PACE trial's principal investigator Peter White has retired from clinical practice with immediate effect to avoid ...

PROOF POSITIVE ? (REVISITED)

Margaret Williams, 14th September 2016  

"The role of Professor Peter Denton White OBE
In 2004, Professor Peter Denton White was awarded an OBE for “services to medical education”;
notices circulating at the time proclaimed him as leading the research into “CFS/ME” and said his OBE was “a well-deserved honour and acknowledgement of his contribution to work on CFS/ME”.

He was born in November 1952: aged only 64, he suddenly retired from clinical practice just before he was compelled by an order of the court to release the raw data from the PACE trial, so any
investigation by the General Medical Council for alleged professional misconduct is unlikely to be
pursued, but is he guilty of misfeasance in public office?

According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) website, misfeasance in public office is a cause of
action in the civil court against the holder of public office, the allegation being that the office-holder
has misused or abused their power: such misuse or abuse is an affirmative act that causes harm to
another party without reasonable justification. The NHS is a State body as it provides public health
care, so this matter is one in which the public has a significant interest.

Facts to be considered
1. Peter White has used his own money, as well charitable money and public money, in order to
lobby support for his belief that ME/CFS is a psycho-behavioural disorder that can be
overcome through “cognitive restructuring” and graded aerobic exercise
2. he has egregiously used large sums of public money (£250,000) to prevent the disclosure of
data that would falsify his belief
3. for nearly 30 years, he has ignored evidence that disproves his belief, including evidence from
his own trials
4. he has failed to correct errors of fact after being alerted to them
5. he has consistently failed to disclose significant financial, institutional and ideological
conflicts of interest
6. he has been in breach of his NHS contractual obligations in that he has persistently ignored
mandatory directives and has wilfully encouraged other clinicians to do the same
7. as a consequence of his actions:
 money which should have been used for biomedical research into the aetiology of
ME/CFS has been diverted to fund studies into therapies which were already known
to be ineffective and even harmful
 patients have been stigmatised as sociopaths and malingerers who refuse to accept
they have a behavioural disorder
 patients have been denied financial support from private insurers for whom Peter
White and his colleagues work (for example, he was Chief Medical Officer for the
giant re-insurer Swiss Re and was also CMO to Scottish Provident) and from the" ...

Proof positive (revisited) .pdf