10:27 a.m.
N.H. doctors can now treat Lyme disease with long-term antibiotics
By JENNIFER KEEFE
jkeefe(a)fosters.com
Friday, June 17, 2011
DOVER — New Hampshire residents suffering from chronic Lyme disease will no longer have to
worry about finding a doctor who will treat with long-term antibiotics.
A bill, HB 295, that states doctors are free to treat Lyme disease with long-term
antibiotics and cannot be punished by the Board of Medicine because of such prescriptions
was passed Thursday.
The bill's prime sponsor Gary Daniels, R-Milford, said the bill is an important step
in helping both patients and doctors as it acknowledges chronic Lyme disease is a real
ailment.
The text of the bill reads, "No licensee may be subject to disciplinary action solely
for prescribing, administering, or dispensing long-term antibiotic therapy for a patient
clinically diagnosed with Lyme disease, if diagnosis and treatment has been documented and
monitored in the physician's medical record for that patient."
Daniels said Thursday, "The problem we were encountering, and it seems to be a
nationwide trend, is there are two standards for treatment and there seems to be
favoritism over one standard that basically says there's no such thing as chronic Lyme
disease."
He added that typically, if people have Lyme disease for longer than the four week average
associated with the disease, they're instead treated for other diseases such as
fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.
"There can be such a thing as chronic Lyme disease and it can be treatable with
long-term antibiotics," Daniels said.
He said doctors would often avoid treatment with long-term antibiotics due to fear of
being brought up on charges by the Medical Board simply because it wasn't recognized
as the appropriate treatment for Lyme disease. Patients would therefore have a hard time
finding doctors in New Hampshire to treat the disease and would often seek help in other
states.
"We're trying to set in place an environment where doctors are free to treat with
long-term antibiotics and the bill says they can't be punished solely because they
prescribe or administer long-term antibiotics," Daniels said.
The bill's language regarding long-term treatment with antibiotics is only in
reference to Lyme disease.
Daniels said such a move just makes sense, especially when long-term antibiotics are
already used to treat for many other diseases such as acne, and cancers.
New Hampshire, he said, has the highest incidence of Lyme disease per capita in the
country, a statistic that played a large role in his sponsorship of the bill. He had been
asked to bring the issue out into the open by a friend who suffered from Lyme disease for
five years before she was diagnosed.
Daniels said the hope is Lyme disease and the instance of chronic Lyme disease will be
better publicized and better understood because of this legislation.
And the overwhelming number of members of the public who came to speak at a recent hearing
on the bill, Daniels said, "at least dispelled the argument that there's no such
thing as chronic Lyme."
The bill has become law but was not signed by Gov. John Lynch.
Lydia
Lydia E. Neilson, M.S.M. , Founder
Chief Executive Officer
NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK
512 - 33 Banner Road
Nepean, ON K2H 8V7 Canada
Tel. 613.829.6667
Fax 613.829.8518
Email: mefmaction(a)ncf.ca
www.mefmaction.com
NATIONAL ME/FM ACTION NETWORK - HOST OF THE IACFS/ME INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH & CLINICAL
CONFERENCE - OTTAWA, CANADA
SEPTEMBER 22 - 25, 2011
For details on agendas and registration, please visit:
Member of www.iacfsme.org