Search: David J Black ME/CFS

David J Black traces the origins of a scandal in plain sight and calls for a judge-led inquiry in part three of his series on the continued plight of ME/CFS sufferers. See also parts one and two. It is doubtless commendable to provide an ill or disabled person with fulfilling work, though hopefully

On the 1st of May Sir Sajid Javid initiated a parliamentary debate on the UK’s abysmal record on the care and treatment of ME/CFS patients, whose ranks are now much augmented by Long Covid sufferers. There was an almost identical debate held in February 2018 in which the member for Glasgow Nor

The final part in David J Black's forensic examination of the ME/CFS scandal looks at alleged scientific misconduct and a possible cover-up. Read the last part here. The tragedy of the putative ME/CFS scandal as the revelations following the PACE controversy emerged, was that, for a time, thing

Prone to making the facts fit their theories, academics have, for decades, gaslit ME/CFS sufferers by telling them their condition was all in their heads. To compound matters, a pliant British media happily preached the false biopsychosocial gospel and misery ensued. But the pandemic has changed eve

In part two of his series on dysfunction in our health system, David J Black reminds us that the cost of bad medicine is people's lives. Read part one here. It is one of those facts which cries out to be universally acknowledged: when it came to understanding the nature of such illnesses as ME/CFS,

It seems odd that a psychiatrist once described in a Times interview with Stephanie Marsh as "the most hated doctor in Britain" should suddenly become the most all-powerful doctor in that very same benighted realm – yet that is precisely what has happened. On January 27th Sir Simon Wessely too

David J Black continues to investigate the biggest medical scandal of the 21st century. Read part one here and see also his series from last year for SLN. October the 29th 2021 was something of a red-letter day for those who believed the psychiatric biopsychosocial (BPS) model had, fo

Melanie Phillips may not be everyone’s favourite journalist or radio opinion former but who could fail to share her astonishment in The Times at the outcome of one of the greatest corporate injustices of our time? Inexplicably, no-one, it seems, was responsible for the relentless persecution a

A memorial service is being held for the late David J Black next month in Edinburgh. Towards the end of his life, David expressed that he was having a lot of fun planning his own memorial service, even though it was a party that he would never be able to attend.

In part three of his series on the ME/CFS saga, David J Black examines the durability of medical dogma in the face of facts and the risk of a new psychogenic orthodoxy prevailing with a generation of Long Covid sufferers, whose malady bears a striking resemblance to ME/CFS. See also: parts one and t

One of the most jaw-dropping aspects of the Post Office Horizon scandal and the merciless persecution of its victims was the unfettered power granted to a state-owned corporation which, in England at least, had the singular privilege of investigating itself and bringing private criminal prosecutions

In the final part of his medico-legal series, David J Black explores how Covid-19 has thrown into relief the maltreatment of ME/CFS victims. The boon to life sciences afforded by the pandemic and the huge sums invested in researching Long Covid have left the psychogenic hypothesis a sinking shi

My cool son in the west assured me over a civilised lunch in Cottier’s, in Dowanhill, that a leisurely meal at Glasgow’s Ka Pau, just off the Byres Road, is an experience to be savoured, and he knows about such things. What a dreadful turn of events, then, that this same culinary icon wo

I recently found myself in the company of a remarkably sensible chap who was singing the praises of his chosen subject: artificial intelligence. Without question, this would change the world forever, he assured me, and we would all be much better off as a result. We were living in a new age. Medical

Taste there is none, notes David J Black in part two of his look at films in Scotland. See part one here. Soppy romantic books and films of the Jackie variety are not for your scrivener, the reader may have gathered, yet one isn’t unsentimental. A dear aunt about 10 years older than onese