Report By the Maryland Board of Physicians
Lyme disease physician protection bill (HB 290)
Mainstream scientists vs. minority scientists/patients/advocates Short‐term antibiotic treatment vs. long‐term treatment
Sponsoring Delegate Joseline Peña‐Melnyk introduced the bill in response to constituent concerns
Introduced the bill without input from any Lyme disease advocacy and support groups
The bill protects physicians who prescribe long‐term antibiotics for Lyme disease from disciplinary action by the Board of Physicians on the basis of such treatment, but this protection is invalidate if “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an opinion recommending that long‐term antibiotic or antimicrobial therapy not be used in the treatment of Lyme disease”
Delegate Pena‐Melnyk:
o Maryland has the sixth highest number of Lyme disease cases among all states
o Diagnostic tests miss 44 out of 100 cases
o “According to the California Lyme Disease Association, the average patient sees five doctors over two years before being diagnosed, and 4 in 10 of those people end up with long‐term health problems as a result
Lyme disease physician protection bill (HB 290)
Opposition
o Physicians from Johns Hopkins (Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases) o MD State Medical Society, American Academy of Pediatrics, IDSA, the American Lyme Disease Foundation, and the Lyme Disease Association, Inc.
o Executive Director of the Board of Physicians
o Unnecessary: The Board has never disciplined a physician on the basis of Lyme disease treatment. There is an established procedure for alternative treatment.
o Bad Public Policy: Law is inflexible and does not reflect evolving research and medical practice.
o Risky: The law can give the wrong impression that long‐term antibiotics is the best way to treat Lyme disease, even if future research and practice suggest otherwise.
o Bad precedent: “The Board is fearful that once physicians treating one disease become “off‐limits” for discipline related to their care of the patients, other groups... would quickly vie for similar exemptions. Each exemption would erode the Board’s ability to protect the public.”
Lyme disease physician protection bill (HB 290)
Similar legislation passed in CT, RI, and CA
RI also requires insurance coverage for Lyme disease treatment
Delegate Peña‐Melnyk submitted a letter to the Chair of the HGO Committee to withdraw the bill
Link Here- http://dhmh.maryland.gov/phase/Documents/3143_Yin_Fang%20Fang.pdf