Hi, I have a dear friend who is in a heated battle with her soon to be ex husband over custody of their daughter.
He is basing his arguement on the supposed facts that lyme disease after long term treatment does not exist. ie there is no long term lyme after treatment.
I am exhausted herxing right now...IF anyone has this information compiled already I would dearly like to see it...
A list of articles discussing the existence of long term lyme after initial treatment.
Feel free to email me if you would rather...
Thank you for your help from me and my girlfriend...She's a patient of Dr. B's and a wonderful mom.
The ex is also trying to say that she is crazy...She may be a little high strung, but who wouldn't be with a young child and an evil ex, but she is in no way crazy or incompetent.
OH yes, he is also trying to prove that she is fully able to work despite that she has had approved disability for a while.
He really is an evil so and so...
Anyone who has any published information that might help, plese send it my way as soon as possible...
She is too strapped financially at this point to pay for her lawyer to do this kind of research...
[ 12. June 2007, 02:59 PM: Message edited by: breathwork ]
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Carol, the other Doc B (Red Bank NJ Lyme psychiatrist Doc B) has been known to testify in cases like this. Anyone can write to him via his site mmi. I think I know the woman you are talking about and I would recommend getting him as an expert witness. Otherwise she could get screwed. Best wishes, Sarah
Posted by breathwork (Member # 567) on :
She has no money with which to finance expert witnesses...zero, zilch, none...She has asked DrB (the no longer practicing one and her former doc) to write a letter and DR. S here, but no letters have come....the court date is coming very soon...
What she needs is a list of studies that show benefits of long term lyme treatment AND, most importantly, that long term lyme is a real illness...
I'd do it myself, but have two graduations this week and have lots of family in town, plus I am herxing myself..
I have seen that others have posted these articles before and am asking for a little help is putting them together for her.....
Thanks!
Posted by lymeladyinNY (Member # 10235) on :
PJ Langhoff, the author, would be familiar with this. It sounds very much like her story. I believe she runs the sewill.org website. Best of luck! - lymelady
Posted by NCLymie (Member # 6689) on :
I would try to stay off the subject of Lyme Disease and focus on being disabled but still able to care for the child. I would suggest she look into cases of mothers who have MS or who are battling cancer or Lupus or something that may be chronic but they are still able to care for their children. There are remarkable people out there, one just needs to find them. How about a local clergyman who has seen people who are disabled and seen them do miraculous things with their lives?
The other possibility is to go to an internest or another infectious disease doctor they could at least possibly write a letter that there are cases of chronic lyme disease. I think that Lyme doctors will stay away from any litigation now due to the climate out there of people just like her husband who don't believe in people with Lyme Disease. You almost wish he gets it himself in spades.
The only other suggestion I would have would be to try to get ahold of studies that Columbia Lyme Center is doing now. I would contact Dr. Fallon's office and see if there is anything that has been published that she could use.
Send her these suggestions and perhaps she has a relative that could help her with some research. She needs help - I know - I just thank God I got divorced three years before my onset of Lyme.
God bless her and you too for being such a good friend.
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
I think she is being dumb. This is NOT the time to make mistakes and those tactics sound really bad. I am not saying this to be mean but because I DO care. Would rather you think I am mean than encourage her to do bad strategy.
Doc B, the one I suggested, I don't think he would charge to write a letter to submit to court. Doc S as follows in abstract I bet would also NOT CHARGE. Re testimony in court as expert witness if she can't pay for them I am sure they would appear gratis if she could pay for one of those video conference calls if they need to appear in court. They are both ILADS members and I am sure if they knew her situation they would do PRO BONO!!! I know they would.
I htink the way you outlined she is going about it is going to screw herself and is wrong way to go. My brother and sister in law are lawyers, also Uncle, Aunt, grandad, anyway, I know a little re court. I htink the plan you outlined is not a good one.
Doc B and Doc S (female doc S whose expertise this is) would both write letters if approached I am sure. Virginia S has hers listed publicly from abstract as follows vtsherr AT comcast.net and e me at californialyme AT cruzio.com and I will send you Doc Bs!!!
I would not go about trying to prove re chronic Lyme. Just NOT a good idea to open that can of worms. Judge will hate her. Lawyers will love it. Will go everywhere and nowhere. Will open it as questionable!!
Hmm, we have a local lawyer with Lyme in SC. Also can give you that name & number if you e me. Don't know re pro bono there though...
You are a great friend- Best wishes, Sarah 1: Med Hypotheses. 2005;65(3):440-7. Links
Munchausen's syndrome by proxy and Lyme disease: medical misogyny or diagnostic mystery?
Sherr VT. vtsherr AT comcast.net
Chronic, tertiary Lyme disease, a vector-borne infection most accurately designated neuroborreliosis, is often misdiagnosed. Infectors of the human brain, Lyme borrelial spirochetes are neurotropic, similar to the spirochetes of syphilis. Symptoms of either disease may be stable and persistent, transient and inconsistent or severe yet fleeting. Characteristics may be incompatible with established knowledge of neurological dermatomes, appearing to conventional medical eyes as anatomically impossible, thus creating confusion for doctors, parents and child patients. Physicians unfamiliar with Lyme patients' shifting, seemingly vague, emotional, and/or bizarre-sounding complaints, frequently know little about late-stage spirochetal disease. Consequently, they may accuse mothers of fabricating their children's symptoms--the so-called Munchausen's by proxy (MBP) "diagnoses." Women, following ancient losses of feminine authority in provinces of religion, ethics, and healing - disciplines comprising known fields of early medicine, have been scapegoated throughout history. In the Middle Ages, women considered potentially weak-minded devil's apprentices became victims of witch-hunts throughout Europe and America. Millions of women were burned alive at the stake. Modern medicine's tendency to trivialize women's "offbeat" concerns and the fact that today's hurried physicians of both genders tend to seek easy panaceas, frequently result in the misogyny of mother-devaluation, especially by doctors who are spirochetally na�ve. These factors, when involving cases of cryptic neuroborreliosis, may lead to accusations of MBP. Thousands of children, sick from complex diseases, have been forcibly removed from mothers who insist, contrary to customary evaluations, that their children are ill. The charges against these mothers relate to the idea they believe their children sick to satisfy warped internal agendas of their own. "MBP mothers" are then vilified, frequently jailed and publicly shamed for the "sins" of advocating for their children. In actuality, many such cases involve an unrecognized Lyme borreliosis causation that mothers may insist is valid despite negative tests. Doctors who have utilized MBP tactics against mothers are likely to be unaware that in advanced borreliosis, seronegativity is often the rule, a principle disagreed upon by its two extant, published, peer-reviewed, Standards of Care. These are guidelines for Lyme disease management--the older system questioning the existence of persistent Lyme and the newer system relying on established clinical criteria. Mothers must be free to obtain the family's preferred medical care by choosing between physicians practicing within either system without fear of reprisal. Doctors and mothers together may then explore medical options with renewed mutual respect toward the best interest of children's health.
PMID: 15925450 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Posted by breathwork (Member # 567) on :
Thanks everyone...I've forwarded your suggestions to my friend...I'll post if she has further questions or replies...