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Please Sign the Noakes Petition

CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,170
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
been away a few days, so not sure if this has already been dealt with - if it has please ignore 1!

https://www.change.org/p/health-pro...tm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=fb_dialog

Please sign this petition including details of your professional qualifications if you have one and a statement about your diabteic control following lchf if there is space.

Dr Malcolm Kendrick writes about the case as follows :
"
Some of you may remember I wrote a blog about Professor Tim Noakes being dragged in front of the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) last year to face charges of “Doing something quite bad, but we are not quite sure what – and we will keep changing the charges until we find something that sticks”.

The case centred around a tweet that Tim Noakes wrote several years ago, on a discussion forum. He was accused of providing a medical consultation – online. [The HPCSA had no guidelines on what constituted an online consultation]. Earlier in the hearing, which started way back in 2015, witnesses for the HPCSA said a consultation was required before any advice could be given or diagnosis made.

The tweets were:

The mother’s tweet read: “@ProfTimNoakes @SalCreed is LCHF eating ok for breastfeeding mums? Worried about all the dairy + cauliflower = wind for babies?? [sic]”

The mum obviously knew what LCHF was (real, nutritious food) & tweeted Noakes and his co-author of Real Meal Revolution. Noakes replied: “Baby doesn’t eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high-fat breast milk. Key is to ween [sic] baby onto LCHF.

The primary accusation was that Professor Tim Noakes was guilty of serious professional misconduct. Really, to be struck off on the basis of one tweet, that tweet, and that’s it. The accusation was based on two questions:

Question One: does this constitute a medical consultation?

Question Two: if this is advice, is it dangerous or damaging?

Both accusations, plus a few others, were thrown out at the first hearing last April. Even though the HPCSA was acting as judge, jury, and executioner, as part of its own enquiry, set up by itself. So, they must have had a bloody weak case if the HPCSA itself couldn’t even convince itself that it was right!

You would think that would have been the end of it. But no. The HPCSA obviously feels that the HPCSA is completely incompetent, so it appealed its own decision. You can read in more detail the utter ridiculousness of what it going on here: http://foodmed.net/2018/02/noakes-hpcsa-appeal-evidence-dietitians-setup/

If this were not so Kafkaesque and strange, it would be funny. It is not funny because it is crystal clear that certain members of the HPCSA, who some would allege have significant financial conflicts of interest, are pursuing a vendetta against Professor Tim Noakes. Just as happened to the Australian Orthopaedic surgeon, Gary Fettke.

In Australia, Gary Fettke, was silenced by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority (AHPRA) for daring to advise patients to eat fewer carbs and more fat – a High Fat Low Carb (HFLC) diet.

He had been struggling to operate on obese patients and wondered if anything could be done to help them lose weight. He found that the high fat low carb worked. His tale is both hilarious and deeply upsetting. His wife is now blogging on his behalf: http://www.nofructose.com/gary-fettke/

Following various hearings, Gary Fettke was warned not to give any more advice on diet. And, even if his views on HFLC become accepted medical practice, he will not be allowed to talk about them to any patient – ever. Which is perhaps the most stupid judgement in the history of any medical authority – and that takes some doing. A doctor unable to tell his patients about best medical practice.

Patient: “Tell me Dr Fettke, what do you think I should eat to help me lose weight and control my diabetes?”

Dr Fettke: “I am sorry I am not allowed to talk to you about such matters, for I am a mere orthopaedic surgeon who cannot understand such complex things. For that you must talk to a dietician.’’

Yes, really. Yes…really.

I watched MaryAnne Demasi ripped to shreds in Australia, losing her job at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for daring to produce and present two programmes, one supporting a high fat, low carb diet – the other criticising statins. There, are of course many others who have been attacked. Even me, although the attacks have been more ‘character assassination’ than any attempt to strike me off the medical register – so far.

You do not need to be a conspiracy theorist to be very deeply worried about the tactics used to silence anyone who dares to promote a high fat low carbohydrate diet. You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist, because it is quite clear that there is conspiracy to silence anyone who dares stick their head over the parapet on this issue.

So, yes, I want to teach the world to sing… Sorry, got that wrong. I want to teach the world to sign a petition supporting Professor Tim Noakes and his battle in South Africa.

https://www.change.org/p/health-pro...africa-stop-the-harassment-of-prof-tim-noakes

I also want to do what I can to keep this issue up there, in front of as many people as possible. Otherwise Professor Tim Noakes will be shredded, on made up charges, held in virtual secrecy. After which, the industry sponsored PR machine will get to work. ‘Tim Noakes guilty of professional misconduct for promoting high fat low carb diet in children.’ ‘Panel members warn of serious harm to children from Tim Noakes advice.’

A lie, as Winston Churchill once opined, is halfway round the world, before the truth has a chance to get its boots on. Let us shine a bit of light on the lie, before the starting gun fires.
 
Hmm.
I am fully in support of Tim Noakes, and I am extremely glad that the court case found in his favour.

But I am unclear what a petition/letter sent to the HPCSA is supposed to achieve?
Last time I looked, courts of law were not swayed by public opinion, bloggers or petitions.

The petition/letters will no doubt add publicity, and show popular support, etc. etc. but they won't affect the outcome. So as a format, I question their usefulness.

Happy to be proven wrong, of course, if someone can show that they WILL affect the legal proceedings.
 

I'm guessing that the petition actually demonstrates that support publicly. And makes it known that there are a large number of people in the World that think the HPCSA is a bit deluded in bringing this case.

I did laugh at Dr Kendrick's position piece
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2018/02/20/vendetta-the-tim-noakes-affair/
 
I wonder which bit the authorities are worried about? The HF or the LC or both?

I couldn't find anywhere on that link where I could sign the petition. I could share it and sign another ten but not sign the one I would like to.

So, who hears the appeal? Same bunch who issued the first decision or have they all been booted off the board.
 
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If you are not registered with change.org then the sign this petition bit should come up on the right hand side of the text. I had to log out (as I have an automated log in) which then brings up a red button with '"Sign this petition" after completing names and e-mail address for verification.
 
. . . . should come up on the right hand side of the text.

Unfortunately . . . not when I click on the link. When I google the petition it's even worse, asking me to sign another 10 petitions. That seems like getting people to sign petitions they have no real interest in.

I'm sure one less "signature" will not be missed.

The stupidity of an organisation appealing against it's own decision is ridiculous beyond words. It would be funny if it wasn't so serious.
 


Thanks for the info, @CherryAA - just to let you and others know - @Indy51 brought this to our attention earlier, via the Tim Noakes' thread, which she has kindly maintained and has used to keep us up to date with the progress of the original trial, and the outcome - including Marika Sboros' commentaries on the process - plus these latest antics of the HPCSA.

I think the petition potentially can be useful in a couple of ways. 1) it confirms to Tim Noakes that large numbers of Jo Public are still behind him and are prepared to advertise their support in his defence of the allegations; 2) it advertises that support to the rest of the world, including the HCPSA, and hopefully, the world press; 3) it just might give cause for the HCPSA to think again about the adviseability of putting themselves once again onto the world stage, having been resoundly beaten last time (though I doubt it).

The Tim Noakes thread is here: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/prof-tim-noakes.102885/page-14#post-1703583
 

Thanks for letting me know. I assumed someone would have picked up on it, but I've been away for a few days and couldn't find it. better safe than sorry.

I'll be very interested to see what will happen if ( when ) they do win, their own case with their own judge and jury, one rather wonders how they can ever have got round to pronouncing themselves the losers last time. presumably they did some better ury rigging this time. Quite what difference they think it will make if ( when ) they do. I for one will of course go back to eating kellogs the second someone tells me via this trial how wrong I am in my current dietary choices !
 
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