After an email from a disgruntled Lyme patient ended in the hands of Dr. Allen C. Steere and Dr. Gary Wormser, lead authors of the IDSA Lyme guidelines, Dr. Wormser forwarded it with the header “Lyme Disease IV antibiotic treatment, Insurance Fraud in NC,” to the CDC, who in turn forwarded it to Curtis Ellis, Director of Investigations, North Carolina Medical Board. Once an investigation was opened, the board was at liberty to pull all of Dr. Jemsek’s Lyme patient files, looking for violations of the IDSA “standard of care,” which takes on the force of law in North Carolina, even though Dr. Jemsek followed the alternative ILADS Lyme guidelines. (ILADS guidelines cite evidence that’s supports this position: “The duration of therapy should be guided by clinical response, rather than by an arbitrary (i.e., 30 day) treatment course.” In the end, Dr. Jemsek’s license was suspended but “stayed” for a year, meaning he could continue to practice medicine under tight restrictions. However, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina seized the opportunity to follow up on the medical board’s judgment with a $20 million lawsuit, for Dr. Jemsek’s alleged “unnecessary” antibiotic treatments.
http://www.underourskin.com/news/doctor-important-update-dr-joseph-jemsek
http://www.underourskin.com/news/doctor-important-update-dr-joseph-jemsek
