M.E. Awareness and Reform

The Times had been reporting on ME (or chronic fatigue syndrome) for years, highlighting the stigma faced by people suffering from the misunderstood disease. But the death, in October 2021, of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, daughter of senior Times journalist Sean O’Neill, gave new impetus to the campaign. As the inquest into Maeve’s death approached in July 2024, The Times supported O’Neill’s determination to use the coronial process to highlight the systemic failings in the care of an estimated 750,000 ME sufferers, with the aim of shifting the political, health and scientific agenda.

Perhaps the most powerful article amid extensive coverage of the inquest and its implications, was a magazine piece featuring harrowing extracts from a journal O’Neill kept during the inquest process.

Maeve “fell into a huge hole in the health and social care system,” he wrote, adding that the inquest at least got people talking about “this hidden illness”.

It certainly did. The coroner acknowledged the “very influential” role of The Times as she produced the ‘Report to Prevent Future Deaths’, with reforms, policy changes, funding for research, and better training for healthcare professionals set to follow.

The judges praised “a compassionate and powerful piece of public service journalism”.