Who Are The Real Quack Doctors?
The UMDNJ - has anyone from overseas heard of it? I had not, not until now. W=
ell, what it is is the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Y=
es, it is indeed supposed to be a University. I'm sure it was once a distin=
guished institution but unless it corrects some of its recent mistakes, my n=
on-existent respect for it will decline further, as I am sure will yours.
I am a medical graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and I am proud of my educ=
ation there as well as what the College represents historically to medicine.=
TCD is the University that formed the Trinity with the Colleges of Oxford a=
nd Cambridge. These Colleges were formed to educate rather than to turn a bu=
ck or two. The UMDNJ is also a 'trinity' of several colleges, but from what D=
r Friedman's recent testimony tells us, the recent behaviour of the UMDNJ ha=
s put its reputation into serious question.
Dr Kenneth J .Friedman, in his testimony on November 8. 2011, concerning the=
"Restoring ME/CFS Research, Education, and Patient Care to New Jersey", has=
been highly revealing in the manner in which a formerly respected place of l=
earning and enlightenment can transform itself into something quite distaste=
ful, and even ugly. His warnings are salient in today's society where even b=
astions of integrity are being sold off and sold out to profit makers.=20
The UMDNJ has debased the concept of profession practice. We probably would a=
ll agree that say 'a rubber duck, a yellow one maybe' has no place in medica=
l research. This is what the UMDNJ would have us believe is what ME/CFS is.=
However, so called 'mainstream' doctors now appear to be the real quacks a=
fter all.
ME/CFS has been emerging over the last decade or two out of the realm of con=
troversy and into one of pseudo-controversy. The trick in pseudo-controversi=
es is (a) remain ignorant of progress (b) ensure that everyone else thinks t=
here is nothing new.
Thus, pseudo-controversy advocated become the real quacks, whilst in reality=
, ME/CFS enters mainstream. To be a strong pseudo-controversy advocate, it i=
s forbidden to read any information that might not support your position, so=
matter how much of it there is. Reading such information and understanding i=
t, and worse still, believing it, is going to ruin your reputation as a good=
insurance company employee, for starters. And if you're on the UMDNJ, the s=
ituation would be even worse for you.
They say that ME/CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion; in other words, it belongs=
to some ethereal intangible never-neverland. I submit that it would be hard=
, tedious and mind boggling to have to read through some 4,500 peer reviewed=
papers in order to objectively consider the reality of ME/CFS, especially w=
hen you've never really paid attention to a genuine ME/CFS patient's complai=
nts. Doctors are at their sharpest when they are in training for their speci=
alist examinations. After that, what they are inclined to read, essentially=
speaking, is what interests them or peeks their curiosity. And so the decli=
ne begins (usually).
To exclude ME/CFS from the medical school curriculum therefore, is tantamoun=
t to a criminal act against humanity. Thousands and thousands of people wil=
l suffer. There will be no other time in their medical training where stude=
nts might get a chance to even hear about ME/CFS, let alone be moved towards=
studying it further, whilst their minds are fresh, young and absorbent.
What of these 4,500 publications? How do they all fit together? How do they m=
ake sense? And what about all the dead end research? (how many rockets blew=
up on the launch pad before we finally put a man on the moon?) What about s=
pecificity? How can you identify an ME/CFS patient without some specific te=
st? It's a process of exclusion, as they say? =20
But remember, a rheumatologist's ESR is one of the most non-specific tests t=
here is, and yet rheumatologists, infectious disease specialists, internists=
, and doctors in general use this test ALL THE TIME. Indeed, they would be n=
egligent not to use this test if the context indicated it. The ESR is diagno=
stically non-specific, but it almost always points to something clinically w=
rong with the patient. Combine the elevated ESR with some other symptom or f=
inding and you are on your way to identifying the cause of the patient's c=
omplaints. Joint pain on its own, is non specific, but with a highly elevat=
ed ESR, it becomes something completely different.
The same non-specificity of many tests run to demonstrate something is wrong=
in a patient who clinically most certainly has ME/CFS is no different from h=
ow medicine is practiced in general, as described above. In experienced clin=
ician's hands, the diagnosis Is NOT one of exclusion, as uninformed unread m=
isguided skeptics (UUMS) would have us believe. The concept of a Functional S=
omatic Disorder, in my mind, is dead.
So, if it clinically walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then in all prob=
ability, it is a duck (ME/CFS). The same applies to those so-called mainstre=
am quack doctors who would have us ban ME/CFS research. They are UUMS's. Um!=
Dr Kenneth J .Friedman is a well mannered, grounded and fair clinician, who h=
as a quiet and patient temperament. In my view, he is the professional here,=
not the UMDNJ. Nothing personal.
Dr John L Whiting
Specialist in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine
Brisbane, Australia
Copy to
publiccomment@gov.state.nj.us
John=
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