Class Action Launched Over Lyme Disease That Australian Health Authorities Pr

[Guest guest]

_Class Action Launched Over Lyme Disease That Australian Health

Authorities Pretend Doesn't Exist_

Brisbane Times

A SYDNEY woman will launch a class action against New South Wales health

authorities after autopsy results showed her husband was riddled with a

disease the Health Department says does not exist in Australia. The results

from Karl McManus, 44 - who died in July after being bitten by a tick while

filming the television show Home and Away in northern Sydney - indicate he

had bacteria from Lyme disease in his liver, heart, kidney and lungs. Tissue

samples will now be sent to the University of Sydney and to laboratories in

the US for more testing. ''If there is duplication of results, the

government cannot dispute that Lyme exists in Australia,'' his wife, Mualla

Akinci, said. Ms Akinci has already garnered support from two other sufferers

and

hopes more people join the class action. She also plans to sue Hornsby

Hospital, where her husband spent several weeks before his death, and will

appeal a decision by the Health Care Complaints Commission not to investigate

his treatment there.

Kate Benson, Brisbane Times