Lyme Disease Doctor Facing State Medical Hearings Over Antibiotic Prescription
By WILLIAM HATHAWAY Courant Staff Writer
April 20 2007
The eighth hearing before a state panel on whether to revoke the medical license of Dr. Charles Ray Jones on Thursday was more like Jerry Springer than a sophisticated medical debate over how to diagnose and treat Lyme disease.
The case against the Hamden doctor was triggered by a long-running feud between ex-spouses in Nevada over the education and health of their two children - acrimony recounted before the state Medical Examining Board during the hearing.
But the board's decision on Jones' professional fate will have major repercussions on how the tick-borne disease is diagnosed and treated in Connecticut and across the country, doctors and Lyme disease advocates say.
The Department of Public Health says Jones violated standard of care practices by diagnosing Lyme disease and prescribing antibiotics to two Nevada children he had not yet met and continued long-term antibiotic treatment, despite test results which did not show evidence of infection of the Lyme bacterium.
However, dozens of Lyme disease advocates who turned out to support Jones on Thursday and hundreds of others who have donated to his legal defense fund believe otherwise. The case has attracted national attention because advocates for Lyme disease patients believe that existing diagnostic tests are flawed and that the medical establishment has ignored evidence that antibiotics can eradicate debilitating neurological symptoms associated with chronic Lyme infections.
Much of the testimony Thursday involved messy details of a decade of strife between Jeff and Robin Sparks following their 1996 divorce. Jeff Sparks, whom the DPH flew in from California to testify, told the panel he was particularly angry at his ex-wife's decision in the spring of 2004 to home school their then-11-year-old son, who was exhibiting behavioral problems in school.
His ex-wife, Robin Sparks, who had been flown to Connecticut from Nevada by the Jones defense team for an earlier hearing, testified that her son not only had a dramatic drop in his grades but also experienced a host of symptoms like joint pain, night terrors, nose bleeds and sensitivity to light. Believing her son might be suffering from Lyme disease, she eventually sought help from Jones.
Jeff Sparks said, however, that his son exhibited none of those symptoms during his twice weekly visits with his son and daughter. Yet in March 2004, Jones wrote a letter to school officials in Carson City, Nev., suggesting the child might have Lyme disease and might benefit from home schooling.
Jones did not examine the boy until May of that year.
Backed by dozens of supporters in a crowded conference room at DPH headquarters in Hartford, Jones testified that his diagnosis of Lyme disease was provisional and that the letter was intended to suggest home schooling would be appropriate if the diagnosis was confirmed.
Sparks would later file a complaint against Jones with DPH, prompting the hearings.
Jeff Sparks also told the panel that his wife had previously claimed to be suffering from a host of ailments such as the rare blood disorder lupus, brain tumors and late-stage ovarian cancer - all of which ended up to be false claims. She also incorrectly said their son was suffering from epilepsy and even breast cancer, Sparks testified.
Attorneys for Jones asked Sparks about his ex-wife's allegations of child abuse, lack of child support and refusals to pay medical bills for his children.
Sparks denied those allegations Thursday.
DPH says Jones diagnosed the boy as having Lyme disease without having seen him and later prescribed long-term antibiotic therapy without evidence that the boy had been infected with the Lyme bacterium. Jones also prescribed antibiotics to the daughter, again without having examined the child, the DPH alleges.
Jones said Thursday he did extend an existing prescription by phone for an oral antibiotic for the son, who had a lung infection. However, Jones said, he only began treatment for Lyme disease after examining the boy in May. Jones' lawyers contend the boy got dramatically better after receiving antibiotic treatment.
Jeff Sparks acknowledged his son did perform better in school after antibiotic treatment but suggested it was for a different reason. He and his wife attended school with their son for several days a week for more than a month, and his behavioral problems abated, he said.
Lawyers for both sides expected to have a final hearing on the Jones case next month before the medical examiner's board begins its deliberations on Jones' license.
Contact William Hathaway at [email protected]. Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant
-------------------- nan Posts: 2135 | From Tick Country | Registered: Oct 2000
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shazdancer
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1436
posted
Thanks, nan.
Very glad the reporter "got it," that this is a child support and custody feud. Also glad that Pollack seems to have been able to bring that out.
My thanks to the "dozens" who attended.
Posts: 1558 | From the Berkshires | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I wonder if Jeff Sparks will ever come to realize the damage he is doing because he can't get along with his ex-wife.
I also hope that Dr. J has all his ducks lined up, and that he has good paperwork.
Cases like this have huge ripple effects. Both of my docs in SD watch these situations and wonder if they are the ones gone after next.
Here's the amazing thing, medical malpractice notwithstanding: How many on this board have waited months before they could get in to see a good LLMD? Meanwhile, an immediate course of doxy might have settled the whole matter.
I am less angry at Jeff Sparks and his wife, who appear to be acting out of maliciousness and ignorance toward each other only. I am more angry at the state medical boards who seem to be acting maliciously and ignorantly toward the lyme community.
-------------------- Jeff Posts: 533 | From CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Yes, people like Jeff Sparks are just tools in the hands of state medical boards with an agenda. If the board actually cared anything about public health, this case would have been thrown out immediately. Not allowed to drag on into the second year, calling for great expense to Dr. J to defend himself. Nuts, absolutely nuts.
All I have to say about the relationship of the parents in this case is that the wife apparently needs to exercise better judgment in her choice of men! Marry in haste, repent at leisure. But then, how could she have anticipated that he would turn out to be this rotten? Because his behavior not only hurts her, it hurts the kids.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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Foggy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1584
posted
quote:Originally posted by JeffM: I wonder if Jeff Sparks will ever come to realize the damage he is doing because he can't get along with his ex-wife.
Well said! Posts: 2451 | From Lyme Central | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I think this is the first time I have seen his name in print. Boy would I like to........!!!!
Posts: 263 | From Georgia | Registered: Feb 2006
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just don
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1129
posted
Do we know where this guy lives??Can he be found?? Wouldnt it be fun to fill his mailbox full of facts,,,
not that he would READ them,,but satisfying he was told,,,maybe get him a copy of Lymedad's story!! Something SHORT and sweet.
Just to make him aware that he MAY be barking a empty tree!!just a thought from--just don--
-------------------- just don Posts: 4548 | From Middle of midwest | Registered: May 2001
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posted
It blows the mind that ONE SINGLE DEMENTED, mean-hearted individual can cause this much damage and financial strain to one of the best docs in the country WHO WAS DOING HIS BEST TO HELP THIS MAN'S OWN CHILDREN!!!! Unbelievable!
I would like to do worse than just stuff his mailbox with Lyme facts... That would be throwing pearls before swine.
Anneke
Posts: 364 | From California | Registered: Sep 2005
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shazdancer
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1436
posted
Don't bother trying to get through to the guy. He didn't even want to come out to CT and back up his charges unless the state paid for it. He blatantly lied to the medical board, saying that the children's first meeting with Dr. J was 5-10 minutes. He went on and on about how awful his wife was.
He loves the attention. Loves it. Like a little kid, he doesn't care if it's negative or positive attention, as long as it's attention. Don't feed him by giving him more.
Lou, you said it. This kind of guy can charm the socks off a centipede. Only after you're hooked does he begin to show who he really is.
Been there, divorced that, Shaz
Posts: 1558 | From the Berkshires | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Anneke: It blows the mind that ONE SINGLE DEMENTED, mean-hearted individual can cause this much damage and financial strain to one of the best docs in the country WHO WAS DOING HIS BEST TO HELP THIS MAN'S OWN CHILDREN!!!! Unbelievable!
I would like to do worse than just stuff his mailbox with Lyme facts... That would be throwing pearls before swine.
Anneke
Absolutely!!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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heiwalove
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6467
posted
does anyone else who attended the hearing feel like everything coming out of jeff sparks' mouth was a complete and utter lie?
he was caught in blatant lies a couple times.. and the audience's spontaneous response (huge burst of simultaneous laughter) when he claimed dr. j examined the kids for all of five or ten minutes, was classic.
i mean, his claim that the mother thinks her 14 yr old son has breast cancer?? what the heck? he's doing his best to paint his ex-wife as a hysterical female, a nutcase with severe munchausen's syndrome.
posted
thanks for posting this, and that the writer realized that it's a child custody, bitter divorce battle that has caused 2 yrs. of hell for Dr. Jones.
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posted
it could work to jones' advantage that the DOH witness is a dirtball and appeared that way even after getting preened for court, especially in comparison to any one of the defence witnesses (of which there were many).
don't give up the fight.
great article, we need more of these.
mo
Posts: 8337 | From the other shore | Registered: Jul 2002
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