Dr. Joseph G. Jemsek charged with with unprofessional conduct- BUSTED
- From: "Elected Newsgroup leader Chuck" <chuckadams05@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 27 May 2006 04:44:07 -0700
Charlotte doctor charged with improper Lyme disease diagnoses
TIM WHITMIRE
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - One of the state's best-known Lyme disease
specialists has
been charged by the North Carolina Medical Board with unprofessional
conduct
for making what the board describes as unsubstantiated diagnoses of at
least
five patients.
The charges against Dr. Joseph G. Jemsek were brought Dec. 9 and signed
by
board president Dr. Robert C. Moffatt. According to the board, five
patients
went to Jemsek with non-specific symptoms "such as fatigue, achiness
and
decreased concentration."
Jemsek diagnosed each with Lyme disease despite the fact that in each
case
"there was no historical, physical, serological or other laboratory
evidence
to support" such a diagnosis, Moffatt wrote.
In each case, Jemsek prescribed a several-month course of intravenous
antibiotics "in the absence of any research of clinical evidence of
efficacy, and in the face of increased risk of infection," according to
the
charges.
The board charges that Jemsek failed to educate or inform his patients
that
both his method of diagnosing Lyme disease and his method of treatment
were
departures from recognized standards for dealing with the illness.
The names of the patients were withheld from the charges for privacy
reasons, the board said.
Jemsek is head of the Jemsek Clinic in Huntersville, about 20 miles
north of
Charlotte. The practice specializes in HIV research, Lyme disease and
other
chronic illnesses, as well as general internal medicine.
Jemsek was not in his office Friday and a message left with his
assistant
seeking reaction to the charges was not returned.
The board scheduled a hearing on the charges for Feb. 15 in Raleigh,
saying
that grounds exist to annul, suspend, revoke or limit Jemsek's license
to
practice. Jemsek has been licensed in North Carolina since 1979.
Lyme disease is named after Old Lyme, Conn., where the disease was
first
described in 1975. Apart from fatigue, it causes joint inflammation and
can
affect the nervous system and the heart in its later stages.
However, because its symptoms are similar to those seen in other
ailments,
it can be difficult to diagnose.
The disease is passed on to humans by bites from infected deer ticks.
State epidemiologist Dr. Jeff Engel of the North Carolina Department of
Health and Human Services said the accepted method of diagnosis is a
clinical examination of a patient followed by lab tests that support
the
finding. Treatment guidelines call for prolonged intravenous antibiotic
treatments of at most two to four weeks - and at that length only for
patients with significant complicating neurological symptoms like
palsy,
encephalitis or meningitis, he said.
Engel said numerous studies of people and other mammals in North
Carolina
have led him to the conclusion that Lyme disease is not endemic in the
state. He said he believes up to 95 percent of the state's diagnosed
Lyme
cases are actually people suffering from Southern Tick-Associated Rash
Illness, a red rash that spreads around a tick bite but eventually
disappears and does not develop into full-blown Lyme disease.
"It can be confused because it looks just like the initial
manifestation of
Lyme," he said.
Jemsek is known in the Lyme disease community for his belief that the
disease is underdiagnosed.
In an article published on his clinic's Web site, Jemsek writes: "the
most
debilitating form of Lyme disease, the persistent or chronic form ...
is
debunked, or at least felt to be grossly over-diagnosed by powerful
factions
in academic medicine. Unfortunately, this attitude filters down to most
treating physicians, especially in a low prevalence region for Lyme
disease
like the Carolinas, whose physicians thereby tend to trivialize or deny
the
existence of persistent Lyme disease."
ON THE NET
Jemsek Clinic: http://www.jemsekclinic.com/default.php
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