Monday, December 22, 2008

BC's College of Physicians & Surgeons gets a talking to

A Christmas present just in time for the holidays -- last week, a member of the BC legislature (Mr. David Cubberley) sent a strongly worded reprimand to that province's College of Physicians & Surgeons (CPSBC). The letter was spurred by the glib attitude toward Lyme disease reflected in a quarterly bulletin distributed by the College back in October.

In his letter, Mr. Cubberley writes "[the bulletin] reinforces the prevailing lack of awareness among BC doctors. The [diagnostic] approach recommended actually contradicts the policy of the BC Ministry of Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control...". He goes on to note the College's failure to even mention the primary Lyme symptoms of which doctors should be aware, and that the College "compounds the harm to Lyme sufferers by perpetuating the claim that Chronic Lyme disease 'remains controversial', meaning that it may not exist. This equates to a life-sentence for anyone undiagnosed in the early stages (which is virtually everyone contracting Lyme in BC today)..." Well said.

You can read both Mr. Cubberley's letter and the CPSBC newsletter from the embedded links (pdf format). Those in the Lyme community may find themselves uncontrollably cheering as they read this well-written letter to the College. Gradually there are more of our elected representatives in our corner. Keep working on yours.

Virtute et Veritate (from the CPSBC logo)... Maybe the College will find some of this in their stocking this Christmas. This is the season of hope after all.

Merry Christmas

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for posting this.

    It's great news for those of us with Lyme in BC. One more step closer to changing the way The college approaches Lyme.

    ReplyDelete