Dr Wheatley has made a most odd – and rather personal – third
contribution. We wonder why he has such disbelief in our findings, and in
our explanation of the reportage. We are happy to let the science stand
for itself, and will restrict our reply to his concerns about media
coverage.
By agreement, all media communications were made by Dr Hamilton. In
our previous response we described the media coverage as unprompted by us.
This is accurate. The BMJ selected the paper as being newsworthy, and
wrote a press release outlining the main findings. This release was
reviewed and agreed by Dr Hamilton; it essentially reiterated the abstract
of the paper. After the press release, but during the embargo period
(which allows the media to write their stories), several media
organisations contacted Dr Hamilton. These were mostly from radio and
television. At no point, did he – or anyone within the Universities of
Bristol and Oxford – seek out a
single media outlet.
Dr Hamilton gave three radio and two television interviews for
release on the day that the embargo was lifted. He also gave a brief
telephone question and answer session to a press organisation (which was
probably the source of the Times and Telegraph story, though he spoke to
no individual newspaper). All this can be corroborated, as in fact Dr
Hamilton is profoundly deaf and can only use a telephone through an
interpreter. He avoids the phone where at all possible.
So, those are the facts behind the media coverage – we imagine most
authors selected for a press release would have a similar story to tell.
We have already described some of the media coverage as
inappropriate, and made it clear in our earlier response that we were
disappointed by it. What we cannot quite understand is just what Dr
Wheatley finds so wrong in the quotation from the Times (the Telegraph’s
is similar).
“Many of the symptoms described by women ... include fatigue,
abdominal pain or subtle changes in urination or the bowels. With those,
quite simply ovarian cancer doesn’t spring to the GP’s mind.
Unquestionably, some women have their cancer missed and have to return,
sometimes repeatedly. Ovarian cancer is not a ‘silent killer’ — it is just
not being heard.”
Women do often have subtle symptoms with ovarian cancer. Ovarian
cancer does not often spring to a GP’s mind with the subtle symptoms
listed. Some cancers are missed. Ovarian cancer is not silent. Perhaps
saying it is just not being heard was a little unfair to us GPs – but we
cannot afford to be complacent about a cancer with nearly 7,000 new cases
a year and such a dismal prognosis.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
16 October 2009
William T Hamilton
Consultant Senior Lecturer
Debbie Sharp, Tim Peters (Clare bankhead remains on maternity leave)
Rapid Response:
A polite reply to Dr Wheatley's questions
Dr Wheatley has made a most odd – and rather personal – third
contribution. We wonder why he has such disbelief in our findings, and in
our explanation of the reportage. We are happy to let the science stand
for itself, and will restrict our reply to his concerns about media
coverage.
By agreement, all media communications were made by Dr Hamilton. In
our previous response we described the media coverage as unprompted by us.
This is accurate. The BMJ selected the paper as being newsworthy, and
wrote a press release outlining the main findings. This release was
reviewed and agreed by Dr Hamilton; it essentially reiterated the abstract
of the paper. After the press release, but during the embargo period
(which allows the media to write their stories), several media
organisations contacted Dr Hamilton. These were mostly from radio and
television. At no point, did he – or anyone within the Universities of
Bristol and Oxford – seek out a
single media outlet.
Dr Hamilton gave three radio and two television interviews for
release on the day that the embargo was lifted. He also gave a brief
telephone question and answer session to a press organisation (which was
probably the source of the Times and Telegraph story, though he spoke to
no individual newspaper). All this can be corroborated, as in fact Dr
Hamilton is profoundly deaf and can only use a telephone through an
interpreter. He avoids the phone where at all possible.
So, those are the facts behind the media coverage – we imagine most
authors selected for a press release would have a similar story to tell.
We have already described some of the media coverage as
inappropriate, and made it clear in our earlier response that we were
disappointed by it. What we cannot quite understand is just what Dr
Wheatley finds so wrong in the quotation from the Times (the Telegraph’s
is similar).
“Many of the symptoms described by women ... include fatigue,
abdominal pain or subtle changes in urination or the bowels. With those,
quite simply ovarian cancer doesn’t spring to the GP’s mind.
Unquestionably, some women have their cancer missed and have to return,
sometimes repeatedly. Ovarian cancer is not a ‘silent killer’ — it is just
not being heard.”
Women do often have subtle symptoms with ovarian cancer. Ovarian
cancer does not often spring to a GP’s mind with the subtle symptoms
listed. Some cancers are missed. Ovarian cancer is not silent. Perhaps
saying it is just not being heard was a little unfair to us GPs – but we
cannot afford to be complacent about a cancer with nearly 7,000 new cases
a year and such a dismal prognosis.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests