Risks of prescribing antibiotics in the US

[Guest guest]

This doctor is a famous AIDS specialist, known all over the world. If he had

been treating AIDS and not Lyme patients this would never have seen the

light of day. We are living in scary times for those of us with infectious

diseases - and that is most of the human race.

a

Patient testifies treatment made her ill

Hearing begins before N.C. Medical Board

KAREN GARLOCH

kgarloch@...

RALEIGH - A 32-year-old Huntersville woman testified Wednesday that Dr.

ph Jemsek treated her for chronic Lyme disease with daily antibiotics

for a

year and a half even though, she learned later, she didn't have the

tickborne

illness.

told the N.C. Medical Board that she developed five

infections from catheters inserted in her arms and chest for delivering the

intravenous

medicine. The last infection, she said, " almost took my life. "

" I put my faith in Dr. Jemsek, " said , who sometimes cried as she

told

her story. " I held onto the hope. But looking back, I see that my symptoms

only got worse. "

, three other former Jemsek patients and the widower of a deceased

patient testified against the Huntersville doctor Wednesday at a public

hearing.

The board alleges that Jemsek misdiagnosed at least 10 patients with chronic

Lyme disease and treated them inappropriately with months of IV antibiotics.

The 12-member board could decide to revoke, suspend or otherwise limit

Jemsek's license.

The charges against Jemsek, 57, are similar to those brought by other state

medical boards against 30 other doctors. Like Jemsek, they believe that Lyme

disease often becomes chronic, with long-lasting symptoms such as extreme

fatigue, unusual pain, fever, foggy memory and numbness in the limbs.

Jemsek, who also testified Wednesday, said he treats about 400 Lyme disease

patients and 1,200 HIV patients at his clinic. He said he does not always

rely

on laboratory tests to diagnose patients with Lyme disease because current

tests are not reliable.

" Tests shouldn't drive us; we should drive the tests, " he said. " If you

really pay attention (to what the patients tell you), you get to be pretty

good

diagnostically. "

About 100 Lyme patients, many from Jemsek's clinic, showed up for the

hearing

and stood for more than an hour in the rain until the board's office opened

at 8 a.m. The hearing room could hold only 60 people, so many waited in the

lobby, wearing lime green bracelets or green ribbons tied around their arms

to

show support for the doctor.

Penny Nichols, a Statesville patient, said the board should have moved the

hearing to a larger space.

At Wednesday's hearing, the board heard from two N.C. physicians and an

epidemiologist who said Lyme disease is rare in North Carolina and that

treating it

with antibiotics for longer than a month is outside the norm.

Dr. Garwood, an infectious disease specialist at NorthEast Medical

Center in Concord, said she contacted the board about Jemsek's unusual

approach to

diagnosing and treating Lyme after seeing about 20 of his patients who did

not appear to her to have the illness.

One of those patients, who later testified, was Patti Ingram, 52, of Fort

Mill, S.C., who took intravenous antibiotics for seven-and-a-half years.

Garwood

said she didn't think the patient had Lyme and couldn't imagine why anyone

would need to take antibiotics for so long.

Dr. Meera Kelley, an infectious disease specialist at Wake Med Health and

Hospitals in Raleigh, reviewed records of all 10 patients cited by the board

and

said none appeared to have Lyme disease.

Based on her review of the records, she said Jemsek did not inform patients

that his approach to treatment was different from the standard.

In his opening statement, board attorney Marcus Jimison said Jemsek would

perform numerous tests for Lyme and then " cherry pick " results that would

support

his diagnosis " while ignoring everything else. " As a result, Jimison said,

Jemsek " made lots and lots of money. "

said her treatment, including hospitalization for the

infections, cost at least $200,000.

Jemsek's lawyer, Jim of Durham, said his client does inform patients

that his treatment differs from what other doctors are doing. " That's why

they

came to Dr. Jemsek. They had sought treatment elsewhere and been denied. "

Armiger, a mechanical engineer from Washington, D.C., said Jemsek

carefully explained the risks of the treatment when he became a patient in

June

2003. Under Jemsek's care, he said, " I did continue to slowly improve. "

The board's hearing will continue today with more testimony from Jemsek.