Write Your Attorney General!

Thanks to the Lyme Policy Wonk, I've learned that the IDSA plans on releasing the results of its guidelines review process some time this month. (The IDSA buried the announcement on their web site and has not done anything else to let everyone know that they are forgin ahead.) As far as we know, they have not responded to CT Attorney General Blumenthal's request to re-do their voting, in order to be in compliance with the antitrust settlement agreement the IDSA signed.

To support AG Blumenthal's work to keep the IDSA in compliance, and to raise awareness to all State's Attorney Generals, please write to the Attorney General in your state. Ask your AG to  offer public support. Here is the letter I wrote:

Martha Coakley, Attorney General

Dear Ms. Coakley,

I email you today to alert you to an injustice being inflicted upon patients with Lyme disease, not only to those in other States, but to many citizens throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I believe you are in a position to help rectify this wrong.

In 2008, CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that the members of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) were found to have many conflicts of interest which eroded the credibility of their  2006 Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines. An antitrust settlement agreement was reached which required the IDSA to establish a conflict-free panel for a publicly transparent review of those guidelines.

Now we find that the IDSA is manipulating the voting process to favor no change in the guidelines, in violation of specific procedures laid out in the antitrust agreement. Attorney General Blumenthal has confirmed that the IDSA's review panel voting procedure violates the written agreement. He has written them to request they re-vote to be in compliance.

Patients with Lyme disease in Massachusetts may be negatively affected by these guidelines. IDSA Guidelines can alter insurance coverage and make it difficult or impossible for patients in Massachusetts to receive appropriate treatment

Along with other attorneys' general in states such as New York and Connecticut, I urge you to show your public support for enforcement of the antitrust settlement.

What is happening to Lyme patients via the IDSA's conflicts of interest and the insurance industry's priorities of profits over patients is a prime example of the flaws in our medical system. Patients do not and should not have to understand the science behind their illness and the politics behind their care. They should be able to turn to their licenses doctors with the faith that they can readily obtain the best information available about their condition and feel free to treat them as they see fit. When this is not the case, the only recourse open to patients and their loved ones is to turn to higher authorities to put a check on any abuses of power. We don't ask that you assess the science, we simply ask that you support Attorney General Blumenthal's assessment of the process by which the science is being reviewed.

I hope you will contact CT AG Richard Blumenthal to help keep the IDSA honest and non-biased in their pursuit of Lyme disease guidelines.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Feel free to copy my letter and edit it to suit your own style. Thank you!