David Tuller

By David Tuller, DrPH Last week I wrote a post on some of the signs used to diagnose people with “functional neurological disorder” (FND)–the phrase that has largely supplanted “conversion disorder” to describe neurological symptoms with no identified organic cause. In that post, I should have been clearer that I do not question whether people …

Trial By Error: Some More Thoughts on Functional Neurological Disorder Read More »

By David Tuller, DrPH One of my goals next year is to write more about so-called “medically unexplained symptoms,” also known as MUS. The term MUS might be useful as a descriptive name for the large category of phenomena that lack a proven pathophysiological pathway. But in the medical literature, and in the minds of …

Trial By Error: Shaky Evidence for Signs of Functional Neurological Disorders Read More »

By David Tuller, DrPH Earlier this week, Dr Fiona Godlee, editorial director of BMJ, e-mailed me in response to concerns expressed about the study of the Lightning Process published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, one of the journals under her purview. Those concerns were expressed in an open letter to her signed by 72 …

Trial By Error: Fiona Godlee Doubles Down on Lightning Process Study Read More »

By David Tuller, DrPH Professor Jonathan Edwards posted this essay a while ago on the Science For ME forum. I only noticed it recently. Professor Edwards, a retired rheumatologist from University College London, has played a key role n the last few years as an advocate for patients as well as proper science. So I …

Trial By Error: Professor Jonathan Edwards’ View of ME Read More »

By David Tuller, DrPH Last Tuesday, November 5th, I spoke in Newry, Northern Ireland, about that research study from Bristol University with a 3000-word “correction/clarification” now appended to it. The talk was called “The Lightning Process Trial: A Saga of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Research–and Even Worse Editorial Decisions.” The name comes from a well-known …

Trial By Error: My Talk in Newry, Northern Ireland Read More »

By David Tuller, DrPH In an interesting and unexpected development in the ongoing saga of my dispute with the University of Bristol, the chief executive of the National Health Service’s Health Research Authority sent a gracious note about my work to Carol Christ, the chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, on Wednesday, October 31. I …

Trial By Error: The HRA’s Letter to Berkeley’s Chancellor Read More »