NEWS: Crunch time for NY Lyme bill. Use this form to email lawmakers.
Next required step is for Senate Health Committee to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote.
Legislation to protect doctors who treat Lyme disease–already passed by the New York State Assembly–is stalled in the Senate Health Committee.
The Poughkeepsie Journal, which has endorsed the legislation, describes it like this:
Specifically, the bill — sponsored by Didi Barrett, D-Hudson, in the Assembly and being sponsored by Terry Gipson, D-Rhinebeck, in the Senate — would halt the stifling scenario of having physicians face disciplinary actions from the state for treating patients who show symptoms of Lyme disease but test negative. As Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard N. Gottfried noted during the passage of the bill in the Assembly, “Lyme is an extremely complex illness to test for, and symptoms vary among patients.”
The following link will take you a page where you can take ACTION!
https://www.votervoice.net/NYSCOALITION/Campaigns/36090/Respond
Once you are on the votervoice site, please scroll to the boxes at the bottom of the page.
1. Enter your reasons for wanting this bill passed, such as: “I was sick for 5 years before I received proper diagnosis”, or “my child has been sick for 3 years”, ” I want the freedom to choose my doctor and my treatment” , etc.
2. Next, enter your email and zip code
3. Click “Continue”
4. Fill in the remaining info.
The Senate session ends June 20. Time is short. Act now.
My Mom has suffered with Lyme disease for 5 years. She was not treated early on because her doctor refused to believe we had Lyme Disease in upstate NY. Unfortunately, it was 3-4 months after her tick bite that she had a positive Lyme test and was given three weeks of antibiotics, which wasn’t enough to kill the bacteria in her system. She lost her hearing, mobility and quality of life. After many doctors and 3 1/2 years we found a doctor who had the knowledge to treat her. She has made some improvement but will never be the same. I don’t want to see this happen to anyone else.
I found the tick on me, heard rumors that I must get to a Doctor ASAP. I did. We spoke, felt it was on me for a good 24hrs. Doctor told me, no rash, no big deal. I felt this was strange, felt better to be safe than sorry, Doctor refused to give Doxy. I also asked tick to be tested, Doctor was reluctant, told me not needed. I was persistant, it was tested, I was NOT called back with the results, I had to find out by nagging the Doctors office. I was told it was Positive, I was told by Doctor if I got symptoms in 6 months I’d be treated, no problem.
Now I see a Doctor who treats Lyme for what it is. Along with the Co-infections and all sorts of other issues that I now have. Doctors who are willing to beleive and accept the Doctors oath and treat their patients Correctly and Positively..should NOT have to worry about why, how they are doing it.
It’s time to SUPPORT Doctors who DO address Lyme for what it is. It’s time to punish other Doctors who do NOT address Lyme and who use the faulty IDSA guidlines to get out of their responsiblity of treating a patient correctly.
Bottom line: PLEASE support Doctors who do their job above and beyond their Oath! Many people with Lyme are alive thanks to these Doctors!
Iv been fighting Lyme for over 13 yrs I received treatment an it made a diff . please let the drs treat it as it needs to be treated . And as it has been proven to work. . I almost died many times from not having treatment . And yes the pain is VERY real. Keep in mind u or your family can get. this an most likely will at the rate its spreading…. Don’t you want the right treatment?????? Its LIFE AN DEATH ….. PLEASE LET US LIVE . Trust me these drs see our need and they don’t want to loose their licence …… WE CAN’T LIVE WITH OUT YOUR HELP. Please show God you want to live also… Even if you don’t believe in God you risk the chance of Him being real an you not doing what’s right . This is the kind of thing that can save your life too. In more ways then one . God says He will judge you as you judge others . He said many things …. Bottom line only drs with a licence should be able to practice medicine. Please keep in mind your actions will also effect you and your families. We need you. Many are in need of the right treatment . Bless you may you never ever go through the pure HELL AN DEATH iv gone through an continue to deal with due to not getting treatment IN TIME ……..thank you for your listening ears and your seeing heart .
I have been dealing with Lye for some time. My family Dr. Gave me 3 weeks of Dox and said I was god to go. Months later I was so sick physically and mentally. This disease is real and can affect anyone. The more people I speak to the more people I find are not treated properly and relapse into serious symptoms. Please allow Dr.’s to prescribe Meds as they see fit based on the patients health and not from a book that tells them how long to prescribes treatment. This bill needs to pass so Dr.’s can treat patients correctly as needed w/o scrutiny fear of reprisal.
I was diagnosed with Anaplasmosis in April but the test for Lyme was negative. I did not have insurance when I started feeling sick and had to wait 4 months for Obamacare so in April I went to a clinic and passed out. I was extremely sick. I started 14 days of doxy. Still not feeling better I was sent to an infectious disease dr who did a different test for Lyme and that was also confirmed. I then did months of doxy over the summer and had a picc line with IV rocephin in September for 30 days. I felt great while on the IV meds but now after 2 months I have the same symptoms I had last January along with panic attacks & severe emotional distress. I have made an appointment to see my infectious dr again. This a a debilitating disease and had I been treated for much longer to begin with, I might not be so sick again. The original Lyme test given to me in my doctor’s office was not good enough to detect Lyme. I had a great dr who stayed with me for 2 1/2 hrs on my initial visit taking down all my symptoms and testing my lab work for tick borne illnesses. And yes, one was confirmed-the anaplasmosis but Lyme was not diagnosed because the test approved by the FDA is a failure and because of that failure to diagnose me in April with a co-infection, I have suffered greatly!