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

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To date, MPs’ postbags cont<strong>in</strong>ue to bulge with horror stories from their constituents about the same<br />

issue:<br />

• “Swiss Life forced her to see a psychiatrist with known views on the causation of <strong>ME</strong> by threaten<strong>in</strong>g to stop<br />

her payments; but she has been refused sight of the psychiatristʹs report”<br />

• “I am alarmed to hear from hon. Members that <strong>in</strong>surance companies can <strong>in</strong>sist on a treatment set out by their<br />

medical assessors, who are doctors employed by them”<br />

• “I was <strong>in</strong>terested to learn that UNUM has advised the Benefits Agencyʹs medical division. That expla<strong>in</strong>s<br />

some of the unimpressive decisions made by doctors on behalf of the Benefits Agency”.<br />

M<strong>in</strong>dful of the fact that the Wessely School (and hence the NICE Guidel<strong>in</strong>e on “CFS/<strong>ME</strong>”) specifically<br />

recommend that no tests should be carried out to confirm the diagnosis, it should be recalled that if the<br />

correct <strong>in</strong>vestigations were permitted to be carried out <strong>in</strong> the UK (immune, HPA axis and mitochondrial<br />

function; enteroviral serology; SPECT scans etc) then the psychiatrists’ paymasters could not legitimately<br />

disregard such evidence and company profits would plummet.<br />

The <strong>in</strong>surance <strong>in</strong>dustry is determ<strong>in</strong>ed that this must not happen: UNUM’s “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome<br />

Management Plan” (dated 4 th April 1995 and authored by Dr Carolyn L Jackson) makes this clear: “UNUM<br />

stands to lose millions if we do not move quickly to address this <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g problem”. Fourteen years later, that is<br />

exactly what UNUMProvident and other <strong>in</strong>surers served by the Wessely School are do<strong>in</strong>g most effectively.<br />

The MRC PACE Trial Manuals appears to show just how this plan is be<strong>in</strong>g put <strong>in</strong>to action.

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