We ask that you support this bill.
One important aspect of H.B. 1013 which the Lyme bill alone cannot accomplish, however, is that when the TMB goes after a doctor, they often do so for trivial reasons, such as minor record keeping violations which would be ignored for anyone else. The complaint usually doesn't even mention Lyme disease at all -- with the exception of the LLMD in Denton last year -- because the TMB can harrass doctors with trivial charges and cause them to go bankrupt defending themselves. The secrecy (aka: confidentiality) surrounding TMB's Informal Settlement Conferences is tantamount to a Kangaroo Court system. This corrupt system must be changed by revising our statutes through passage of H.B. 1013.
In other words, all the legislation in the world aimed at the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases will not do any good if the current corrupt practice of secret (codeword: "confidential") charges continues to be the basis for complaints that are filed by anonymous complainants.
The passage of both bills is important if Lyme patients are to be properly diagnosed and treated here in Texas in the future.
~texaslymemom~
