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The issues over whether or not to "publish" the names of good (and I emphasize the term "good") doctors, is a little bit emotionally charged.. As some people know, there is tension within the medical community over the issue of lyme disease. There are some who firmly state there there is no such thing as lyme that exists beyond 4-6 weeks treatment. Anything beyond this, they say, indicates a patient who must then be, unmistakably, a hypochondriac. These have furthermore succeeded in having their viewpoints published in the prestigious medical journals (New England Journal of Medicine, etc.), adding credibility to their viewpoint. ..And not only credibility, but now an increasing body of uninformed doctors who, upon assuming that this viewpoint is correct, then themselves become champions of it. The blind leading the blind.

On the other hand, there are a number of doctors who have seen from personal experience in their practices, and some from their own personal experience that this is simply, totally false — that lyme does exist in the long term, or chronic state. And that it needs to be treated as such — usually with long term antibiotics. These people believe that lyme is no light-weight disease: it is often hard to find a correct diagnosis or correct treatment, and that it certainly is a tenacious infection.

And herein lies the rub.

The group who believe that lyme as a major infection doesn't really exist, have staked their reputations on their viewpoints, and are therefore automatically threatened by the existing (or growing existence of) doctors who recognize long term. For this reason, many "good" doctors have found themselves under unexpected attack where they need to suddenly defend their medical licenses (generally from the false charge of "over prescribing". Can you see where the insurance connection comes in?)

Some have incurred extraordinary legal fees in the defense, and one took his life over it. (See Tragedy for details.)

For this reason, anyone who have found the "buried treasure" of a good lyme doc, is highly reluctant to expose him or her to the scrutiny of vicious attack. You will find that lyme patients will share — and be happy to share — the names of their doctors from their area, they will just not do it openly (which is to say with an open Internet posting). Generally you will find that these recommendations will come by return email (or similar contact).

However, as to the subject of whether or not to publish them here (the purpose of this discussion), my feeling is this: Those who are already in lyme practice are already well known to their community. I believe that the days of the persecution of the early pioneers, such as Dr. Bleiweiss, and Dr. Natole, are past. If anyone has a mind to attack a good lyme doctor, they can find their names just as easily as you or I. Furthermore, the insurance industry (the main source of the conflict) gets the names as a matter of course. There are no secrets here.

Nonetheless, until I hear some feedback from those affected — and then make a better decision — I will probably not include them. I do, however, have an alternative that I will begin to work towards: an inclusion here of the national (and international) list of lyme support groups. One could then easily phone a support group in their area, quickly obtaining this info.