The York Dispatch, York, PA
Thursday, November 09, 2000 10:07 AM MST

Locals join fight for controversial doctor
They say specialist is among few who are Lyme-literate

LYME DISEASE RALLY

By RITA BEYER
Dispatch/Sunday News

Lovette Mott walked into her doctor's office, seeking treatment for Lyme
disease and carrying Dr. Joseph Burrascano's guidelines for treatment. The
Gettysburg resident had heard about Burrascano on the Internet and was
determined to find out whether his protocol would work for her.

Now Mott is one of Burrascano's patients and fighting to defend her doctor,
who could lose his license.

If that happens, "you're going to have a riot in the streets," Mott said. "To
the extent that we can, we will not go away. We can't go
away -- we have no place to go. What are we supposed to do? We're supposed to
sit here and die."

Mott and others with Lyme disease from around the country will try to prevent
the New York State Office of Professional Medical Conduct from revoking
Burrascano's license amid charges he mistreated patients.

Thousands of them are expected to show up in New York today for a rally
supporting the doctor.

The medical community is divided on how to fight the disease. Some doctors
and patients swear by the long-term use of antibiotics, saying it's the only
treatment that brings relief to those suffering from chronic Lyme disease.

Other doctors argue the use of antibiotics has not been proven as a cure, and
that their overuse can leave people more resistant to the medications. Lyme
disease victims say they're not dealing only with a medical establishment
that rejects therapies they say are working, but doctors who dismiss their
symptoms and insurance companies that refuse
to pay for extended treatment.

Rally: The rally, organized by Voices of Lyme, a grass-roots committee
speaking for Lyme disease patients, calls for an investigation of the state
agency, which has charged three of what the protesters call the
Lyme-literate doctors in the state.

"It's a question of basic freedom that seems to be attacked here, a freedom
of being able to seek out the kind of health care that we
choose and that is appropriate," said Sy Brandon of Wrightsville. "And it
seems as though that is being attacked."

Brandon, who was going to New York with his wife Anita, compared the
investigation of Burrascano and other doctors to McCarthyism. "There's a
suspicion that's not based on any kind of fact and people are getting
persecuted based on that suspicion," he said.

Although the Brandons have lived with Lyme disease since 1982, they aren't
patients of Burrascano. The doctor is well-known, though, for his treatment
of the chronic disease with long-term use of antibiotics.

"What affects Dr. Burrascano affects the potential treatment of all Lyme
patients," Anita Brandon said. "We believe that his guidelines are perhaps
more accurate ... as he goes, so does Lyme treatment for
perhaps the whole country."

Last Wednesday, Anita Brandon spent the day protesting Dr. Allen Steere's
presence at an international conference on rheumatology. Steere is a leader
in the "opposing party" among doctors treating Lyme disease, Anita Brandon
said.

Opposition: "We're up against drug companies and insurance companies and our
government that have formed some type of coalition," Mott said. While
protesting last week, Anita Brandon talked at length with a police officer
who had been bitten by a tick. And she said she found many of the doctors at
the conference receptive to their message.

"They were astounded," she said of the international doctors' reactions to
the American patients' quest for treatment. "One of the Swiss doctors said,
'We treat it, so we give them antibiotics until they get
better.'"

Only doctors in Burrascano's camp offer the treatment of chronic Lyme disease
that the Brandons and Mott say they need. Mott's husband Ken, son Sean, 14,
and daughter Kerry, 12, also have contracted and
recovered from the disease. But for now, she is still dealing with
neurological problems associated with the disease.

"I don't know what the future holds, but he keeps trying things," Mott said.
"He's not willing to give up on me."

The current treatment Burrascano prescribed, along with the seizures Mott has
been experiencing, will keep her from today's rally.

Support: "We're very much supporting him, we just can't get there. I'm on a
different kind of drip right now that takes like five hours," she said. "I
think I'm more of a liability to the people up there at this
time."

Still, Mott signed a petition for Burrascano that began circulating on the
Internet Tuesday. And she has helped spread the word about the rally.

Many Lyme disease victims like Mott will not be able to travel to New York
today. "These are sick people," she said. But, for "the ones who are
well-enough to travel, this is important to do."

Even Ellen Lubarsky, one of the organizers of the rally, has had to do most
of the planning using a keyboard in bed, she said. She hoped to be able to
attend today's rally, she said Tuesday.

"When ultimately Dr. Burrascano was charged, we knew this could be the end of
getting our treatment. He is the most known physician. If he is disciplined
in any way...it will create a climate where it will impossible for us to get
treatment. That's already happening," said Lubarsky, who lives in Manhattan.
"It's the defining moment because if we allow this to go through ... the
chances that any doctor will risk his license to treat us is very slim."

Burrascano isn't expected to attend the rally at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue
-- far from the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

"The advantage is that it's far away," Lubarsky said. "The one caveat we got
at the beginning is stay away from the Office of Professional Medical
Conduct."

Mott said Burrascano told her, "Let's not make this political. Let's see if
they are willing to hear the science. If they're not, we'll have to make it
political."

But Mott sees no other choice for Lyme disease victims and their doctors. "It
already is political, as far as I'm concerned," she said. "He has no hope of
keeping his license except through political
action."