The battlelines are drawn in the latest medicolegal war which tests how far patient activism can go when the patient asks for, rather demands, a particular treatment regimen unproven in the pantheon of well-studied and documented clinical medicine. The treatment of Lyme disease, an infectious disorder in which the deer tick (found in abundance here in Minnesota) acts as a vector of transmission, is under fire from patient activist groups who say that they aren’t being treated effectively for the disorder’s possible long-term effects, which can be disabling.

Pity the role of infectious disease experts who are often called upon to consult and produce national guidelines based upon sound medical and clinical research. These intrepid physicians now have to navigate and overcome the legislative process which appears to be siding with patients who feel as though they are being maltreated. In Minnesota, the state medical board (which regulates, disciplines, and licenses physicians) has had to initiate a moratorium against actions that may arise out of patient complaints with respect to the treatment of Lyme disease. Elsewhere, activist groups are gaining steam and appear to be influencing its evaluation, classification, and treatment^[1] without the involvement of physician specialists and experts…and with the support of lawmakers. | LINK

1. which often involves the unproven use of chronic antibiotics, for a year or more.. [↩]

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