High Court to decide if CFS/ME is mental illness or physical in first of its kind case

Source: Daily Mail
Date:   November 15, 2007
URL:    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494200&in_page_id=1770


Yuppie flu campaigners fight 'mental illness' label
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'Yuppie flu' campaigners are going to court to try to force the Government's
health watchdog to stop defining it as a psychiatric illness.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) could
have to rewrite its new guidelines on chronic fatigue syndrome, also known
as ME.

A pressure group is taking High Court action in what is understood to be
the first case of its kind. The One Click Group, which has 8,000 online
supporters worldwide, is challenging Nice's treatment advice on the grounds
that it labels sufferers as mentally ill.

Nice told doctors in August this year that they should prescribe psychological
therapy and "graded" exercise for ME patients. But Jane Bryant, director of
One Click, said Nice ignored studies that show ME is a recognised medical
condition and not a psychiatric illness. Ms Bryant's son Ben, 13, was
diagnosed with a form of ME six years ago.

The former public relations manager from London said: "This is going to be
a David against Goliath case. The guidelines have excluded the majority of
the medical evidence which proves that ME is a physical not a
psychological illness. They (Nice) haven't listened to the patients."

ME is estimated to affect a quarter of a million people in Britain,
especially children. Symptoms include poor quality sleep, headaches and
bouts of infections.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is carrying out two large clinical
trails into the effectiveness of treatments at a cost of 2.5 million
pounds.

The medical profession is fiercely divided over the exact cause. Some
experts are sceptical that ME is a specific illness and say the symptoms
are caused by mental health problems.

Others say that it is caused by a virus and that the type of exercise
recommended by Nice can even make the illness worse. It is understood to
be the first time that Nice has faced court action over its own health
guidance.

Earlier this year, drug companies lost a case against Nice over its
refusal to fund lifesaving dementia drugs.

The One Click Group is being represented by Saunders solicitors which is
expected to lodge court papers next Wednesday for the judicial review.

Dr Charles Sheppard of the ME Association said: "The Nice guideline is
seriously flawed because they take a 'one size fits all' approach to an
illness which manifests itself in many different ways. There is no
evidence that sufferers do benefit from psychological therapies."

Dr Neil Abbot from ME Research UK said: 'There is undue emphasis in the
final Nice guideline on psycho-social strategies.'

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(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers Ltd.