posted
Hi. I have to admit I've been mostly a casual observer of lyme politics over the last 10 years. I always sort of assumed that it all boiled down to money. In other words we're hurting someone's bottom line by seeking treatment, so they take legal action to harrass and intimidate our doctors. Do other people essentially see it that way? I mean my LLMD is under medical board supervision now and this clearly has a chilling effect. My LLMD claims to not know who filed a complaint. Is it safe to assume that people in the insurance industry file these complaints?
I have been reading about the proposed legislation that would create an advisory panel on lyme disease. I guess it occurs to me that this could simply be another areana where we would get out-spent, and out-lobbied by the insurance industry. I mean they are one of the most powerful interests in Washington right? If they can get medical boards to do their bidding why couldn't they get an advisory board to do the same.
I'm not sure what the solution to these problems is. It seems like a political solution might involve a cap on liability for insurance providers in return for an end to legal harrassment.
If we can't win politically can't we at least find a place where doctors can treat their patients without fear. Are their states that would be willing to pass laws that protect doctors. What are the laws in Canada?
Also seems to me that some very minimal political organization could go a long way. I'm sure stuff is going on that I don't know about. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. And I get the impression that this campaign of fear and intimidation against lyme doctors is largely taking place in secret.
With all of the high profile people who have had lyme disease you would think we could muster a little bit of political clout.
Posts: 19 | From Baltimore, MD | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Well, not sure it is entirely ins cos. Think they are taking advantage of the situation tho, and it is frequently a stooge of the ins co that does the reporting to the state medical board, which doesn't do a good job usually in handling these complaints.
Think the govt is mismanaging the lyme epidemic in a big way. Why is beyond me. Maybe they think they have all the work they want to do and don't know how to deal with this anyway, so shove it under the table. And fund only researchers willing to see it their way. NIH is the gorilla of funding and no academic research institution is willing to cross them.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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Ok, so you're saying NIH takes a consaervative stance on lyme. I know Johns Hopkins does because I live in Baltimore. And there is definitely an anti-lyme orthodoxy that is ingrained in almost everyone I've come into contact with there. It just seems to me that this has to be about more than ideology. People aren't going to go through the hassle of going after doctor's medical licesnses just to stake out an ideological position. It has to ultimately be about money. But I can see how it could be an unholy alliance if academics are giving the insurance industry intellectual cover.
Posts: 19 | From Baltimore, MD | Registered: Nov 2003
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posted
Nothing ideological about it, its about the money. see kathleen dickson's site on the insurance companies,and the fraud in lyme diagnosis and treatment. see http://www.actionlyme, her expert witness testimony on the lymerix vaccine at an FDA meeting, and her RICO complaint.
if not caught early, they've always known this becomes a permanent brain infection.
Posts: 2708 | Registered: Feb 2005
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