Conflicts- Dr. Orens

Excerpt from GAO Investigation Called - Probe Targets DHHS Agencies

Conflicts of Interest

A disturbing aspect in Dr. Orens' case was the state of New York using Dr. Raymond Dattwyler, chief of Suny-StonyBrook School of Medicine's Lyme Disease Center, as an expert witnesses against him. Though Dattwyler says Orens lost his license for "inappropriately medicating a [chronic Lyme] patient who almost died as a result," one must wonder what impact Dattwyler's testimony that negative LD tests after early infection are highly accurate and short term therapy is highly curative had on the hearing committee's verdict.

There are reasons why Dattwyler, who is an adviser to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), may not have been an impartial witness in Orens' case. In a 1994 case involving a patient of Dr. Orens' who sued Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Metlife for denial of payment for intravenous therapy, Dattwyler testified short term treatment is the best way to treat LD. The patient, then-Medford, NY resident Joanne McIntyre, won the case.

According to Dr. Orens, who also testified, Dattwyler refused to shake his hand after the verdict was announced, and said "something to the effect that he was not yet finished" with Dr. Orens. Dr. Orens, whose practice is in the same region as Suny StonyBrook, says many of Dattwyler's former patients switched to him after being told they do not have the disease. Dr. Dattwyler said he did not recall any such incident, and that he is not in competition with any other doctors for patients.

As president of Brooks Biotechnologies, Inc., Dattwyler has developed a LD test-kit, and therefore may have a vested interest in asserting the reliability of conventional ELISA-based LD tests. It is also possible that Dattwyler could feel threatened by Dr. Orens' use of non-ELISA based tests such as the urine antigen test (which Dr. Burrascano also uses), because his test, available since last year, could become obsolete should another testing methodology become more popular.

Dr. Dattwyler is also an insurance consultant and NIAID grantee that Ms. Forschner says was in the same room during the meeting in which Dr. LaMontagne made his remark about Burrascano. While Dattwyler denies any involvement in Burrascano's case and says he will not be an expert witness against him, it is anticipated that the case is Lyme-related and a university-based physician who consults for insurance companies may testify against Burrascano.

Would Dr. Dattwyler go out of his way to disrupt the lives of private citizens because of their scientific beliefs? Based on his past activities against the LDF, the answer may be yes. In a 1996 email document, NIH project officer Edward McSweegan expresses concern over LDF scientific and legislative comments. In his reply, Dattwyler says that he has contacted leaders of LD support groups to get them to oppose the LDF's comments. In a recent conversation, Dr. Dattwyler said he did not recall the email in question, but did say it is likely he contacted New Jersey support groups to oppose the LDF's effort.

Excerpt from GAO Investigation Called - Probe Targets DHHS Agencies

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