Fw: Press Release with NEW Meeting Site

[Guest guest]

Press Release with NEW Meeting Site

Hi Robynn,

We were denied a permit for onsite demonstration so we will go just off campus

to a new location. The following PR reflects that. Please circulate that or let

people know.

Muchas Gracias,

Rita & Marleen & Ellen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Rita L. Stanley, Ph.D.

Portland, OR

(503) 292-5271

RitaStan@...

Marleen Oetzel

(302) 793-1097

Marleenoet@...

Oct 28, 1998

PATIENTS PROTEST HONORING OF ALLEN STEERE, MD AS " ASTUTE CLINICAN " AT NIH

http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/lecture/astute.html

An organized protest by Lyme disease sufferers is scheduled just off campus of

the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Wednesday, Nov 3 from 1:30 PM to 3:00

PM. The demonstration will be at South Drive and Rockville Pike at the Metro

Stop, Bethesda , land. A Press Conference will be held at 2:00 PM at the

same location.

Protest organizers indicate that Steere's academically spawned guidelines for

diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease are obsolete, biologically unfounded

and ethically suspect. They indicate that this has resulted in increased patient

tragedy and accelerating harrassment of physicians who do not abide by Steere's

teachings.

Steere, MD who has been credited with " discovering " Lyme a quarter century

ago, has given court testimony against physicians who do not follow

his stringent guidelines. His mantra is Lyme is " overdiagnosed and

overtreated " . Patients are turned away, denigrated publicly, and denied adequate

treatment and

insurance coverage as a result of these predominant beliefs; and their doctors

have lost

their licenses and medical practices.

The Lyme community will publicly protest the honoring of this lead physician.

Patients will gather outside and " show and tell " how their lives have been

affected by the

academically stringent guidelines promulgated by Steere. In addition, a list of

questions from the Lyme community will be presented to Steere so that he can

explain his logic and his actions towards those who disagree with him.

Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection, is the second fastest growing

infectious diseases in the US. With over 16,000 cases reported in 1998, the

actual figure may easily be 10 times that according to the CDC. Although

publicized chiefly on the East coast, Lyme disease occurs nationwide, as

well as, worldwide.

" Steere's " overdiagnosis and overtreatment " school of thought promotes narrow,

ethically suspect viewpoints and medical guidelines which, more and more, ignore

a growing

body of scientific evidence and patient tragedy. " - Marleen Oetzel,

patient advocate.