This weekend, the New York State Psychiatric Institute is hosting a conference on psychosomatic illness at Columbia University Medical Center — and they invited Per Fink to speak. If you have watched Unrest, you know that Fink’s clinic was responsible for the involuntary institutionalization of Karina Hansen, a Danish young woman with ME. [pullquote
The Danish physician, Per Fink, is traveling to the United States to speak about his unscientific and dangerous idea that myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a psychosomatic illness. Per Fink has been invited to speak at a psychosomatic conference at Columbia University in New York City on Saturday, Oct. 20th. Columbia University will reward medical providers who come to hear Per Fink speak with Continuing Education
I know hardly anything of Mag’s life before she fell ill in 1993. We were witnesses to each other’s ‘now’. There are clues though: when I sent our shoes to the #MillionsMissing protest, Mag selected a pair of dainty black Velours stiletto heels with pointed toes. Imagine her staccato gait – upright and stable! Last year, while Cannes was in the news, she wrote: “May 1991 sailed to Cannes on my partner’s yacht, hoping to complete on 5 million film deal we’d worked on for 4 years. May 2017 achieved my goal of having bed sheet changed, first time in months. Heaven. Happy ME Awareness Day. Love and eternal hope for us all. xxxxxx”
Following the tragic death of Robert Courtney, some of his friends created the tribute below, and provided the message that precedes it. We at #MEAction are pleased to reproduce both here. We, some of Bob’s many friends, have put together this tribute to him. We do not think it is appropriate to discuss the circumstances
Thank you for this opportunity to address the CFS Advisory Committee. I am writing to in response to the call for comments regarding how the US government might engage members of the ME/CFS community, especially patients and their lay supporters, in addressing and solving the clinical, research, educational, and public health challenges of this condition.
Over the past several years, many of us with and without ME have looked on in horror as Karina Hansen was forcibly removed from her home and institutionalized. This was in part due to Denmark’s decision to rename myalgic encephalomyelitis “bodily distress syndrome” and classify it as a psychological illness. The Hansens’ fight to regain
It was truly unsettling to learn about the news of an invited speaker lecturing at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on November 9, 2016. For decades, the speaker has been a staunch adversary of studying the pathophysiology of ME/CFS and refuses to acknowledge its root cause. I have written many times previously, including in an editorial in March of this year, on the aftermath of the revitalization of the Trans-NIH ME/CFS Working Group—specifically on the perils caused by what I then called “ME/CFS deniers” and “psychosomatization sympathizers.” We will not dedicate additional time to these individuals or elaborate on their misguided theories on our pages other than to make the following three points…
Last week, we asked for your thoughts on the proposed MEGA study. The poll ran for 5 days and 154 of you lent your voice to the concerns raised by many. Here are the results of the vote: “The study must include severely and moderately affected patients.” 140 of 154 voted this. (90.9%) “Those researchers/advisors
INTRODUCTION The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is revising and creating new educational materials for its Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) educational program. The hope is that this fourth try at producing ME/CFS educational materials will result in equality of care for ME/CFS patients and they will, for the first time, experience appropriate care throughout
The time for decency in the face of the overwhelming failure of PACE for many has justifiably passed you by, but potential futility aside, I make this appeal regardless. Every day there is a new ME/CFS patient. Today you can spare that patient from harm. You can spare them from being accused of malingering by their own friends and family. You can spare them from wrongful imprisonment in a psychiatric ward. Today you can set ME/CFS research on an expedited path that leads to real treatments and ultimately a cure. End this tragedy now.
