his progression wasn’t as expected, they would have seen enough medical people to have had someone say ‘I don’t think this is CBD'
In reality, this is not how it works in hospitals/with doctors, particular with rare illnesses or ones that are atypical, or not well known.
When admitted, doctors treat the symptoms and a patient may not even see a consultant in the specialism in which the illness falls.
Your statement also relies on an assumption of continuity of care which just doesn't happen in the NHS anymore. Its easy for people with common chronic illnesses to fall through gaps, be missed, etc, let alone one as rare or as specialist as CBD.
Doctors in hospital don't have the time or capacity to do much more than fix someone up and send them home as soon as possible. There might be the odd question raised, or the need to do a further test but following them up relies on people being (a) willing to do so (b) not forgetting (c) not assuming it's someone else's responsibility (d) agreeing
I've witnessed time & time again all of the above.
Furthermore, if Moth's own consultants recognise the atypicality of his illness, he's likely to still remain under their care. They might not change his diagnosis because they have nothing to change it to, so they manage it based on the diagnosis of exclusion they've reached. With severe & rare diseases, both patient and doctor can be feeling their way through.
In the books, Raynor talks about how Moth's health defies the pattern of the illness and medical expectation. Simply because they've been found to have hidden the details of their lives before homelessness, and Raynor's theft, doesn't mean that they're also lying about his illness.
Yes, the veracity of their story is thrown into question, but I am deeply uncomfortable with (a) assuming it's all lies (b) second-guessing Moth's health and his appearance.
People with chronic, severe, medical conditions often face disbelief because they don't present as unwell in the way that uninformed members of the public think they should. The resulting narrative causes a lot of harm to people with disabilities and severe health conditions. I urge everyone to be careful when expressing disbelief and assuming further deceit because there's a fine line between shock & questioning and feeding into a narrative which results in the ill and disable being denied support and medical care.
When you see someone - anyone - with a long term health condition, you see them on their better days. You don't see the pain, fatigue or all the many steps and time & effort invested to enable them to be present at that time.
You won't see the after-effects of expending the energy to be present either.
This is the same narrative that leads people to be challenged over the right to a blue badge, or PIP. The same narrative that leads to people with disabilities being denied reasonable adjustments at work because it's "not fair" to their abled colleagues. That's even if they can find a job in the first place.
I thought when I read the observer article how irresponsible it was to include the statements from neurologists saying Moth's health didn't fit with what they knew of CBD, which isn't to say it shouldn't have been said - someone was going to do it. There are enough people with direct experience of CBD on social media as well.
I'm as disappointed and shocked with the revelations as anyone - their story meant a lot to me, too - but this shouldn't become a witch hunt and if we're seeking veracity then that means looking at the rest of the book fairly and without assuming guilt where there may be none.