Breaking News - NYS Bill Signed into Law - Chapter 532

This letter from a Lyme activist in NY is in reference to the bill that just passed NY State legislature in support of ILADS standard of care for NY citizens who have Lyme disease and desire long-term antibiotic treatment. (See post earlier today.)

-Bob

To All,

 

WE DID IT!

 

The memo will be issued and the chapter amendment may or may not be available until Jan. We were told that we will be very happy, it is strong! 

 

It was our ability to work together that we were able to educate the NYS government to the dire need for sick people to be treated as individuals, especially when the science on persistence of borreliosis (Lyme and other borrelia) is not settled. 

 

Our NYS Coalition on Lyme and Tickborne diseases worked with Support Groups, patients, reporters, researchers, scientists, physicians, state and federal reprersentatives and others. It is with great thanks to ALL OF YOU for your support, letters, calls and whatever you did to help.We are powerful together and we made a difference! Give yourselves a round of applause.

 

Way too many people  have suffered needlessly. The limited number of physicians who were willing to treat us with compassion, were those who had the most difficult complicated cases; the discards of other physicians. They are the ones with the experience, knowledge and skill who risked their very licenses to give so many their lives back again and reduce illness. Yet they were constantly harassed by unwarranted, costly investigations by the NYS Office of Professional Medical  Conduct. Understandably this had a chilling effect on other doctors willingness to treat patients as individuals beyond the 2-4 week outdated IDSA Guideline.

 

It is unconscionable, in the light of this that sick people have been turned away and allowed to suffer endlessly without hope. Some Tickborne disease patients even died from lack of medical care. Two I know about within 10 miles of my home are a 17 year old, and a mother; they both are in their graves. Let this be a turning point!

 

 NYS, the Empire State, is putting a line in the sand to say, that's enough!