GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE, MEDICAL CARTELS
and CHRONIC ILLNESS
Tina J. Garcia
www.leaparizona.com
As an American citizen of European descent, I grew up in the U.S. believing this country had the best of everything, from education to technology. Above all, I was convinced we had the best healthcare. I obediently swallowed the Blue Pill each day in school, where I was fed an educational diet of government fairy tales and propaganda. I was grateful to live in a country where we had access to world news through what I thought was a media that reported the truth and both sides of the story.
Needless to say, I was a naive government-supporter and a fervent American flag waver. I wouldn’t allow anti-American sentiment to pass my way without an argument that this country was the best in the world. I rallied around our government in this pathetically-ignorant manner, even though I had never in my life travelled outside the United States. I had no basis for my ignorant comparison; my assertion was based on the propaganda I learned in school and heard from our complicit news media. I was successfully duped into voting for George W. Bush in his first Presidential election –shame on you, Tina! I even supported Donald Rumsfeld’s Shock and Awe Campaign in Iraq. Yes, I live with regret, and now refer people to The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi.
I experienced good health until I reached age forty-six. At the end of 1998, in central Arizona, I had the misfortune of crossing paths with a small arthropod that altered my life forever. The bite from that infected tick literally brought me to my knees due to transmission of two bacterial infections – Lyme disease and Erlichiosis. The bacterium that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdoferi (Bb), spread from the initial site of the bite through my skin and into my brain and other organs. The virulent little critters crossed the blood brain barrier into my cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), set up shop and began drilling their way through my brain tissue. They colonized my organs and invaded the rest of my body. I became ill gradually, and unfortunately, failed to seek medical attention when I experienced the first symptoms of fatigue and tingling and pains in my arms and feet. .The bacteria had plenty of time to replicate inside my body, as I did not receive antibiotic treatment for six years.
Four years after the initial bite, I experienced memory and hearing loss. I had dementia and wandered from room to room. I hobbled around with pain in my spine, legs, ankles and feet, and was ready to use a wheelchair. The infection was inside my nerves and caused excruciating pain that wracked my entire body. The central nervous system controls everything in the body. So, when you have Lyme infection, it wreaks havoc with your nervous system, musculoskeletal system, endocrine system and other systems, as well.
I searched my medical book for clues as to what might be wrong, and somehow, I cross-referenced and found Lyme disease. When I read the list of symptoms, I highly suspected it was the cause of the illness. So, I saw two physicians – one diagnosed me with sciatica and the other thought I had Fibromyalgia. I was told it couldn’t possibly be Lyme disease, as there were no endemic ticks in Arizona. By the end of 2004, I was disabled and could no longer work.
I had no insurance, because I couldn’t afford to pay the cost of the insurance under COBRA. By that time, I had encephalopathy (swelling in the brain) and I felt as though I was slipping into a coma. In desperation, I managed to go online to look up Lyme disease, as I still thought that was the reason for my symptoms. I felt a strange camaraderie when I found numerous stories written by Lyme patients, who had also been misdiagnosed and had the same collection of symptoms I had been suffering with.
I also found treatment recommendations written by a world-renowned Lyme physician named Dr. Joseph Burrascano. Dr. Burrascano recommended an antibiotic called Doxycycline, so my husband drove me to Mexico where we bought this antibiotic. I began taking it right away, and I experienced a common reaction to antibiotic therapy called a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. I called a tick-borne disease laboratory that I found online, and they gave me a referral to a Lyme-experienced physician who was practicing in Phoenix at the time. He was a medical doctor with an Arizona integrative medicine license. When I saw him at the end of 2004, he clinically diagnosed me with Lyme disease and lab results from the tick-borne disease lab confirmed his diagnosis.
This doctor had previously treated Lyme patients in Connecticut and recommended intravenous antibiotic therapy, due to the severe neurological involvement I was experiencing. However, the cost of IV therapy was way too much, so with the help of my parents, the doctor treated me with intramuscular injections of an antibiotic called Bicillin. Due to his knowledge and willingness to treat me, this wonderful doctor SAVED MY LIFE. I will always be grateful to him for helping me at such a crucial time.
After he diagnosed me with Lyme, I qualified for Arizona state-run insurance and made an appointment with my primary care physician. I assumed that I would be able to receive the intravenous antibiotics recommended by my Lyme physician and my parents would not have to incur the expense of my treatment, which at that time, would have cost approximately $8,000 per month, indefinitely.
I was referred to an infectious disease specialist who virtually called me a liar when he told me I was never bitten by a tick, and therefore, I did not have Lyme disease. He said that there was no Lyme disease in Arizona. He also told me that, because I had already received six-and-a-half weeks of intramuscular antibiotic injections, that was enough to kill any bug in my body.
In early 2005, I saw the President of the Arizona Chapter of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and he told my primary care physician that I needed a psychological exam. I saw a neurologist who ordered a spinal tap that revealed .2 antibodies for Bb in my cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Sonora Quest Diagnostics reported my spinal tap as negative, because it didn’t’ meet their titer level of 1.0 or above to be considered positive. I knew it wasn’t normal to have antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in my CSF, but the neurologist diagnosed me with conversion disorder, insinuating that I was dealing with emotional problems by claiming I had all these symptoms. My primary care physician then told me, “Tina, I refuse to treat you for Lyme disease and I doubt if you’ll find anyone on your plan that will treat you, either.”
I was appalled that I was being inhumanely denied medical care and treatment. Hepatitis, tuberculosis and leprosy are all treated with long-term antibiotics. Even acne is treated for months with Doxycycline. Years ago, published medical research established the fact that Bb is a spirochete bacterium, similar to syphilis, and that it has the ability to change its form from a corkscrew-shaped spirochete into cyst and granular forms. It is able, in this way, to protect itself from certain antibiotics and evade detection by the immune system. It also surrounds itself with a Biofilm that ensures its survival. This is the reason Lyme disease patients experience periods of remission and relapse during late-stage, chronic infection.
Lyme Disease Statistics
You may ask, “Lyme disease in Arizona? I thought you could only get that on the east coast.” No, actually, it’s been reported in nearly every state now, with a cumulative total of 382,205 officially reported cases. But, get this! The CDC maintains that only ten percent of all cases are actually reported. Therefore, it is estimated that 3,822,050 people have been infected with Lyme disease from 1980 to the present. http://www.lyme.org/resources/1980-cumulative.htm
Compare these startling CDC statistics for 2008:
2008
Reported AIDS cases 39,202
2008 Reported Lyme disease cases 35,198
(Remember – if you multiply by ten = 351,980 in one year)
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5831a5.htm
What we are faced with in the United States is
an infectious epidemic that is resulting in the disabling of hundreds of
thousands of people each year. Lyme disease causes debilitating cognitive
dysfunction, excruciating musculoskeletal and neurological pain and crushing
chronic fatigue. Disease progression can lead to cardiac abnormalities and
certain types of
cancer, such as B-cell lymphoma.
So, why were these doctors ignoring the diagnosis from my Lyme-treating physician and the lab results from the tick-borne disease lab? Why did two specialists infer that my symptoms were in the realm of a psychiatric disorder? How could my PCP inhumanely refuse to provide treatment? I began writing letters to my senators, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I complained to the CDC about their complicity in what some of us refer to as the Lyme Crymes. It is reminiscent of The Tuskegee Study of Syphilis that began in 1932 and was conducted for forty years, a so-called “study” that was endorsed by the CDC, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS).
The entities in control of this “study” failed to provide antibiotic treatment to the participants (human research subjects) and instructed local physicians to deny treatment to them. The “study” would most likely have continued; however, the human experimentation was stopped when a journalist broke the story in 1972. The Tuskegee Study was an immoral human experiment in which the government knowingly withheld antibiotic treatment in order to watch the “natural history” or progression of the disease, allowing the participants to die without any assistance except for free exams, free meals and free burial expenses. The U.S. government eventually paid the remaining participants and their families $10 million in a legal settlement and President Clinton issued a public apology.
Without elevating the “benefits” that The Tuskegee Study participants received, Lyme disease patients don’t even get the free exams, meals or burial expenses. All we get from the CDC and IDSA are fraudulent public statements that chronic Lyme infection does not exist and that the disease is easy to diagnose and easy to treat. These fraudulent public statements are based upon bogus articles and treatment guidelines written by members of what I call the Lyme Medical Cartel. The Lyme Medical Cartel is made up of several researchers and physicians who are closely associated with the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
These individuals are exalted by the CDC as being “Lyme experts” and are consistently called upon to issue statements (which most often contain misleading and false information) to the mainstream media. Several of the Cartel’s members authored the IDSA Treatment Guidelines that severely prohibit adequate treatment for acute and late-stage Lyme disease. It is noteworthy that a number of these Cartel members serve in the CDC / USPHS Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). Epidemiologists are trained to study the “natural history” or “natural progression” of diseases, and that’s exactly what is happening with Lyme disease as it spreads geographically and through congenital and sexual means. Diagnosis and treatment would interfere with the natural course of the disease, and are therefore, considered as “interference and are discouraged.
In addition, a number of the Lyme Medical Cartel members have testified as expert witnesses against physicians who have been brought before state medical boards for treating Lyme disease patients with long-term antibiotic therapy. This is a modern-day Lyme Inquisition! Many Lyme-treating doctors have already been prosecuted.
Antitrust Investigation of IDSA’s Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines
Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, conducted a year-and-a-half antitrust investigation of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and its Lyme Disease Practice Guidelines and Authors. Attorney General Blumenthal revealed the following in his May 1, 2008 Press Release:
"The IDSA guidelines have sweeping and significant impacts on Lyme disease medical care. They are commonly applied by insurance companies in restricting coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment or other medical care and also strongly influence physician treatment decisions.
Insurance companies have denied coverage for long-term antibiotic treatment relying on these guidelines as justification. The guidelines are also widely cited for conclusions that chronic Lyme disease is nonexistent. "
"This agreement vindicates my investigation -- finding undisclosed financial interests and forcing a reassessment of IDSA guidelines," Blumenthal said. "My office uncovered undisclosed financial interests held by several of the most powerful IDSA panelists. The IDSA's guideline panel improperly ignored or minimized consideration of alternative medical opinion and evidence regarding chronic Lyme disease, potentially raising serious questions about whether the recommendations reflected all relevant science."
Blumenthal added, "The IDSA's 2006 Lyme disease guideline panel undercut its credibility by allowing individuals with financial interests -- in drug companies, Lyme disease diagnostic tests, patents and consulting arrangements with insurance companies -- to exclude divergent medical evidence and opinion. In today's healthcare system, clinical practice guidelines have tremendous influence on the marketing of medical services and products, insurance reimbursements and treatment decisions. As a result, medical societies that publish such guidelines have a legal and moral duty to use exacting safeguards and scientific standards."
A legal Agreement was reached between the AG and the IDSA, in which the IDSA agreed to select, with the help of an ethics expert, a new panel of independent physicians to reassess the IDSA Guidelines. Per the Agreement, the independent review panel would review research submitted to them and vote on whether or not to revise each recommendation contained in the Guidelines. I submitted a letter and research to the panel, and the panel and the AG selected me to testify as one of two patient representatives of the worldwide Lyme patient community.
On July 30, 2009, a hearing was held at the Ronald Reagan and International Trade Building in Washington, DC. Lyme patients from across the country and Europe donated money to enable me to travel to the hearing to testify. You may watch the webcast of my testimony and the testimonies of the other presenters at http://www.leaparizona.com/reviewpanelhearing.htm.
The Review Panel is still deliberating over whether the IDSA Guidelines should be revised or scrapped altogether.
Lyme disease infection can manifest, and therefore, be misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, ALS, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, facial paralysis, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, among others. If you or a family member is suffering with any of these conditions, you may want to find a physician who treats chronic Lyme disease. Don’t think that you can look to infectious disease specialists for help, as the majority of these doctors blindly follow the IDSA Guidelines and these doctors will not provide diagnosis or treatment.
We are faced with a horrendous situation when it comes to the new healthcare legislation that is being rammed down our throats. The government will look to the CDC for medical information, as members of Congress view the CDC as the medical authority on diseases. It is well-known (outside of Congress) that the agency is a Center for Deceit and Corruption. This agency knowingly provides Lyme disease grant funds to individuals who conduct research that supports their personal financial interests in the design and marketing of test kits to laboratories, vaccine development and consultations for insurance companies.
The CDC has continued to endorse the IDSA Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines despite the appalling findings of Attorney General Blumenthal. Although the CDC and IDSA state their feigned compassion for Lyme disease patients, their actions speak otherwise.
The
government depends upon the CDC’s biased, skewed and false information about
chronic illnesses. This false medical information will be utilized under the
new legislation to determine treatment protocols for a myriad of illnesses and
diseases. False information, such as that disseminated by the CDC and IDSA on
Lyme disease, does not serve the needs of patients -- it serves only the never
ending financial deep pockets of despicable, greedy physicians and researchers
who have carved a medical niche for themselves with the CDC, Big Pharma, Big
Insurance and biowarfare research.
Tina J. Garcia is a Lyme disease patient and advocate who founded Lyme Education Awareness Program (L.E.A.P. Arizona) in 2005. L.E.A.P. is a 501(c)3 non-profit, public charity with a Mission of providing education to the public about Lyme and other tick-borne infections. L.E.A.P.’s Vision of providing financial assistance to patients in need is dependent upon private donations.
For more information about Lyme disease please visit www.leaparizona.com.