21st March 2010 - Update - 382 People are supporting this letter so far

Progress reports on what has happened since this letter was posted here and sent to the Editor of the Guardian can be found here.....

http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/Guardian-Letter-Updates.htm

Saturday 20th March 2010 - News Alert - Crippen Quits

Stephen E. Ralph DCR(D) Retired

South Ayrshire, Scotland.

Professor Malcolm Hooper Ph.D.,B.Pharm.,C.Chem.,MRIC

Sunderland, England.

                                                                                                                                                 
8th February 2010

Dear Mr Rusbridger,

We are writing to draw your attention to an issue that is causing a great deal of distress and anger to a population of sick and disabled people – presently an easy target for those who carry a prejudice against disabled people.

In recent months you have had a column on your website that goes under the title “Dr Crippen”.

We understand that this “Dr Crippen” column http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/series/dr-crippen is penned by an NHS doctor who uses “Dr Crippen” to both keep his anonymity, and also to give an airing to views that he knows will be insulting or hurtful to those whom he chooses to victimise.

For the last 10 years one of us has run an Internet discussion group called MEActionUK, to raise awareness and keep members up-to-date with the news, politics and scientific research surrounding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. http://www.meactionuk.org.uk

We were recently alerted to your “Dr Crippen” column as he has yet again used his space on your website to denigrate the ME community for the purposes of his own entertainment and presumably his presumption that his comments will also entertain your readers.

We are aware that you hold the true identity of “Dr Crippen”. However, we the public can see that this deliberate false identity has been established so that this doctor can given out subjective, misleading or even wholly false information about anything he chooses, in this case myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), without any recourse should that information be demonstrably factually inaccurate.

We would like to know why the readers of the Guardian do not have the right to know who this doctor is who hides behind the title of “Dr Crippen”.

Initially, you may argue that he should keep his anonymity. However, he is a registered and practicing NHS doctor speaking via your newspaper, giving your readers his “wisdom”. So, the answer is actually, yes – the identity should be known, because this doctor is paid out of the public purse from us, as taxpayers, and he may well carry his views into his consulting room and for all we know he could be denigrating or mistreating his own patients based on the bigotry displayed on the “Dr Crippen” page.

It is apparent from “Dr Crippen’s” own description of himself here http://www.nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/  that he in no way has a medical speciality such as a virologist or immunologist would have for example, and therefore “Dr Crippen” does not have the necessary qualifications to comment on subjects outwith his area of expertise.

The doctor himself is responsible for the content of his column, and we believe that, certainly in relation to his repeated derogatory comments on ME, he is breaking the General Medical Council's code.

Source: Good Medical Practice: Duties of a doctor.
The duties of a doctor registered with the General Medical Council.

http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/good_medical_practice/duties_of_a_doctor.asp

'Never discriminate unfairly against patients or colleagues.'

'Keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date.'

'Protect and promote the health of patients and the public.'

'Treat patients politely and considerately.'

'Never abuse your patients' trust in you or the public's trust in the profession.'

'Work in partnership with patients.'

From his comments on ME, "Dr Crippen" can clearly be seen to be in breach of these GMC "Duties of a Doctor", most seriously failing to keep his professional knowledge and skills up to date. It would be honourable and presumably a legal requirement, for 'The Guardian' to now provide to interested parties his true identity, thus allowing these parties to discuss this behaviour with the GMC.

If `The Guardian` refuses to reveal who “Dr Crippen” is, it sets a precedent allowing doctors to pontificate on serious diseases for which they have little knowledge and no authority - possibly misleading the public about such serious diseases, which in turn can be dangerous and risk damage to patient’s lives.

At present myalgic encephalomyelitis is the subject of a global investigation in connection with a recently discovered retro-virus entitled Xenotropic Murine Leukaemia virus related Virus (XMRV) that has also been linked to Prostate Cancer. It is interesting to note that your correspondent Sarah Boseley never bothered or perhaps was not permitted, to report the initial discovery of XMRV associated with ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - which was published in the highly regarded journal “Science” back in October 2009. This study by Lombardi et al took two and a half years to carry out its work. Three centres of excellence were used to compile and verify the results.

You can find those details here: - http://www.wpinstitute.org/xmrv/docs/wpi_pressrel_100809.pdf

The Independent carried this story as a front page splash along with an editorial, but the Guardian was totally silent aside from yet another attack on the ME community from “Dr Crippen”: -

“The militant wing of the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) brigade broke out the champagne when a recent article in Science reported that a retrovirus had been found in 67% of ME patients compared to under 4% of the general population. Sadly, the study only involved just over 100 patients and is thus inconclusive."http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/20/me-debate

Nearly every other serious newspaper both here in the UK and over in the USA, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, carried this news in great detail and they are still doing so. However, your journalist Ms Boseley, was, on the face of it more than happy to ignore the “Science” paper, and instead waited several months to then write a detailed piece highlighting another study, which had been carried out in just a matter of a few weeks here in the UK at Imperial College.

It is also interesting to note that The Guardian's most prominent science writer is Ben Goldacre, of the Institute of Psychiatry and his Ph.D supervisor is the liaison psychiatrist Professor Simon Wessely, who was one of the authors of the Imperial College/“PloS ONE” XMRV study.

Professor Wessely supplied the patients tested; a fact which was prominently featured by the Guardian in January. Professor Wessely is an adviser to the Science Media Centre, which briefed the Press that the Science study published last October merely "purported to show a link between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and a particular virus."

http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/pages/press_briefings/index.php?&showArticle=437

One senses that the Guardian has, at worst a rather nasty agenda going on, or has perhaps been influenced adversely by some of its many “professionally connected” contributors;

It appears that on more than one level, concerted attempts have been made on the one hand to both ridicule and bait a specific patient population behind a wholly unprofessional pseudonym and on the other hand to ensure that good and well conducted peer reviewed research is given no attention by your newspaper, whilst poorly conducted research falsely claimed to be "replication research" receives generous yet unbalanced and inaccurate publicity thanks to the journalists who work for your newspaper and who may also have conflicts of interest by association.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, myself, and all those supporting this letter via the attached sheet and via my Yahoogroups and Facebook websites, would be very grateful if you could investigate these matters immediately. We would like a full explanation as to why your newspaper is conducting an agenda of misrepresentation, inaccurate, skewed reporting and the denigration of a minority of sick and disabled patients who, after all, have done nothing wrong. It is not the fault of patients for having the diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome handed to them by the medical profession and patients do not deserve to be lampooned as a consequence.

If nothing else we would like to be told the name of the doctor who hides behind the name “Dr Crippen”, so that this can be taken up with the General Medical Council.

As far as the ME patient community is concerned - Enough is enough.

Yours sincerely,

Anyone wishing to support this letter - please send your names and locations to stephen.e.ralph @ btinternet.com

(remember to remove the spaces either side of the @ that prevents spammers from harvesting e-mail addresses)

There will be no closing date so that anyone seeing this letter can add their names and locations whenever they see it.

Thank you and thank you also to everyone who has helped make this letter possible and to Annette for your help collection names.

_______________________________________________

382 People are supporting this letter so far:-

This list will be updated as more people offer their support.

Saturday 20th March 2010 - News Update - Crippen Quits

Anyone wishing to support this letter - please send your names and locations to stephen.e.ralph @ btinternet.com

(remember to remove the spaces either side of the @ that prevents spammers from harvesting e-mail addresses.)

At this time we are not setting a closing date for the receipt of names so if you see this letter

and you support it then please do send in your name and location.

Thank you and thanks also to everyone who has helped make this letter possible and to Annette for your help collection names.

http://www.meactionuk.org.uk