Some news to start off the month:
From the California Lyme Disease Association Press release: May 1 2008
"My office uncovered undisclosed financial interests held by several of the most powerful Infectious Disease Society of America panelists," said (Attorney General of Conn.)Blumenthal. "The IDSA's guideline panel improperly ignored, or minimized, consideration of alternative medical opinion and evidence regarding chronic Lyme disease, potentially raising serious questions about whether the recommendations reflected all relevant science."
The groundbreaking settlement announced today forces a complete review of the IDSA guidelines by a new panel free from conflicts of interest, specifically excluding previous panel members. This panel will consider a range of scientific evidence in a public forum broadcast live over the internet and will be overseen by a specialist in financial conflicts of interest in medicine.
"This settlement makes it clear that the IDSA guideline development process was corrupted by a commercially driven panel that excluded evidence supporting longer term treatment of Lyme disease," said attorney Lorraine Johnson, Executive Director of the California Lyme Disease Association (CALDA). "This settlement allows suppressed scientific viewpoints and evidence to be heard, and it is promising news for patients."This is the first-ever anti-trust investigation against a medical society's guidelines development process.
3 comments:
I wonder when doctors, the government and drug companies will put treating the patient above the bottom line? Try never.
Sick, disgusting, really.
What's the buzz in the Lyme patient/survivor arena on this statement? I think it's obvious, but still worth hearing in this forum.
The Lyme community feels a little validated by this announcement. Thousands and thousands of people fighting for the right to treatment have been accused of being loony "conspiracy theorists." For so many years, Lyme patients have suffered emotional abuse from doctors who refuse to believe in chronic Lyme...because they were told to by these guidelines.
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