posted
From what I have read about medicine and the law, nothign really gets resolved without litigation. I heard of a cecil maryland teen who got a million dollar lawsuit for misdiagnosis of lyme. what if we all organize and get a lawyer to be on our side and all sue at once? and fight it until it goes to the supreme court? has anyone thougth of this and why it may or may nto work?
Posts: 615 | From maryland | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
i am grasping at straws here. i guess the bill 741 and AG blumenthal's investigation are big steps going on now, and I need to be patient.
I know individual lawsuits are not going to work. but maybe if there was something like a class action lawsuit, that could be applied to all the doctors involved or something, I dont know.
in my case, most of my dr's were not at fault. i moved and never even told my dr's I had had lyme.
but then when i started to get suspicious and thought it was lyme, most of the dr's I saw were nice and trying to be helpful. there were a few who were total a$$es, but still not a reason to sue.
i just don't like the idea of suing because i hate to blame anyone for my being sick. but I know logically and historically nothing ever gets resolved unless through litigation. (ex was a lawyer)
Posts: 615 | From maryland | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
hi all-- I agree with you--- after 15+ years of government inaction on this illness, I'm starting to believe that lawsuits--- lots of lawsuits --- are going to be the only way to dislodge this cabal of financially self interested scientists out of the medical industrial Lyme complex.
There are lots of possibilities for lawsuits-- a start would be a class action lawsuit targeting individuals who have a clear financial interest in knowlingly withholding data or in denying the existence of data that has repeatedly proven that the Lyme spirochete persists chronically in the human brain and other tissue. There are lots of papers and studies that prove the persistence of infection, so this shouldn't be too difficult-- even wikipedia has tons of footnotes on mechanisms of persistence at their Lyme disease site (posted here a while back).
A second avenue would be to sue individuals who are responsible for approving the knowingly flawed diagnostic tests available today. Again a class action would be nice here-- and lucrative for the lawyers-- which is fine-- as long as we obtain our objective. Perhaps we could get the many Lyme protein PATENTS as a part of the settlment... and then make the patents freely available to all researchers.
Another avenue would be to target those scientists and public servants who are harassing Lyme activists or lyme literate doctors with intimidation, on- line threats, disinformation, slanderous web sites and use of local political authorities to intimidate ....sometimes they even do this while working on the government payroll-- yet another example of our tax dollars at work in our growingly corrupt society.
The only reason why these guys appear to be prevailing now is because they act very confident and they have insinuated themselves into committee positions at medical journals, while the sheeple in the medical establishment just follow along without bothering to read the conflicting studies.....
As Henry Kissinger once said: perception (not reality) is everything in politics..and sadly, because of the big bucks involved-- this purely medical situation hs become highly political.
The NYT had an excellent article today about the herd mentality among doctors, and about how they often repeatedly ignore good science simply because one key committee member won't read the science-- to the detriment of the public.
Posts: 696 | From New York | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
OK...Im breaking my docs ordes tonight and taking peek at whats happening.
I recently did some web searches on Lyme law suits and was surprised to see several at first glance.
There were some on both sides of the fence- some for misdiagnosis of Lyme but also several law suits for "failure to diagnose" Lyme disease resulting in damage.
There was an article I stumbled on in Canada that spoke of a class action law suit due to the governments failure to protect its citizens from west nile virous....very substancial settlements
The Lyme website showing this asked....will Lyme disease be next?
Here are a few of the Lyme settlements-lawyers I found:
Nothing I write here is medical advice...I'm just another lymie sharing how this disease has affected me personally Posts: 175 | From Central Maine | Registered: Sep 2007
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
fyi, Iowa's independent lawyer, ROXANE CONLEY and 100 other lawyers everywhere,, took on MICROSOFT for anti-trust WHERE WE COULD ONNLY GET ms ON OUR NEW PCS WE BOUGHT.
they won earlier this year; around xmas, we should be getting refunds for the number of MS programs that are on our pcs.
$150 million i believe with 50% going to LAWYERS! ************************************************
just food for thought here.
iowa's attorney general, tom miller, lead the TOBACCO lawsuit that won also.
no, i don't know roxane; she was our attorney general before running/losing governor job.
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Of course that won't stop Sen. Bill Frist from sneaking in a little legislation absolving all the Lyme crooks like Yale and Smithkline--- from damages... Dr. Frist already did this with vaccine companies-- in anticipation of HUGE damages stemming from autism and vaccines..
The corruption runs deep, folks--- its mind bending how corrupt and evil our government has become.
We are the canary in the coal mine-- we must fight to take back our government from these crooks!!
Posts: 696 | From New York | Registered: Aug 2006
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Its scary.... last time I went to DC it just had a "big money rolling off the printing presses going into big pharma and big defense" STENCH to it..
Sadly, our leaders' profiligate spending is bankrupting us..... Look at our dollar --- down, down down... 70% down!!
We are becoming poor overnight... when they finish with the dollar pillage, they'll offer us all 1 Amero for 20 US dollars..... and so much for the stock market gains...
Posts: 696 | From New York | Registered: Aug 2006
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Years ago I tried to do a class action law suit.
The attorney who took the case for about 120 people that I gathered together before he became ill and then hospitilized and couldn't continue in his practice.
It is really hard to find anyone to take a class action case. I interviewed at least 50 attorneys before getting one.
but..
Think about this....
Wouldn't it be better to do mass numbers of individual suits? Check out Dr. Cameron's latest article.
Also.. wouldn't your chances be better for a class action if you waited for the conclusion of the Attorney General's case? If they are found guilty... we would have a basis for the cases.
Plus.. important.. we don't want to interfer with the AG actions. Leave it be and let them do their job. It is going aggressively now... and from what I've heard.... I'm happy.
Now.. one BIG note...
Do NOT wait for the AG to contact a lawyer if you think you have a case. There is a time limit for filing and I don't want you to miss it. Go for your individual cases ASAP.
Question in regard to failure to diagnose lawsuits- if you know...
I went 2.5 years undiagnosed, first by my PCp in 04-05, then by 3 neurologists ( 2-top new england specialists) in 06-07.
If the statute of limitations is 2.5 years (??) can I still go after my original PCP? That was over 3 years ago now that I became ill.
Any thoughts?
Does starting a law suit put my LLMD (started in March 07) at risk of exposure? He still affirms he wants to be kept out od the Lymelite.
Its a shame, he really has a generally good success rate andd treats people all over the country via word of mouth.
Any suggestions for consulting with a Lawyer in Maine area?
Thanks BJK
PS- Ive gotten several letters back from maine senators and reps that are supporting the current bills, one is on a particular commision related to studying the bill. Sounded good overall.
Still nothing bck from the last CDC questions about 08 reform/rewording.
It really made a difference sending the basic info but providing my story web link- so far they have all read the story and commented with empathy.
-------------------- BJK
Nothing I write here is medical advice...I'm just another lymie sharing how this disease has affected me personally Posts: 175 | From Central Maine | Registered: Sep 2007
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posted
Last night I emailed a bout 5 fairly local malpractice lawyers, well see if any of them think I have a case....
in other words well see if any of them think they can make enough money to make it worth thier while.
Any suggestions on a good lawyer with Lyme experience is welcome.
Thanks,
BJK
-------------------- BJK
Nothing I write here is medical advice...I'm just another lymie sharing how this disease has affected me personally Posts: 175 | From Central Maine | Registered: Sep 2007
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posted
I would really like to see a class action suit against some of the insurance companies for the harm that their failure to cover is causing. My 16 yr old daughter was improving on IV abx, but our insurance company discontinued coverage. We struggled and kept IV going, out of pocket, for several months. We finally had to give it up due to the expense and now she is relapsing horribly.
I read in an article several yrs. ago that the CEO of our insurance company made several million dollars in salary per year, plus a $14 million 3-year bonus. Guess that fat bonus was for the amount of patients he had denied coverage to. It seems criminal. So many patients have to choose between treatment and keeping their homes, etc. Something needs to be done to wake up the insurance companies and bring relief to the many who are suffering.
Posts: 260 | From Virginia | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Maybe we're going to need a list of LLLs - that's Lyme-literate lawyers!
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I was so incredibly angry coming out of my neuro appt today and immediately thought of a class action suit.
However, how would it apply to someone like me, who STILL is being told I am not positive for Lyme??
Only thing I know, is I am positive for IGG on bands 41 and 58...and sick as a dog. Given 1 course augmentin, 1 course doxy and now being told I am a nutcase.
Yeah....a class action suit sounds pretty good to me right now.
I wonder if the Cochran Law firm , I think up in DC would take a case?? I think I have the right spelling for that.
Count me in, tho. I think we need to do something NOW about this....I cant imagine any of my kids coming down with this, and it breaks my heart to see anyone, let alone a child come down with this and be left undertreated and underdiagnosed. We need to be proactive and protect our generation, let alone the next generations to come.
Posts: 25 | From MD | Registered: Sep 2007
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posted
At first glance one'd think I could help, but these jokers'd rake me over the coals for daring to think, and not watching tv, and writing songs, as well as being a vegetarian and not driving cars-- then any 'amerikan' jury would consider me ..'marginalized'.., and discredited! I definitely deserve some compensation, though. Not from the doc who I saw, who was, as someone else noted with their doc, nice, be not lyme-literate; rather it's the 'academic' crowd who won't admit they're wrong, even in the face of many cases like mine, who should be doing some big time compensating. But the way the system is, even that would have its downside-- the main effect would be to jack up the median price of medical care. Everyone loses, except ...'insurance'...-yep-yep-yeah-right... corpulations and a few medical entities that become less available to sick people, and also, most likely, a few crooked...'insurance'... companies.. DaveS
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
My apologies for the cynicism=- it's an "outlet for frustration" for me! Don't let it drag you down; tremendous progress has been made, and will no doubt continue! DaveS
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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daise
Unregistered
posted
We need an attorney who knows what Lyme is, from first hand experience.
What would be their approach for a class action law suit(s)?
posted
One person here won a case recently against their insurance company for denying them their longterm disability benefits after losing their job due to CFDS. The jury awarded the person 15 million. I think it's on appeal right now.
Any more stories of lawsuits won anywhere?
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
Seriously, I wonder why it is that a class action suit can't be filed against the CDC itself for creating this mess with the testing and for failing to adequately warn and protect us about a disease it knew darn well could remain chronic and debilitating.
If I had been properly warned, maybe I would have chosen to leave the east coast etc...
So, how can we find a lawyer willing to take on a class action of this magnitude?
And the further question is, can a government agency be sued?
Individual suits are good too, but a big class action would speak volumes. If not against the CDC, then against Yale or even the IDSA? It's possible, people, isn't it?
Posts: 194 | Registered: Jul 2005
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daise
Unregistered
posted
Here, here!
Sure it's possible!
It would make waves-- just filing a HUGE class action, alone, ought to get the attention of the nationwide press, right away.
Many, many could then make the connection to why their lives are torn-up and they're in so much pain.
Decades of denial about Lyme. If nothing else it would help the beleagured healthcare field / Social Security costs / the economy / not to mention very ill citizens and their families!
Especially children with Lyme.
"Lyme" needs to become a household word. I think class action could go a long way. Out here in the mountains and desert, right now, when you say "Lyme disease" people think you're talking about limes that are diseased.
United we stand!
Idea: We could do another topic with a heading, something like: Know a LAWYER with chronic Lyme?
Problem: very few read the activism forum, and we're supposed to post topics under the appropriate form.
You are SO right-- the real people to sue are the amoral scientists at the NIH and CDC... these are the cover-up "masters of deception" who say outrageous lies to the press like: "The Lymerix vaccine was withdrawn due to lack of demand..." HA HA.. that dangerous Lymerix vaccine was withdrawn because it crippled THOUSANDS of people... what LIARS these people are... LIES, AND THE LYING NIH LIARS THAT TELL THEM.....
(Pardon my fit over evil scientists....it's a temporary affliction.... unlike my Lyme...)
Yes... the NIH and CDC should be put OUT of business with so many lawsuits that congress has to wake up from its corporate cash haze and DO something...
-- that's ONE thing my borrelia infected brain still knows.... Posts: 696 | From New York | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Count me in too. Every night I pray for the well-being of Dr. C, in MO, and his staff. I pray for my 3 children who have been diagnosed. I don't want them to grow up and endure what I have endured. I agree, something must be done!!
-------------------- Amy
Diagnosed April 29, 2007. Posts: 136 | From Joplin, MO | Registered: Apr 2007
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