MAGICAL MEDICINE: HOW TO MAKE AN ILLNESS ... - Invest in ME

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• “It is not only people in the United Kingdom who are suffering such problems. There is documented evidence
from throughout the United States, where UNUM is the largest company that provides such insurance
cover. There is evidence of such cases from Australia and Canada, and I have no doubt that people in other
countries also suffer as a result of the sharp practices of UNUM and similar companies”
• “All (ME) claimants are sent to a psychiatrist, whose diagnosis is subject to questionable decisions”
• “If they have been treated by an ME specialist who favours another method of diagnosis and treatment, they
may find that their disability insurance payments cease”
• “Several patients were forced to attend named psychiatric clinics and to receive cognitive therapy, graded
exercise and psychoactive drugs. They were told that if they did not they would lose their pension rights”
• “The ombudsman recently turned down Mr. Littleʹs appeal on the ground that ME might not exist as an
illness and that, if it did exist, it was of a psychological nature and Mr. Little was therefore in need of
psychotherapy”
The onslaught of UNUMProvident and the Wessely School on people with ME/CFS has been relentless and
ever‐increasing, for example:
2002
In 2002, Dr Peter Dewis, then Chief Medical Officer for UNUMProvident, wrote about the patients whose
claims management posed difficulties for UNUMProvident. Dewis joined UNUMProvident in July 2000,
having spent 16 years with the UK Department for Social Security, where he held a number of claims
assessment, management and policy roles.
In UNUMProvident’s 2002 Report “Trends in Health and Disability”, Dewis wrote:
“We frequently emphasise the fact that a medical diagnosis does not equate to a certain level of disability… I have
commissioned a number of papers from leaders within the medical profession whose disciplines are particularly relevant
to those people…whose claims most frequently pose us difficulties in their management.
“A paper from Michael Sharpe has reviewed the developments, not only in chronic fatigue syndrome, but also the range
of disorders where the symptoms experienced by individual patients appear to be out of proportion with the physical
findings or objective evidence of disease.
“Mansel Aylward who is Chief Medical Advisor to the Department of (sic) Work and Pensions has set out the current
trends in government strategy relating to both health and social security.
“I would like to draw out a few specific points…describing those areas which are likely to present us with the greatest
challenges.
“My intention would be for this report to be repeated on an annual basis and so become an authoritative
and informative document on the current state of medical thinking on those issues which are of greatest
importance to us.
“Dr Lipsedge (and) Dr Sharpe have identified the importance of cognitive behaviour therapy of (sic) influencing the
outcome in …chronic fatigue syndrome. This again represents a challenge in ensuring that people are directed towards
this approach”.