The Countess of Mar tabled a written question asking whether Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs classify M.E. as a mental health condition; and, if so, whether this accords with clinical advice.
In a written answer on 11 August 2011, Lord Sassoon (Commercial Secretary at HM Treasury) replied:
Where HM Revenue and Customs requires details of a health condition, it would look to the customer to provide medical evidence or may request details from a healthcare professional or mental health social worker.
HMRC “would look to the customer to provide medical evidence or may request details from a healthcare professional or mental health social worker.”
We are therefore caught in a deliberately contrived epistemological trap.
This is why it is so important to get rid of the current NICE guidelines and break the psychobabbler’s spell over our politicians and the medical authorities.