Two Kansas City couples who were falsely diagnosed with Lyme disease have won verdicts totaling $30 million against the Florida lab that tested their blood.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Michael Manners handed down the verdicts last week against Bowen Research and Training Institute Inc. of Tarpon Springs, Fla., and in favor of Keith and Sheri Klausner and David and Brenda Lampton.
Manners, who tried the case without a jury, heard evidence from the plaintiffs only. Bowen did not send anyone to the trial.
It's not clear whether Bowen still exists. Its old Web site has been supplanted by one for Central Florida Research Inc., which lists some of the same principals. The phone number for Central Florida, however, is disconnected or no longer in service.
Bowen was founded by JoAnne Whitaker, who held herself out as ``an internationally recognized research and teaching physician.'' Whitaker, formerly Bowen's president and director of research, voluntarily relinquished Bowen's license to operate as a clinical laboratory in 2002. After the Florida Department of Health found that Bowen had continued to do clinical testing of patients, Whitaker voluntarily relinquished her Florida medical license in 2007.
The Klausners' saga began in November 2004, when, after experiencing severe joint pain, Keith Klausner went to Health Centers of America-Kansas City, which diagnosed him with Lyme disease. HCAKC recommended the Bowen Q-RIBb test and, in return for a $250 ``donation'' for the test, sent his blood to Bowen. The lab reported that it had identified the organism that causes the disease in his blood.
Klausner underwent months of treatment, including intravenous antibiotics ``and numerous medications and `alternative' substances,'' according to the Klausners' lawsuit.
HCKAC told his wife that she, too, probably had Lyme disease because the disease was transmissible through tears, mucus, blood or sexual contact. Sheri Klausner's blood was sent to Bowen, where it, too, tested positive.
In June 2005, Keith Klausner was admitted to Providence Medical Center's emergency department. The treating physicians told him he did not have Lyme disease and had undergone months of unnecessary therapy.
The Lamptons' experience was similar. Before going to HCKAC in November 2003, Brenda Lampton had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. After HCKAC diagnosed her with Lyme disease, her blood, after payment of the $250 ``donation,'' was sent to Bowen, which confirmed the diagnosis.
Lampton then underwent months of intravenous treatment, which worsened her condition. Eventually she was admitted to the hospital, where she had her gallbladder removed and developed a pulmonary embolism, according to the Lamptons' suit. Her husband, meanwhile, underwent unnecessary oral antibiotic therapy after Bowen said his blood had tested positive for Lyme disease.
In his verdicts, Manners awarded Keith Klausner $9.7 million in medical, non-economic and punitive damages; Sheri Klausner nearly $6 million; Brenda Lampton $8.6 million; and David Lampton $6 million. After various statutory caps, the total comes to nearly $24 million -- still one of the biggest judgments on record this year in Missouri.
HCAKC, while originally a defendant in the suits, was later dismissed.
Whether the Klausners and Lamptons will be able to collect the judgments is an open question.
``That's what we're busy with now,'' said Lance Baughman, of Wright Green & Baughman in Lee's Summit, and an attorney for the Klausners and Lamptons.
To reach Dan Margolies, call 816-234-4481 or send e-mail to [email protected].
[ 05-26-2009, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: bystander ]
Posts: 204 | From ma | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Who says it was a false positive? Some greedy or ignorant patients, a judge that knows nothing about lyme or testing?
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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TerryK
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Member # 8552
posted
This really is upsetting. Joanne Whitaker died last year so that is why she wasn't there to defend herself. I don't know the whole story but I think she was ill and elderly when she gave up Bowen labs. I'm sure she's turning over in her grave at this turn of events.
Such a shame that no one was there to educate the judge as this is just plain ignorance and/or possibly greed.
I'm afraid this will set lyme diagnosis back a few decades.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
It's ironic, given the damage of false negatives.
Posts: 204 | From ma | Registered: May 2007
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
How can anyone argue with a lab result where the organism is actually seen under a microscope???
http://www.personalconsult.com/articles/bowenresearch.html AMAZING SPECIAL DARKFIELD IMAGES OF TICK DISEASE USING FLUORESCENT ANTIBODIES I have been curious about the ability to see Lyme and Babesia from blood testing. I found it very curious that this research lab, run by a doctor's doctor with more experience than 20 physicians, finds positives which are then confirmed by actually growing the organism!
Dr. Mattman, a prominent microbiologist, was nominated for a Nobel Prize for her work on stealth pathogens in 1997. Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme) is a stealth pathogen. Dr. Mattman is one of the few scientists who have been able to successfully culture the Lyme bacteria from its cell wall deficient form, (cystic or L-Form) to spirochetes in a laboratory.
I would like to thank the Bowen Research & Training Institute, Inc., located in Palm Harbor, Florida for the material below, and especially Dr. JoAnne Whitaker, Sandi Lanford, and Dr. Whitaker's kind assistant, Phillip Ruer.
On another page we offer some photo's from Bowen actually showing interesting pictures of Tick Borne Infections. Link to: SPECIAL IMAGES OF LYME AND BABESIA
would you edit subject line and add BOWEN LABS plus $24 million to it? thanks so much; just click on pencil to right of your name and it opens up subject/text areas
many of us are very familiar w/bowen labs and this makes more sense why they closed and reopened with a new name.
adam, i don't understand what you were trying to say; please clarify; thx
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Ocean
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posted
I hope they appeal if they can. This is ridiculous. First of all, Bowen labs did NOT diagnose the couples, only a doctor has the authority to do that.
Secondly, Lyme is a CLINICAL diagnosis. On the CDC page this is clearly stated with the addition that lab test such as an ELISA and/or Western Blot can be (not SHOULD) used to verify the diagnosis. So the lab result could not be used SOLELY for the diagnostic tool. If the want to sue someone, sue the center (though I'm not saying that they should).
Funny because they were probably given an Elisa in the ER, which I'm sure they were not told that it has up to 42% false negative rate.
I agree...who says that they DON'T have Lyme???
I wonder how fast they will go downhill now without treatment?
nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
Unbeleivable - Would this judge please let us know the *apparently* brand new test that proves there are NO Lyme spirochetes in a patient's body?
This is absurd and incredibly dangerously misinformed and misguided. This entire case was tried on non-science.
posted
I find it hard to believe that the lab was the one who was sued and not the doc. The clinic mentioned is one of the few which treat very aggressively and it just seems ironic that they went after the lab which only charged $250 for the test versus the doc whose treatments cost thousands of dollars.
Bowen was the first one to find the ring form of Babesia in hubby's blood. At the time no one else even suggested that as a possible infection.
I really hope the lab can afford a better lawyer and get this overturned.
Whether or not you believe in the lab techniques used by the old Bowen lab or the new lab the issue is that there is no lab test which can 100% prove that a person does not have Lyme.
Almost anyone who is told they have cancer asks for a 2nd opinion before undergoing radiation or chemo. Most people here have had more than one Lyme test. The patient has to decide whether to believe the test result and act on it. And the doc is also a factor.
The outcome of this lawsuit just boggles the mind.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Truthfinder
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posted
This makes me sick. There are so many `miscarriages of justice' here that it is mind-boggling.....
For starters, I don't understand why HCAKC was dismissed as a Defendant either.....
Sounds like this is a `default judgment? What else could it be when there is no one there to represent the Defendant? The article doesn't make that clear - it presents the information as if this were litigants on both sides..... and the writer is clearly biased when using language like, ``JoAnne Whitaker, who held herself out as....'' Language taken directly from Plaintiff's testimony, no doubt.
Are there any real journalists left in this country - ones who present the facts without injecting some subtle form of opinion?
And if memory serves, I was provided with a disclaimer from Bowen stating that this was an experimental test and should not be used to diagnose anything...... what else could Bowen have done? Is there no way to protect yourself from liability these days, except to know the right people, affiliate yourself with those in power (ISDA, CDC, etc.)?
Most judges prefer to evaluate a case on its merits before handing down a judgment to the tune of $24 million...... this is just insanity. I'd LOVE to know who was there to present evidence on the side of the Plaintiffs....
And what happened to Central Florida Research? Their website is no longer there..... did this lawsuit shut them down, too?
I'm totally disgusted.
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Since Chronic Lyme doesn't exist according to the infectious disease docs, anyone of us could have ordered this test and sued.
Not good.
Posts: 743 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2009
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luvs2ride
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Member # 8090
posted
Great point bystander! Why is it so easy to determine a false positive and all its complications but no responsibility held for all the false negatives and its complications.
Even a firm stance against longterm lyme when there is no way to determine a person does not have lyme.
Something just doesn't smell right about all this.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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adamm
Unregistered
posted
Perhaps you should modify "false positive" in your title with "alleged."
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sparkle7
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posted
How about all those years I lost from the prime of my life due to a false negative diagnosis?
I'd like to sue a whole list of doctors & labs for the millions I've lost.
Whenever you go in front of a judge - there's usually some corrupt stuff going on. I'm not joking.
Good luck to the people who won the decision... I don't think they will be able to collect their claim. (note: a whiff of sarcasm here...)
They probably will have a hard time getting better from whatever they may have wrong with them. I don't recall that the article said what was really wrong with them since the Lyme diagnosis was incorrect. I'd be interested in finding out what the "correct" diagnosis was...
This doesn't help anyone except to spread misinformantion about Lyme.
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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blinkie
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Member # 14470
posted
The correct diagnosis was fibromyalgia1 HA! what a joke and what a shame for all lyme sufferers. this could be really bad.
The kicker is...these folks most likely do have lyme (note, they got worse with treatment. Abx will do nothing to you if you don't need them. Or, you could herx)and they will spend all that money chasing a "real" diagnosis that they will never find.
What a shame all around.
Posts: 1104 | From N.California | Registered: Jan 2008
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sparkle7
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
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posted
I think this situation of bad medical diagnosis is quite common. I just don't know why they slammed Bowen.
After all of these years, I still don't know if I really have or had Lyme. I had a clinical diagnosis. I would like to sue someone for all the years I've been ill & wrongly treated.
I just don't think this is fair. I treated myself with lots of stuff - through doctors & on my own. The abx didn't work. As it turns out, I just found out that I have liver flukes. This may have been at the root of my illness all of these years.
We just don't know. The tests are all so poor for Lyme, co-infections & many, many other things. There could be many false negatives & positives.
We just have to keep in mind that any test you get has the possibility of being wrong & your treatment may be inaccurate.
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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seekhelp
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Member # 15067
posted
What on earth would ever happen if we found out Igenix put out inaccurate tests? How would you all react? I'm NOT saying they are at all, but hypothetically. I can't even fathom the amount of $$$ spent on Lyme treatment by all of us over the years.
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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Ocean
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Member # 3496
posted
Seek, I would probably be doubting Igenex too, except that I first went to an MD (used to be ER doc and realized medicine wasn't helping people so he went alternative) who did testing using electrodermal testing. My husband also had it done, my grandmother went to this doctor and 3 other people I know.
NONE have the symptoms I have had and NONE besides myself tested positive for Borrelia. The doctor was actually quite surprised that it said I had Lyme.
Something really bad happened to me days after that and I stopped pursuing anything about Lyme and just tried to survive. Lyme symptoms that had been mostly dormant came pouring out.
I finally started looking up symptoms on Lyme and was floored by how many I had.
If you can swing it and you are game, find someone who has a Biomeridan machine and is good at it and get tested. They'll check for lots of stuff. Babesia Canis came up for me, coxsackle and Mycoplasma.
After Igenex confirmed Lyme, I pretty much trust Igenex.
posted
Hi I wrote to the Central Florida Research Lab and he wrote me back a couple of days ago, so they are still here.
But this lab is located in Winter Haven, not Palm Harbor, so not sure if they took over for Bowen. But you can ask, here is the e-mail he sent me with contact info etc. I'll also post this under a new heading so people will see.
You have to have an order (prescription) from your doctor to have the blood drawn at the lab. They won't work without his order. You also have to have the doc's office complete and sign the requisition form. The requistion form has to be sent along with the blood. Please remember NOT to draw the blood or ship it on a Friday. We are not here weekends and it will be too old when we get it on Monday. Tom Long
Central Florida Research, Inc. Tom Long - President 342 E. Central Ave. Winter Haven, FL 33880 Phone : 863-299-3232 E-Mail : [email protected] Web : www.centralfloridaresearch.comPosts: 8 | From USA, Melbourne Beach Fl | Registered: May 2009
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bejoy
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posted
I don't know how you sue a company that doesn't exist anymore.
Interesting the plaintiffs were able to win that one, as you had to sign forms about the test being experimental.
The doctors are the ones who provided treatment. I wonder how badly they got sued.
Everyone I heard of who did the Bowen test got a high positive. This was explained by the idea that by the time you had the diagnosis to take this test, you already had all the clinical criteria and most likely had a very high level of lyme.
I tend to think that the Bowen test picked up any spirochete, whereas the computerized test may be more picky about Bb in specific. This is purely conjecture.
-------------------- bejoy!
"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Posts: 1918 | From Alive and Well! | Registered: Feb 2007
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Melanie Reber
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posted
"Everyone I heard of who did the Bowen test got a high positive."
No disrespect intended Bejoy,
but the rumor of 'everyone testing positive' has been floating around for a long while now. It is not accurate. I have known SEVERAL Lyme patients who did NOT test positive with Bowen.
posted
HMMMM, didn't know that you could "prove" that you "don't" have Lyme through a test, regardless of weather the test is negative or positive.
I am suprised the judge would rule this way.
Hey, does that mean that for all the "false" negatives I got until recently that I could be a millionaire???
I have been uder the impression that there are far more "False negatives" when it comes to Lyme testing than "false Positives"...
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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hiker53
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posted
Even my first LLMD whom I respected refused to use Bowen. She said she had sent blood there from friends who definitely did not have lyme and never got a negative. So she had me retested at Igenex and I was positive by Igenex standards.
However, if it had not been for Bowen I would not have gotten a foot in the door for further testing with a doctor.
Weird that again Dr. R was involved in that lawsuit, too. Hiker53
-------------------- Hiker53
"God is light. In Him there is no darkness." 1John 1:5 Posts: 8956 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2004
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
i had bowen do my co-infection testings; NEGATIVE but the sent me info stating i was POSITIVE FOR LYME and i already knew that.
Truthfinder
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8512
posted
The problem with Bowen Q-RIBb test is similar to the problem with the Igenex Western Blot: A positive test + enough symptoms = a presumption of Lyme Disease.
But neither test is definitive for ``Lyme'' since asymptomatic people can get a positive test with either the Q-RIBb or the WB.
How many times have we seen both a husband and wife test positive with an Igenex WB, but only the wife has symptoms? As losferwrds pointed out, a positive WB only shows that the body has encountered the pathogen and recognizes it.
We see the same with the Bowen test. My live-in boyfriend and I both tested highest positive with the Bowen test, but I was the only one with obvious symptoms. The Bowen test simply shows a presence of Bb in the blood and in what concentrations, and not necessarily an active infection or illness.
A lawsuit based on a positive result from either test is ridiculous. A court judgment in such a lawsuit is complete insanity.
As I said, it appears that the only reason the judge rendered a decision in this case is because no one from the defunct Bowen lab showed up. That is common practice. Bowen loses by default, not because a decision was rendered based on legal argument.
Of the 4 Bowen tests I know about done through my practitioner, my boyfriend and I were the only ones with highest positives. One result was in the mid-range and the other was just a click or two above the lowest reading. My boyfriend was the only one tested that didn't have symptoms.
Better testing: If neither presence of the pathogen nor presence of antibodies is definitive for confirming a Lyme diagnosis, what should new, future tests focus on?
I'm not sure there will ever be a single test that gets the job done.
Thanks for the info, Sealady. My old link to CFR doesn't work but yours does.
Thanks, Ocean - you've helped me decide to do the BioMeridian testing with a highly-recommended practitioner near here.
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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Ocean
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Member # 3496
posted
Tracy,
Good for you! If I hadn't had it done, I would have no idea I have Lyme right now and would just be calling all of my symptoms 'anxiety'.
Keep us posted on the testing! If they do the B.E.S.T., that is what I had done, not sure what else they can do with those machines though.
Truthfinder
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8512
posted
Thanks, Ocean -
Hey, did you have a list of questions that you asked, or did you just let the practitioner do his/her thing with testing and see what the results were?
(I'm really not sure how it all works, if practitioners welcome specific questions or not, etc.)
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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Ocean
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Member # 3496
posted
Hi Tracy,
It was funny (not ha ha funny, irony I guess), because I just went to see him for a basic physical. I was feeling OK other than a little tiredness and some anxiety. I had to get a physical because my husband and I wanted to adopt a foster child, we wanted a boy around 4-7 years old (we have 3 biological kids, but pregnancy seemed to make me get into an anxiety state, we always hoped for 4 kids and course I didn't know I had Lyme and that is why I had anxiety).
So I went to him because he is an MD and hubby and I needed a physical and I was intrigued with his alternative mindedness and thought maybe he could help my 'anxiety'.
I did tell him about my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome diagnosis back in the day and how horribly sick I was. I told him I was tested for Hepatitis, thyroid, mono, Lyme, among the stuff I was tested for.
We got tested (another guy did the testing who the MD just told me is now in the Southwest Naturopathic college down in the southwest which is great!), and the next week went back.
He seemed surpised when he said, "Rachel, you came back testing for a frequency with Lyme Disease and Babesia." I'd never even heard of Babesia at the time!
I came home and got on Lymenet and started learning about everything, then something really awful happened to me and I stopped learning about Lyme. Almost a year later, I went to an LLMD in CA when my anxiety was so bad I literally could no longer function, couldn't sleep, couldn't be in a store, ect.
If I were you, I would first call and ask them if they have the ability to test for Lyme and all the co-infections. There are different machines out there.
This MD I went to is very open, as he really doesn't know much about Lyme and when I told him about UOS and that I had a copy he said he would love to see it. So he has it now, not sure if he's watched it, but he really wants to learn how to help others (he's in his 60's with the most clear, healthy looking eyes I've ever seen!).
Anyhow, the practitioner will probably ask about symptoms and health history.
posted
More evidence we need better testing. Not to mention the physician "Center" should have not been dismissed. It seemed that someone's rocephin wasn't being monitored correctly if they required gallbladder surgery. At first sign of gallbladder issues, they ought to have been on actigall or something similar.
Seems the practice might have been at fault here, but the lab lost by simply not showing up.
Posts: 690 | From East coast, USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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hiker53
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posted
I don't know how the lab could show up when its major owner is dead. Seems a bit unfair.
-------------------- Hiker53
"God is light. In Him there is no darkness." 1John 1:5 Posts: 8956 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2004
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