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LETTERS: Elaine Murphy and John M Murphy Murphy’s lore BMJ 2009; 338: b288 [Full text]

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Hoaxes build character

Joseph More   (28 January 2009)

I'd better confess too

Trisha Greenhalgh   (29 January 2009)

The Murphys keep us honest

Margaret L Frank, I, alone, am responsible for my opinion.   (29 January 2009)

Murphy's Mess

Michael Rahman   (30 January 2009)

When fictitious illness becomes real

Thomas Szasz   (30 January 2009)

A Hoax of Hoaxes

Elizabeth Weinbloom   (30 January 2009)

Pseudo-Cello Scrotum?

Dr ANAND DESHPANDE   (30 January 2009)

? double bluff

Gerard McDade   (4 February 2009)

An addition to the symptom symphony

Maxwell Hopp   (12 February 2009)

What is humor?

Hugh Mann   (13 February 2009)

Hoaxes build character 28 January 2009
Joseph More, Retired Waltham, MA 02453 Send response to journal: Re: Hoaxes build character	Medical journals should regularly sprinkle spoofs amongst publications. This will train the readers' critical eye. How else can one avoid falling for the likes of spiral CT scan screening for lung cancer? Competing interests: None declared
I'd better confess too 29 January 2009
Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Health Care University College London Send response to journal: Re: I'd better confess too	If cello scrotum is to be crossed off the list of legitimate medical conditions, I guess it's time to blow the whistle on the PIGPEN study. In 2003, I published a randomised controlled trial comparing PIGPEN (parent- incentivised, graded, patient extraction of nits) against untreated controls for head lice, complete with references to the Beano and Bart Simpson's Guide to Life (BMJ 2003;326:1405). Not only was the PIGPEN study indexed on Medline soon afterwards (and still is), but I was once contacted by a student doing a systematic literature review of head lice therapy, asking for individual patient data for a meta-analysis. Competing interests: None declared
The Murphys keep us honest 29 January 2009
Margaret L Frank, Univerisity Faculty Lake Forest College, I, alone, am responsible for my opinion. Send response to journal: Re: The Murphys keep us honest	We do need to remain critical of what we read. Thanks to all those who occasionally test our credulity. Thanks also for doing so with a smile. Competing interests: None declared
Murphy's Mess 30 January 2009
Michael Rahman, Struggling Entrepreneur Answers and Solutions, 8 Fitt Street, Woodbrook, Trinidad, West Indies Send response to journal: Re: Murphy's Mess	Murphy’s Mess Dear Doctor Elaine, Lady Baroness, ‘Twas betrayal of trust, now Murphy’s Mess: To dupe B-M-J, causes PUBLIC stress, Now, what you should pay: a judge should assess! When conscience was pricked is anyone’s guess, At what point did RECKLESS become distress, Whilst noble: you’ve found scrotum to confess, You should pay out funds as part of your cess! Do pay willingly, or under duress, To expiate with Public, AND Queen Bess, And cover scrotum and your nakedness, Only then should your conscience find redress! Squander not privilege: others have less, Show example: and your memory they’ll bless! Michael Rahman, Trinidad, West Indies. 29th January, 2009. Competing interests: None declared
When fictitious illness becomes real 30 January 2009
Thomas Szasz, Professor of psychiatry emeritus, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210 4739 Limberlost Lane, Manlius, NY 13104 Send response to journal: Re: When fictitious illness becomes real	A propos the “Cello scrotum confession,” I would like to call attention to its mirror image, that is, the invention of illness in earnest, not in jest, followed not by authorial confession but by authoritative corroboration: the fictitious illness becomes a factual (mental) illness. From a long list I mention only a few that history has exposed as inventions: masturbatory insanity, drapetomania, dysaesthesia aethiopis, hysteria, homosexuality. Thomas Szasz Professor of psychiatry emeritus, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210. tszasz@aol.com Competing interests: None declared
A Hoax of Hoaxes 30 January 2009
Elizabeth Weinbloom, Freelance writer New York, NY Send response to journal: Re: A Hoax of Hoaxes	It's clear that the admission of this hoax is in fact the real hoax. I have yet to find a single cellist who had ever heard of "cellist scrotum," and all the Google hits for this phrase lead to articles about the redaction. Therefore, it seems certain that we are being hoaxed into believing that the authors perpetrated a hoax thirty years ago. Cellist scrotum was not a thing, imaginary or not, until the authors created this hoax about a hoax. Competing interests: None declared
Pseudo-Cello Scrotum? 30 January 2009
Dr ANAND DESHPANDE, doctor Westhoughton, Lancs, UK Send response to journal: Re: Pseudo-Cello Scrotum?	So, the Murphys tell us it is all a hoax and there is nothing called a Cello Scrotum. Then what about the three patients I saw in the past twenty years who made their own diagnoses (all male patients) of Cello Scrotum and abandoned a career in cello playing? I wonder, after all, if all these patients were actually suffering from a pseudo-cello scrotum syndrome which occurs only in male cello players and who fancy to have a rare medical condition as a proof of their music talent! Competing interests: None declared
? double bluff 4 February 2009
Gerard McDade, Consultant Psychiatrist Tameside General Hospital Send response to journal: Re: ? double bluff	Sir, I was amused by the retraction on 'Cello Scrotum' by the authors, but am now even more sceptical of the statement by the medical member of the House of Lords in light of recent revelations by noble Lords regarding "rule bending". Is this a true and honest retraction? Dr G McDade Competing interests: None declared
An addition to the symptom symphony 12 February 2009
Maxwell Hopp, Consultant Paediatrician Griffith Base Hospital, Griffith, NSW, Australia, 2680 Send response to journal: Re: An addition to the symptom symphony	I note that an additional melodious malady, now constituting a trying trio, requires mention. In today's edition of a little known medical journal (compared to thine), the NEJM reported pneumoparotid associated with playing the tuba(1). This looks like the genuine thing,though, not the ethereal cello scrotum you described and naturally, they have the scans to prove it. 1.NEJM Volume 360:710 February 12, 2009 Number 7 Competing interests: None declared
What is humor? 13 February 2009
Hugh Mann, Physician Eagle Rock, MO 65641 USA Send response to journal: Re: What is humor?	Humor is more than levity with physical and emotional relief; it is a window into the inner mechanisms of the mind. In The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Sigmund Freud theorizes that humor satisfies the libidinal instincts of verboten sexual and aggressive material, by catching the ego and superego off-guard. This theory is consistent with most humor and establishes the validity of psychoanalysis as a research tool and treatment modality. Although it has been eclipsed by psychopharmacology and relegated to the dustbin of history, psychoanalysis still has much to offer us. It reminds us that we are more than synapses and neurotransmitters; we are human and have the capacity for understanding, compassion, and choice. Competing interests: None declared