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Patients
who have Lyme doctors with practices in New York have lobbied
the NYS Legislature for over 7 years now.
The first thing we did was to convince legislators to
hold public hearings. These November 27,
2001 and January 31, 2002 hearings served to gain strong support
for chronic Lyme patients. This year, the plan is for
patients to tell their stories and it will be very good to re-emphasize
our plight, to let legislators know that we still need their commitment
to help us. In 2008, our focus is on creating friendships and
raising awareness.
HISTORY:
In
the past, we focused on the following issues, taken from
our talking points of 2007:
Doctors who don't follow the cookbook approach
regarding diagnosis and treatment as dictated by the IDSA
(Infectious Diseases Society of America) are considered to be
Lyme knowledgeable, Lyme friendly, Lyme educated or Lyme
literate. These
doctors recognize the fact that much more research and
proof via actual case studies are necessary before the
determination, if ever, of any one specific treatment.
Lyme physicians look to treat Lyme patients until the
patient is well, and if necessary, they include aggressive and
long term treatment, as per ILADS Guidelines. (International
Lyme and Associated Diseases Society)
The heretofore unchecked power of the IDSA * the
situation for ILADS doctors is that insurance companies and
state disciplinary boards have unfairly taken sides.
The OPMC has investigated and in some cases, charged
LLMDS with medical misconduct. These actions
could result in the loss of LLMDs licenses, simply for treating
chronic Lyme disease. The
chilling effect of this harassment on
Lyme literate doctors has made it extremely difficult for Lyme
disease patients to
find medical care. With the handing down of the recent 2006
Guidelines by the IDSA, the situation has worsened.
* We
need OPMC REFORM legislation to deter harassment of physicians treating
chronic Lyme disease. Providing
due process for our NY doctors will help all patients, no matter
where the Connecticut CID investigation leads.
*Nov
2006 -
Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal is
calling for an investigation of the IDSA for their Guidelines on
the Treatment of Lyme disease. Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal subpoenaed the IDSA, launching a CID
investigation into what Blumenthal said could "severely
reduce choice for patients and physicians in diagnosis and
treatment thereby violating the anti-trust laws that protect
consumers."
December
2004 NYS Senate finally passed the OPMC Reform bill in 2004.
(NYS Assembly had passed the OPMC Reform Bill every year)
However, despite significant pressure to sign the bill,
Governor Pataki vetoed it.
The
effort to get this bill passed and SIGNED is why we are lobbying
on May 2, 2007!!!
6/9/2003
Assembly
bill A.4274a is passed.
5/23/2003
Senate
companion bill S.5221 to Assembly bill is introduced by James
Seward.
5/29/02
Health
Committee chairman, Senator Kemp Hannon's neglect on the issue
of OPMC misbehavior over Lyme disease, spurs Lyme patients to
protest outside his office.
5/24/02
OPMC
Reform Bill is introduced in the NY Senate as S.7466 by Senator
William Larkin.
514/02
Assembly
OPMC Reform bill A.11330 passes Health Committee Vote.
4/22/02
NYS
Assembly Resolution passes by unanimous floor vote - with over
103 sponsors from both sides of the isle -- a remarkable
bipartisan feat.
4/22/02
Dr.
Burrascano receives decision by the Administrative Review Board.
The ARB affirms that the OPMC was prosecuting a bias in a
medical science dispute and not misconduct. (Decision
available on the OPMC
website)
Please
note: Unlike other cases, Dr. B's was allowed to present medical
literature into evidence that justified his method. This
evidence very much influenced the panel, which points to the
need that in addition to other measures, one way we must reform
the OPMC process law is to include that medical literature
evidence is allowed in all OPMC hearings.
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