“Doctors can commit scientific fraud and financial fraud and not be punished”

Press Release by Dr Myhill concerning Dr Myhill’s Virtual Hearing 22 MARCH 2021 – vs ICO & GMC

Doctors can commit scientific fraud and financial fraud and not be punished. This is the conclusion of Dr Sarah Myhill following her recent hearing vs the ICO and GMC.

Dr Sarah Myhill tells us “That is official General Medical Council policy”.

The PACE study of 2011, which concluded that patients with CFS and ME could be effectively treated with graded exercise and cognitive behaviour therapy, has been proven to be scientifically fraudulent. This fraud is so profound that PACE recommendations have been dropped by NICE. We now know that graded exercise makes patients with CFS, ME and Long Covid much worse. CBT is of little benefit, only as a supportive measure.

In response to this fraudulent study, Dr Myhill reported the authors of PACE, and its directors, to the General Medical Council in January 2018. The GMC has a duty, and is empowered by Parliament, to regulate doctors and this includes research misconduct. Despite taking six months to consider Dr Myhill’s request, the GMC refused to investigate. Dr Myhill supplied extensive scientific proofs but in its refusal the GMC failed to supply its scientific defence.

So, Dr Myhill, through FoI legislation, asked that the GMC supply her with the scientific references on which it relied in coming to its decision not to investigate the PACE authors. The GMC refused. It gave no reasons whatsoever.

Consequently, Dr Myhill reported the GMC to the Information Commissioner who in a ruling of 30 September 2019 agreed with her. The ICO informed the GMC that it must supply her with the scientific references on which it relied in deciding not to investigate the PACE authors. This was because Dr Myhill was asking simply for scientific references already in the public area. This was only fair to the thousands of patients who have been damaged by graded exercise and who have a right to a proper explanation as to why.

At this point you would think the GMC had to comply. However, it is suspected that the GMC refusal arose for reasons of cronyism – it did not want ex-Presidents of Royal Societies up in
front of the GMC and the Police. It did not want to admit that actually it held NO scientific evidence, and it had no good reason to proceed as it did.

So, the GMC had to think up some sort of legal argument for refusal. Hitherto it had no argument – simply blunt refusal. The GMC consulted with its legal beavers within and outside the GMC and came up with the argument that to comply with the ICO demands would infringe the personal privacy of the PACE authors. What a nonsense! Dr Myhill has no interest in the personal data of the PACE authors. She simply requested scientific references which should all be in the public arena!

This was the subject of the ICO Hearing on 22 March 2021: Myhill vs GMC and ICO.

The outcome was a split decision. It boiled down to the Public Interest test. Tribunal member Mr Malcolm Clarke agreed with Dr Myhill. He stated:

“I conclude that Dr Myhill’s legitimate interest in seeking this information, if it exists, as a practising doctor with patients, who has a deep professional interest in ensuring that national recommended treatments in this area of medicine are evidence-based, is a very strong one …Dr Myhill’s legitimate interest in knowing whether the information she requests is held by the GMC is a very strong one. I therefore conclude that ……Dr Myhill’s legitimate interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of the data subjects.”

Ref paragraphs 42-47,EA-2020-0018 Myhill v IC & GMC

Luckily for the GMC, the Judge Hazel Oliver and Panel member Gareth Jones disagreed. They decided the other way round.

This Ruling sends a very clear message to doctors who commit scientific fraud – it is easy to get away with it, you can easily hide behind Data Protection issues and the General Medical Council will assist. Cronyism works.

………and so now to round 4. Dr Myhill will not give up.

See https://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/My_Complaint_to_the_GMC_about_the_PACE_authors for more detail