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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”…
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A Plea to Fiona Godlee on a Familiar Topic
On Wednesday, I sent the following to Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ. The topic, once again, was the ethically and methodologically challenged Lightning Process study, which was published two years ago in Archives of Disease in Childhood, a BMJ journal. My letter was prompted by the recent appearance of a review paper that…
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A Crowdfunding Wrap-Up
This wrap-up is almost two weeks late, but things keep cropping up! It goes without saying that I am extremely gratified by the support for my April crowdfunding on Berkeley’s in-house platform. The university received 1025 donations totally $103,283 for “Trial By Error.” Of those donations, the most–384–came from the UK. That was more than…
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My Most Recent Exchange with Bristol
Last month, I sent Sue Paterson, Bristol University’s director of legal services, a couple of e-mails seeking answers to several questions. Those e-mails can be read here and here. I cc-d a few other people. On Friday, May 10, I received a response. This morning, I wrote back. I cc-d those I had previously cc-d,…
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My Exchange with the British Journal of General Practice
Update: Not long after I posted this, I sent the following short follow-up note to Dr Jones and the others I’d cc-d: Dear Dr Jones– In re-reading my response to you, I noticed that I made an error in the third paragraph when I referred to the “Improving Access for Psychological Therapies” program. The proper…
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My Letter about MUS to the British Journal of General Practice
Reuters reporter Kate Kelland informed me in January that my habit of routinely sending open letters to researchers and journals to expose what I consider to be bogus studies was “harassment,” according to those who perceive themselves as my victims. Whatever. I disagree that writing lots of letters about violations of core methodological and ethical…
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My Follow-Up Letter to Reuters
Earlier this month, as I have reported, I sent a letter to the Reuters global editor for “ethics and standards” about my concerns relating to last month’s hit piece on ME/CFS patients and me. (I put those words in quotation marks because I have seen little in the reporting and publication of this piece that…
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My Latest Letter to Bristol’s Legal Department
Today I sent the following e-mail to Sue Paterson, director of legal services at Bristol University. I cc-d several other people on the e-mail. Dear Ms Paterson— Earlier this month, I sent you an e-mail to ask, among other questions, when Bristol University plans to finish its investigation of studies that exempted themselves from ethical…
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Jennie Spotila on Collins’ NIH Talk
I’ve never spoken to Francis Collins, who heads the National Institutes of Health. He comes across as a decent, caring man, and by all accounts he is. That’s certainly how he came across in his remarks earlier this month at the NIH’s meeting on ME/CFS research. But anyone who runs the NIH must play politics…
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Crowdfunding Week 3 Matching Grant
Hey folks! As of now I am at 71% of my goal, with eight days to go. So far I have exactly 700 donations. It would be great to get closer to 1000, as in previous years. Today, Erica Verillo has generously offered to match any donations made through this Friday–up to a total of…