CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
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posted
it presented both sides- unlike the Courant- ************************************************ Doc Punished for Lyme Disease Treatment
By DAVE COLLINS -
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A New Haven pediatrician who has been praised by patients but criticized by the medical establishment for the way he treats Lyme disease was reprimanded, fined $10,000 and placed on two years probation by state regulators Tuesday.
The Connecticut Medical Examining Board voted unanimously to impose the sanctions after concluding that Dr. Charles Ray Jones violated care standards by diagnosing Lyme disease in a boy and his sister and prescribing antibiotics based on a phone conversation with their mother, months before he examined them in May 2004.
The board also found that Jones broke standards by failing to reconsider his diagnoses of the children after lab tests came up negative for the tick-borne disease, which can cause painful arthritis, meningitis and other serious illnesses if not treated promptly.
Board members further concluded that Jones was wrong to prescribe antibiotics for nearly a year without repeat exams and without any arrangement with another doctor, because the children lived in Nevada, to monitor for any side effects of long-term antibiotic therapy.
Hartford lawyer Elliott Pollack, who is representing the 77-year-old Jones, said he will appeal the board's decision.
"This board has made a very serious error without sufficient evidence and contrary to compelling evidence," Pollack said, adding that the board's ruling was "a classic example of government treading where it's not ready to tread."
He said the board's decision would cause a "chilling effect," because many doctors will now be worried about regulators questioning the way they treat their patients.
Pollack compared Jones with the many "nonconformists" who were ostracized by the medical community before having their innovations validated.
Jones, who says he has treated more than 10,000 children with Lyme disease, insists long-term courses of antibiotics are the best remedy.
He also believes many doctors fail to diagnose Lyme disease when their patients actually have it, because their patients don't have what the medical establishment says are the telltale symptoms, including a rash and achy joints. Jones says less than 10 percent of Lyme patients actually have the rash when they go to the doctor.
The misdiagnoses are causing unnecessary suffering, Jones and his supporters contend.
But two major medical associations released guidelines in the past year that found no good evidence that long-term antibiotics help lingering symptoms. They also warned that serious side effects and formation of drug-resistant super germs can result from long-term use of antibiotics.
Another problem is no test can confirm whether someone has active Lyme disease. The main tests used are ones that confirm the presence of infection-fighting antibodies, which often take weeks to form but linger long after Lyme is gone.
Jones says many tests are unreliable and too many doctors stop considering Lyme disease diagnoses if tests come back negative.
At a hearing at the state Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, Pollack told the Medical Examining Board that Jones did not formally diagnose or treat the Nevada children until after he examined them.
He said the children, who were not named, are now doing well.
"When is the last time this board punished a physician for curing patients?" Pollack asked the board.
Dr. David Goldenberg, a member of the Medical Examining Board, strongly took issue with many of Pollack's contentions.
"Your argument has more holes in it than a watering can," Goldenberg said.
Goldenberg said the board was not trying to set new standards for treating Lyme disease.
"It's obvious to me that the standard of care was breached not one, but many times -- the old standard of care," he said.
As to Pollack comparing Jones to the "nonconformists," Goldenberg said history is probably filled with thousands of doctors who were wrong and mistreated their patients with experimental care.
The board voted shortly after Goldenberg's remarks. After the hearing, Jones' patients and his supporters expressed their anger.
"I wouldn't be here right now if he hadn't been here to help me," said Meredith Lyon, 18, of Wenham, Mass. "I think what happened today is absolutely criminal."
Lyon said she began seeing Jones when she was 8 or 9 years old, and nearly all her Lyme disease symptoms are gone. Her mother, Kay Lyon, said other pediatricians failed to diagnose the disease and told her Meredith would die because of brain lesions.
Before seeing Jones, Meredith missed school and spent time in a psychiatric hospital because of hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, Kay Lyon said.
Jones said that despite his age, he keeps a full-time practice in New Haven focusing on Lyme disease.
"If I don't do it, who will?" he said.
He said he was "not happy" with the examining board's decision, which also requires him to hire another doctor to review his patient files.
"It's not over by any means," Jones said. "This is going to be challenged."
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
sarah, yes, that was a GOOD well-balanced article! noted gold..... seemed like a real horses >>> in it too.
i was going to write feedback, but the link does not allow that; oh well!
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