Alan Stanton

Alan Stanton is a community pediatrician at University Hospitals Birmingham, UK. He follows the biopsychosocial theory of understanding of ME/CFS, which purposes that a person's "dysfunctional illness beliefs" and related behaviors perpetuate the illness, and that CBT psychotherapy is an appropriate treatment.

GMC complaint
In the late 1990s Alan Stanton was investigated by the UK's General Medical Council for using child safeguarding measures to attempt to force a particular type of treatment on a child under the care of another pediatrician, an issue that only arose after the child's school requested a different medical opinion on a child's health after consulting with the child's current doctor.

Doctors or local authorities' inappropriate use of child protection or safeguarding measures to control the medical care and treatment of children and adolescents who are seriously ill with ME/CFS has been previously highlighted by the Tymes Trust charity, and by the case in Denmark of Karina Hansen, a 15 year-old girl who was forcibly removed from her home and locked in a psychiatric in-patient unit.

Sick and Tired documentary
The BBC documentary Sick and Tired (Panorama) described the background to the General Medical Council complaint about Alan Stanton, along with cases of several doctors who later lost their license to practice as a result of falsely accusing a parent of child abuse. Viewers left comments on the BBC web site after the show aired. Several letters of complaint referring to the programme were published by the BMJ, one of which falsely claimed one mother had been found guilty of perjury; the BMJ published a correction. A comment on The British Medical Journal (BMJ) web site referred to the show as "a hatchet job".

Child safeguarding and parental consent to treatment
In 2012, Dr Stanton co-authored an article in the 'Child Abuse Review' journal stating that discharging a child from medical care against medical advice is a form of child abuse, and that Discharge Against Medical Advice forms must not be made available to parents of sick children. He recommends that if parents cannot be persuaded to change their mind on their child's treatment then using Social Services, the NSPCC and the police is appropriate, including Emergency Protection Orders. Dr Stanton also explains rights of "a child" (anyone aged under 18) to refuse treatment can be overruled either by parents or those acting in the role of parents (e.g., medical staff) in cases where the child is at risk of "serious harm", a term which he does not explain further.

Alan Stanton has been appointed to the review panel for the NICE guidelines review in October 2018, these guidelines which strongly influence NHS treatment and policy for people with ME/CFS in the UK.

Notable studies
1996, Neonatal circumcision and penile cancer. Authors ignored main conclusion of study that they cited (letter)

2006, Tobacco cessation interventions for young people - Cochrane review

2013, Discharge Against Medical Advice (DAMA) Forms – A Damaging Document

Online presence

 * PubMed
 * Twitter
 * Facebook
 * Website
 * YouTube