The Sophia Mirza Archive, compiled by her mother, Criona Wilson.

The life and early death of a severely affected ME patient.

Hospital doctors have a wry saying that "physicians bury their mistakes -
psychiatrists lock theirs up". In a sense, Sophia Mirza defied both of these
options. Her forced detention within a mental hospital was reversed within
weeks. And although she died as a consequence, her voice lives on. She still
bears witness against those who persecuted her.

That her voice can still be heard is due to her mother Criona Wilson who,
uniquely, has published her daughter's confidential medical case notes
online. With visionary foresight, Sophia tape-recorded crucial interviews
between herself and her doctors, and the transcripts form part of the
archive. Sophia was lucid, rational and defiant to the last.

ME patients are unfortunate with their doctors. While most other patient
groups have a trusting relationship with the medical profession, far too
often ME patients complain of neglect, abuse, misdiagnosis and stigma. Our
patients have a visceral dislike of the psychiatric construct of ME, and for
good reason. Besides the disadvantages of misdiagnosis, it forces them into
a clinical environment where the validity of their opinions is routinely
delegitimized, where their right to give informed consent is often not
respected, and where in some cases they may be subjected to involuntary
detention. These are fears which lurk in the minds of all ME patients. For
Sophia Mirza they became a nightmare reality.

This online archive provides a compelling narrative of Sophia's last years.
But it is a painful and frightening experience to read her case notes. For
this is the kind of tragedy that has the potential to affect many other
patients, and from which many of us have escaped only by good luck. The
narrative has the quality of a real life drama documentary, and hopefully
will raise awareness among an audience beyond the confines of the ME patient
community. There are close up factual portraits of patient and family, the
psychiatrist, the GP and the social worker. The ineptitude of the NHS in
respect of ME degrades many patients. But the nature of the disease inflicts
its own humiliations on patients and family. The grim reality of life for
the severely affected is described here in unsparing detail. It required
considerable moral courage for Criona to publish this archive unedited.

It is possible for good to come out of tragedy. Sally Clark, Trupti Patel
and Angela Cannings suffered miscarriages of justices: but now it is much
more difficult to falsely accuse bereaved young mothers of Munchausen's by
Proxy. Sally Clark and Sophia Mirza were both martyrs, literally, to medical
failure at institutional level. But Sally Clark's case fatally undermined
"Meadow's Law". Hopefully Sophia's tragedy will have the same effect on
"Wessely's Law".

Horace Reid, 1 May 2008.

"I am horrified, but not entirely surprised by the behaviour of the GPs and psychiatrists involved in this case. I am currently medical student, and I can promise you that I will never forget this case when I am a doctor. I think that the attitudes towards CFS are changing (no doubt largely thanks to Sophia and her mother), but there are still many women who are treated as mentally ill, simply because doctors cannot readily explain the causes for their disease. I send my wishes for full recovery of all the patients using this site, and thank you for sharing your story."