LYMEPOLICYWONK: IDSA and Lyme Hearings: TOP 10 Count Down for the Masters of Manipulation?

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I’ve been getting a lot of email lately about the IDSA. Most of it is about the voting issues, but some of it is about other things they have done to “game the system”. Here’s a list of the top 10 questions patient ask me about the IDSA that begin with the word “why”? As Mark Twain says, “few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example”—or in this case, ten good examples of why the Lyme community should question the advice to “trust us, we’re the experts” when it comes to the IDSA. Let me know if you think there are any “whys” I left off the list.

1.       1.     Why did the IDSA rig the voting to preclude guideline change and what are they going to do to comply with the settlement agreement?

2.       2.     Why did they stack the panel in the first place by excluding all treating doctors?

3.       3.     Why did they exclude other doctors who do not treat but were known to have a more open mind?

4.       4.     Why did they make the “open hearing” closed by excluding Lyme patients other than by invitation?

5.5.  5.     Why did they make the “internet” videos all but inaccessible in terms of what people are required to do to watch them? (I’m a technophile and I can’t watch them—that’s ridiculous!)

6.       6.     Why didn’t the IDSA allow Dr. Maloney to testify?

7.       7.     Why didn’t the IDSA conduct its own investigation into the conflicts of interests of the panel members?

8.       8.     Why does the IDSA testify against physicians who don’t follow its guidelines?

9.       9.     Why does the IDSA block legislation that would protect doctors from persecution under their guidelines?

10.   Why does the IDSA pit itself against patients?
 

Don't you wish you knew all the "whys and wherefores" for the ins and outs that the IDSA uses to accomplish a goal that puts IDSA reputational and society interests above those of patients?  And, don't you wish you knew what it would take to change that?  Me too.

You can follow additional comments on Lyme policy at www.lymepolicywonk.org.  You can contact Lorraine Johnson, JD, MBA at lbjohnson@lymedisease.org.