On the 21st August 2018 the Scottish Parliament published this report on petition PE1517 Polypropylene Mesh Medical Devices. This statement was made by the authors (page 35)
I share this concern of the Scottish Parliament and I wrote a letter about my concern to the Herald at the beginning of the year. The letter was not published so I have included it below:
21 January 2018.
Dear Sir,
I have now witnessed the Scottish Government’s Department of Health seeming to disbelieve the evidence presented in three separate health-related petitions and the experience of those who have petitioned. These included the petition by the Mesh survivors (PE1717); my petition for a Sunshine Act for Scotland (PE1493); and now Marion Brown’s petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal (PE1651). The latest evidence session to the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee once again would seem to demonstrate the Scottish Government’s starting position that its statements carry greater value than those made by individuals and groups challenging the status quo. This defensiveness may be understandable in terms of politics but does nothing to help advance the matter under consideration. Senior Scottish Government officials should not be considered more “credible” just because they are in more powerful positions. The underlying research evidence in long-term prescribing of antidepressants is particularly poor.
I support the appropriate use of antidepressants. However, we all share in the Scottish Government’s determination for there to be “fully informed consent” between doctor and patient and it is my view, in terms of antidepressant prescribing, this is not routinely happening in NHS Scotland. I have been a Scottish NHS psychiatrist for 20 years and it has never been routine practice to discuss with patients the possibility, when commencing antidepressants, that they may be on them for life. The potential for severe withdrawal effects with antidepressants needs to be recognised and without listening to a range of patients’ experiences we are unlikely to develop our scientific understanding.
Dr Peter J. Gordon (writing in a personal capacity)
It concerns me that Big Business seems to be considered by the medical establishment, and by the Scottish Government, as having the credibility that patients are sometimes considered to lack. Here is what the Mesh petitioners told parliament:
On psychiatric drug prescribing and the involvement of Industry, this was the recent response of Dr John Mitchell, Principal Medical Officer for the Scottish Government:
