Wessely jeopardized his own little Son

[Guest guest]

http://bit.ly/rnByP4

Kemp

August 27th, 2011

Recent articles in the British Medical Journal, the

Times and Sunday Times, Observer, Guardian,

Spectator etc., have highlighted *death threats*

directed at Professor Simon Wessely.

Wessely claims these threats are from ME patient

activists.

He also claims he is so frightened by these threats

that he feels safer when he is in Iraq or Afghanistan

than in the UK.

He adds that he is not joking, but is he serious?

In 2006 Wessely spoke at Gresham College about

Gulf War Syndrome. The late Gurli Bagnal

remarked (1):

*One of the first points Simon made, was that he

was a little nervous because he had (quote):

*received some intimidatory threats suggesting that

it would be wise for me not to give the lecture…*

Under these circumstances, some of those who

attended the lecture were surprised that he brought

along his son who apparently was very visible

during the event. It would surely have been safer to

leave the boy at home.*

The OneClickGroup (2) observed:

*Wessely claimed he had received *intimidatory*

emails, and had reason to believe he would be

physically attacked. This, he said, was why he

considered not turning up, but he had changed his

mind at the last moment.*

This raises the question, why did he take his son

with him, a youngster whom spectators noted was

a boy of about 14 years old?

What parent, believing they were going into a

potentially dangerous situation would permit their

child to accompany them?

I cannot think of a single good reason to do such a

thing. Perhaps he took his son for protection,

believing that an aggressive person would balk at

violent action in front of a child?

Perhaps he had exaggerated the threat to give his

persona machismo?

I cannot think of a reason that does not imply either

putting a child’s safety at risk or catastrophizing a

threat for self-serving purposes.

If this well documented incident is typical of the

threats Wessely claims to receive then it raises

the question of how serious such threats actually

are and how seriously Wessely himself takes

them.

There are many people working in professions

where threats and actual physical assaults occur.

As well as police officers, ambulance staff and

doctors and nurses working in Accident and

Emergency sometimes have to deal with unruly,

drunken and violent patients; some mental health

professionals including psychiatrists, *rationalize

that violence is an occupational hazard* (3); bus

drivers are subject to verbal and physical assaults

(4), almost one-third of traffic wardens experienced

physical assault in a period of 12 months and 10%

were attacked or threatened with a weapon (5);

90% of social workers have suffered abuse,

assaults and threats (6); teachers suffer from

abuse, threats, assaults and sexual assaults

(7-9)… the list could go on.

I am not aware of any incident of Professor

Wessely being physically assaulted by an ME

patient or patient advocate.

So why is Wessely so frightened that he feels safer

in Iraq or Afghanistan than here in Britain?

His claims about ‘death threats’ do not make

sense. If he is genuinely frightened then why would

he risk provoking those dangerous people with his

statements in the media?

And if he is not really frightened then what is his

motive in seeking such publicity?

Perhaps instead of x-raying his mail they ought to

x-ray his head – there might be a screw loose.