{
  "id": 4905963,
  "title": "The Relentless Work of Being Sick",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/the-relentless-work-of-being-sick",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-01T17:24:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mother Jones",
    "slug": "mother-jones",
    "url": "https://www.motherjones.com/media/2026/09/rogers-sick-work-duke-press-qa-interview-chronic-illness/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, debilitating fatigue has been dismissed as a common problem that everyone should experience. In the late 19th century, fatigue was viewed as a solvable issue in the context of the body being a machine. However, fatigue was not considered a legitimate scientific phenomenon until the 1970s. In contemporary times, ME/CFS is often dismissed as individuals simply working too hard, rather than recognizing the unique type of overwhelming fatigue they experience. ME/CFS patients must constantly exert themselves to maintain a semblance of normalcy, leading to a vicious cycle of work and fatigue. This relentless strain can render them unproductive, pushing them to the margins of society.",
  "summary": "In late 1984, dozens of people in the region of Lake Tahoe, California, would go to the doctor with a variety of symptoms, including debilitating fatigue—the first clearly documented cluster of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would label “chronic fatigue syndrome” towards the end of the ’80s. Today, that complex condition is […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}