posted
This message sent from the Lyme Disease Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania by Harvey L. Kliman ================================================== Next Regular Meeting - Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7-9 PM at our REGULAR LOCATION: The Kennett Friends Meetinghouse
Program: Lynne Anderson will speak on "Corporate & Self Interest In The (Mis)Treatment Of Lyme Disease" About Dr Andersson =>
Presentation Abstract:
``Hippocratic or Hypocritical? Corporate & Self Interest In The (Mis)Treatment Of Lyme Disease"
Lyme is one of the most hotly contested diseases in medical history, described by science writer Pamela Weintraub as a ``perfect storm'' of flawed science, medical hubris, and moneyed interests. While ``conspiracy'' may be too strong a word, ``broad-based institutional sabotage'' is arguably an apt term to convey the actions of the institutional gatekeepers (e.g., the NIH, the CDC, elite medical schools, journal editors) who control the definition, treatment, and public perception of the disease.
The intent of my presentation is to introduce the players in the controversy, to elucidate some of the imbalances of power and conflicts of interest, and to explore the concept of institutional legitimacy and its prohibitive effects on change in the medical establishment. Like many global social problems today, the Lyme controversy can be viewed as collusion among powerful institutions and individuals in the private and public sectors. The influence of insurance companies on medical practice and the doctor-patient relationship, patent rights which encourage withholding of medical discoveries, and the relationships of key medical doctors with pharmaceutical companies and government agencies are examples of such collusion. My hope is to stimulate lively discussion on these issues and enable audience members to take away a deeper understanding of the controversy and the possibilities for effective patient activism.
We are still working on our email system, so to continue receiving notices from LDASEPA please go to our email signup page at the link below, so we can move to a better system. Thanks, Harvey
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic