“We’re living in a horror movie” says Anton, speaking for his brother Holger who is so severely sick that he cannot eat or drink and has to be tube fed. Yet the Swedish medical system thinks Holger has a psychiatric disorder and has threatened to have him forcibly committed to an institution against his wishes. 

If the medical system succeeds, it will probably kill Holger. 

Anton, and the rest of Holger’s family, are fighting a medical system that does not recognize or understand the disease myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME. Holger’s family have started a public campaign including social media to #HelpHolgerNow to save him from a torturous death at the hands of the medical system.

I interviewed Anton about Holger on December 21st --- subsequently Anton emailed me this message about their medical system: 

“the police report was regarding them tricking Holger to the psychiatric ward in the beginning of December.

IVO is the healthcare inspektion authority. We are working on a new report to them covering a bigger picture with all the things that happened this fall, the psychiatric ward in the beginning of December...and also their threat of forced institutionalization.

Holger has been denied to seek a doctor of his own choice because he lives in the care home. But our lawyer says that that is not legal. So we are now trying to find a doctor we can trust and do not deny ME. We know who we want and hope she says yes.

We have not accepted the healthcare director's reply and asked him to invite us to a meeting and also give us an informed answer because he obviously isn't aware of the details. He is now questioned already by IVO because of the region's handling of Covid-19 patients. They have failed.”

To follow and support Holger and see if the Swedish medical system tortures and kills him, go to Help Holger Now on Facebook:

#HelpHolgerNow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpholgernow

(MEpedia entry about Sophia Mirza who had ME and died after being forcibly moved to a psychiatric institution: https://me-pedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Mirza )

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I am always looking for guests to share their medical error experiences so we help bring awareness and make patients safer.

If you are a survivor, a victim’s surviving family member, a health care worker, advocate, researcher or policy maker and you would like to share your experiences, please send me an email with a brief description:  RemediesPodcast@gmail.com 

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Like me, many of my clients at Remedies Counseling have experienced the often devastating effects of medical error.

If you need a counsellor for your experience with medical error, or living with a chronic illness(es), I offer online video counseling appointments.

**For my health and life balance, I limit my number of counseling clients.** 

Email me to learn more or book an appointment:  RemediesOnlineCounseling@gmail.com

Scott Simpson: 

Counsellor + Patient Advocate + (former) Triathlete

I am a counsellor, patient advocate, and - before I became sick and disabled - a passionate triathlete. Work hard. Train hard. Rest hard.

I have been living with HIV since 1998. I was the first person living with HIV to compete at the triathlon world championships.

Thanks to research and access to medications, HIV is not a problem in my life.

I have been living with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) since 2012, and thanks in part to medical error, it is a big problem in my life.

Counseling / Research

I first became aware of the ubiquitousness of medical error during a decade of community based research working with the HIV Prevention Lab at Ryerson University, where I co-authored two research papers on a counseling intervention for people living with HIV, here and here. 

Patient participants would often report varying degrees of medical neglect, error and harms as part of their counseling sessions.

Patient Advocacy

I am co-founder of the ME patient advocacy non-profit Millions Missing Canada, and on the Executive Committee of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Network.

I am also a patient advisor for Health Quality Ontario’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, and member of Patients for Patient Safety Canada.

Medical Error Interviews podcast and vidcast emerged to give voice to victims, witnesses and participants in this hidden epidemic so we can create change toward a safer health care system.

My golden retriever Gladys is a constant source of love and joy. I hope to be well enough again one day to race triathlons again. Or even shovel the snow off the sidewalk.