Playing doctor again in Richmond
Legislators are once again inserting themselves between you and your doctor.
Virginia lawmakers again are butting into doctors’ examination rooms. This time, they’ve sent a bill to the governor that will require doctors to disclose to patients undergoing tests for Lyme disease that the test might give a false positive or a false negative result.
Meaning that it may not be conclusive in and of itself to determine that the symptoms a patient is experiencing are the result of Lyme disease.
February 25, 2013 - 6:24 AM
Those darn meddlesome Republicans in the State House… Mandating a disclaimer on Lyme tests! The horror! Next, they’ll be attempting a takeover of healthcare on a national level, forcing everyone to buy health insurance and coercing religious groups to provide birth control and abortifacients, thereby denying their beliefs. Oh, wait, Obama and the Democrats have already beat them to the punch.
Lots of tests can give false results, from the rapid strep swab to mammograms. Why is Lyme disease special?
These are some of the same folks (ideologically) who used to fight warnings on cigarette packs, Paddy, so that might tell you a little more about whatever their motive might be.
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Anyway, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme has become a medical and sometimes political hot potato. This bit of GA meddling isn’t going to solve that.
“Why is Lyme Disease special,” someone asks? (example, in comparison to breast cancer, etc)…
Because unlike cancer, the clever little spirochete is very skilled @ evading detection; it burrows deep into tissues; it repeatedly tricks the immune system (til, finally) it exhausts itself & allows one to fall prey to ‘even more’ disease entities.
Oh, and also?
Because in addition to the Lyme you get from an affected tick, you can also become afflicted w/ any # of co-infections, equally as serious & deadly.
TRUTHFUL and Complete Informed Consent: “Yes!”
I implore our Honorable Governor McDonnell to remain the guardian of our citizens’ safety & wellness by signing HB 1933 into Law.
For some reason, there are many physicians who seem to have somewhat strayed from that early, noble vow:
“First, do no harm.”