Re: Please write

[Guest guest]

HI everyone! Please keep the letters to the Senators, etc., coming! This

is VERY important.

has informed us of how a number of reps never even opened their

email accounts, so it is most important to write via snail mail. I am

including those addresses below.

However, for those of you who cannot get letters out via regular mail,

please send them to the representative c/o monica (per her suggestion in

a private email) at her email address which is:

@...

Below is a sample letter which you all have seen. Please keep

sending it or a similar letter, and get it out via regular mail if you

haven't already. You do not have to be from NY, everyone is important,

and you can send multiple times. Just keep em comin'.

I got a call from one rep and he is getting a lot of letters on this and

would like to set up a meeting. PLEASE do not let up on the letters. We

haven't arranged the date and time of the meeting yet, and we wouldn't

want his interest and that of the others to dwindle.

Thank you for your hard work thus far.

Cheryl

http://www.aero-vision.com/~cheryl/activism.html

http://www.aero-vision.com/~cheryl/lymes.html

Hon. Kemp Hannon

Chairman Senate Health Committee

Room 609 LOB

Albany, NY 12247

Hon. Gottfried

Chairman Assembly Health Committee

Room 822 LOB

Albany, NY 12248

Hon. Sam Colman (He authored the 1994 NYS alt med law)

NY Assembly

Room 946

Albany, NY 12248

Antonia C. Novello, MD

Commissioner of Health

Corning Tower

Albany, NY 12237

I request your immediate attention to an emergent problem involving the

Office of Professional Medical Conduct of the New York State Department of

Health (OPMC) This issue threatens the future of thousands of people in

New York State who suffer from Lyme disease and its frequently disabling

effects.

As you may know, there is a clear cut controversy within the medical

community as to whether Lyme disease is always curable with short term

antibiotics or whether infection frequently persists and, therefore,

requires longer term antibiotic treatment. =A0 Recently, a number of

physicians in New York State who sometimes recommend longer term treatment

for their Lyme Disease patients have been reported for medical misconduct.

along with many like-minded physicians throughout the country.

While the members of Lyme Disease support groups have seen this as

politically motivated harassment causing considerable expenditure of time

and money by the physicians most involved in treating long term infection,

many have had confidence that an OPMC investigation would be impartial.

However, a letter to a Lyme disease patient from Dr Marks, executive

secretary of the OPMC, dated Dec 21, 1999 has revealed otherwise. =A0 In

explaining how the OPMC determines what is a reasonable standard of care,

Dr. Marks writes, " Rarely, if ever, have the published guidelines

indicated that anything more that (sic) tow(sic)-three weeks of

antibiotics are required to cure Lyme Disease. "

This not only contradicts the experience of thousands of Lyme disease

patients, but also ignores a large body of medical literature in peer

reviewed journals validating the existence of persistent infection and

recommending longer term antibiotic treatment. See: Persistence or Relapse

of Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/persistence-special.html

Long-Term or Repeated Antibiotic Therapy for Lyme Disease - An Annotated

Bibliography

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/therapy-special.html

Moreover, the statement completely ignores the guidelines published in a

reputable reference, Conn's Current Therapies - 1997, which include

recommendation of longer term antibiotic treatment. These guidelines were

written by Dr. ph Burrascano, Jr. , who, ironically, and , I believe

not coincidentally, is one of the physicians currently under OPMC

investigation.

See:

Lyme Disease - Conn's Current Therapy - 1997

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6772/conns.txt

Since the OPMC begins with an orientation that seems to be biased against

long term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease, we, therefore, cannot

expect fair trials for the physicians under investigation. =A0 We urge

your immediate intercession to ensure justice for these doctors.

Sincerely yours,

[Guest guest]

Cheryl,

Thanks for posting the snail mail addresses and the sample letter about

the OPMC bias.

said that homebound people who are not able to use snail mail

could e-mail their letters to her and she would forward them to the

government officials in question. @....

Thanks,

Ellen

[Guest guest]

Hi !

I just checked -you were still a member but your email option was set

on no email web only. I put you back on digest!

PS -good time for me to mention that email options can be changed by

you, the member, or by the list owner of the group (in this

case me) If you are new and have hundreds of emails in your inbox -

you may want to switch to digest instead which is one email a day

with all the day's emails in it. Or there is the special

announcement option -once in a while important messages -or what

was just on -no emails, web only -which is just that. Only

members have access to the archives. To search the archives (enter

key word(s) and click on " search archive " ), or to change your

membership email options (click on " edit my membership " ) go to

/

-you should see this -and hope this helped!

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