http://www.indyeastend.com/news/11150005.htm
Patients And Colleagues Rally To Doctor's
Defense
By Nancy Hyden Woodward
Yesterday, Dr. Joseph Burrascano attended
the third in a series of hearings before the Office of
Professional Medical Conduct which oversees medical licenses in
New York State. He has been charged with medical negligence for
allegedly oversubscribing antibiotics to Lyme Disease patients.
Last Thursday afternoon, an estimated 700 Lyme Disease sufferers
from across the country converged on Manhattan to show their
support for the man whom they call their medical savior and whom
many others consider the leading authority on long-term treatment
of Lyme Disease. Standing in Grand Army Plaza on Fifth Avenue,
they heard several Burrascano patients recount their lives before
he came into them, representatives of two national Lyme
organizations giving their unqualified support, and a series of
statements read or spoken by doctors, lawyers, and politicians.
Steps away, inside the Plaza Hotel, reporters interviewed six
patients whose medical files were lifted from Dr. Burrascano's
office without their permission. Two longtime LD sufferers
planned the rally from bed in their respective homes. Diane
Leary, the event's emcee and a Burrascano patient who lives in
Babylon, spent last weekend in bed. "It was worth the
effort," she said yesterday. "Without Dr. Burrascano, I
wouldn't be here today."
Everyday Suffering
Leary's statement echoes those that have been made by countless
Burrascano patients around the world. They credit the East
Hampton specialist with saving their lives and restoring
day-to-day function to almost normal. Some of their testaments
can be read on the Internet. Just type in Dr. Burrascano's last
name and click the search button. In separate interviews with The
Independent, Lisa Brown of East Hampton and Leary recounted
similar stories: years of misdiagnosis, intense everyday
suffering from blinding headaches, crippling muscular/skeletal
pain, nausea, vertigo, and long, long periods confined to bed.
Leary called LD a "lonely disease. Everyone else goes out
and you stay home in bed, barely able to move, unable to get up
alone." "I would not be alive today were it not for Dr.
Burrascano," Brown told The Independent. "He saved my
life." The OPMC remains unimpressed by the many letters of
support for Dr. Burrascano. Although all the letters that were
directed specifically to Gov. George Pataki remain unanswered,
OPMC did respond to one from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan.
Those who have seen a copy of the OPMC letter called it the
ultimate insult to Dr. Burrascano. In so many words, it indicated
that the investigating office was ignoring the many letters
received because it follows the American Lyme Disease Foundation
protocol. The ALDF and its legion of supporters, including
Boston's Dr. Allen Steere, who identified the disease in 1975,
adhere to a treatment regimen of two to four-weeks' worth of
antibiotics. They claim that treatment beyond that period is
overkill, damaging to the immune system, and no more conducive
than catering to malingerers. "In other words," Dr.
Burrascano wrote in a "Lyme Update 2000," "the
reality and truth of Lyme, supported by valid, peer-reviewed
publications and our experience with thousands of patients,
counts for nothing."
Threat of Investigation
Dr. Burrascano is not the first doctor to suffer OPMC scrutiny
for their long-term treatment of LD patients. Representing
several doctors, an attorney who spoke at the rally said that
treating LD patients almost guarantees an investigation will
follow. The threat of investigation and the high financial cost
that a defense will incur weighs heavily on doctors with LD
patients. Common belief states that the fear will lead doctors to
stop treating LD patients or refuse to prescribe medicine beyond
the alleged normal cutoff date. "This is a threat to our own
lives," Brown said. "Without my treatment, I will be
bedridden and in indescribable pain again. I can't live that
way." Assemblyman Fred Thiele did not fare much better than
Dr. Burrascano supporters did in their letter-writing campaign to
the Governor. A letter he wrote to the Governor last March went
unanswered for two months, then came a response from the
Department of Health underscoring the need to investigate all
complaints. A second letter, written October 12, in which Thiele
pointed out the numbers of patients who come to Dr. Burrascano
from around the globe, brought a quicker response from the Health
Department. In his October 31 letter which found its way to
Thiele's Bridgehampton office yesterday, Wayne Osten, director of
the Office of Health Systems Management, sounded a note that
could be interpreted as a possible step backward from OPMC's
aggressive investigation to date. Osten noted that the department
"clearly recognizes" that equally qualified experts may
render dissenting opinions on the same set of facts. In the case
of LD specifically, Osten admitted that different schools of
thought exist on long-term antibiotic treatment of chronic LD.
Osten wrote that the process provides for the physician under
investigation to present expert medical testimony for
consideration by the board, and that the hearing committee is
under no obligation to take disciplinary action simply because a
case was brought forward. He said that while his department does
not have specific guidelines for the treatment of LD, it refers
medical providers to peer-reviewed guidelines and scientific
literature for information on treatment. The National Institutes
of Health is sponsoring clinical studies to understand the cause
of continuing symptoms of the disease in some patients and how
best to treat them. Seven years ago, Dr. Burrascano testified
before Congress on then-current problems in the LD field. Some
people are of the opinion that his testimony prompted the
investigation. Dr. Burrascano referred to a "Lyme Disease
conspiracy" within a core group of university-based
researchers and physicians whose opinions carry considerable
weight. He questioned their ethics, their use of "outdated,
self-serving views," and their publication of articles
"that are badly flawed." "This group," he
continued, "promotes the idea that Lyme is a simple, rare
illness....The truth is that Lyme is the fastest growing
infectious illness in this country that often goes undiagnosed
for months, years, or forever." Coming fast on the heels of
AIDS, insurance companies are said to have been loath to
underwrite any more long-term prescriptions. There also are
allegations that some doctors were paid to promote short-term LD
treatment. The OPMC did not respond to a query. An
insurance agent in another state would only say that health
insurance "is an individual matter."
