In addition to the other posted stories and scientific publications documenting harms of “chronic Lyme” diagnoses and treatments, below are links to victim stories:
- 60 Minutes: A Prescription For Death? Did Alternative Treatment Lead To Patient’s Death?
- ‘We were suckered in,’ widow says of doctor
- Excerpt from Medical Child Abuse
- Carol Ann Ryser, M.D., Barred from Practicing Medicine and sued by 11 patients for misdiagnosing chronic Lyme disease
- Pa. woman says she was sickened by risky Lyme treatment
- Dangerous unproven treatments for ‘chronic Lyme disease’ are on the rise (paywall-free)
- What to do when your sister thinks she has fake diseases?
- A young woman believes she would have died if she’d continued treatment for chronic Lyme disease
- Lyme Inc
- A Lyme disease diagnosis gone wrong
- Science-based Medicine: Another “Chronic Lyme” VIP disciplined by NY medical authorities: Bernard Raxlen
- Science-based Medicine: “Chronic Lyme” VIP Daniel Cameron disciplined by New York medical authorities
- Florida revokes medical license of “Lyme literate” doctor
- Jennifer Hollis was treating a fake disease with bleach rather than getting help for her depression. She took her own life.
- Dr. David Gorski: Kris Kristofferson: The latest celebrity quackery victim
- CBC: Former Lunenburg councillor misdiagnosed with Lyme disease now told he has ALS
- Quackwatch: Lyme-Related Government Actions
- Teenage Boy With Multiple Pain Disorders
- Surviving Adult Reports Childhood Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Torture
- Reddit users discuss their false chronic Lyme diagnoses
- A horror story by a patient of Susan Neuber
- Kansas City Star: Who’s left to pay this big verdict?
- A child L.K.
- A man laments his wife going to a Washington “Lyme disease” doctor (Real Lyme is almost non-existent in Washington)
- My mother and her possible Munchausen’s: Lyme disease
- Woman’s Death Connected to Internet Self-Diagnosis
- Author Esme Wang on “Chronic Lyme” beliefs
- A patient’s lawsuit against Leila Zackrison, a “Lyme literate” doctor in Virginia.
- Lyme Warrior No More
- A story about being treated by Daniel Jaller
- Why I Regret My Lyme Disease Treatment
- Charlotte Doctor Accused Of Negligence In Lyme’s Diagnoses (Victims treated by Joseph Jemsek)
- A patient of James Ziobron (a doctor associated with ILADS) describes her experience.
- Medicaid, malpractice complaints face doctor [William Tuley]
- ALS Patient Advocate: Dr. Gregory Bach [of ILADS] never once admitted he was wrong
- Patient: The first thing I tell them is that they should NEVER go to Dr. Bach
- Courthouse News: ‘Bugs in the Biofilm’
- Courthouse News: Doctor Under Heat From Irate Patients
- TV2 Denmark: Camillas mand blev lovet mirakel på tysk klinik: Nu er han død (Camilla’s husband was promised miracle in German clinic: Now he’s dead)
- La Presse: Docteur K (Amir Khadir)
- Sadie Gonzalez from the Netflix series Diagnosis received an unnecessary blood test and 6 weeks of unnecessary antibiotics. A functional medicine quack Leo Galland sent her sample to a shady German lab ArminLabs, which is on our list of non-recommended labs. Danish journalists have exposed shady German Lyme labs.
- Report: Three women injected with colloidal silver, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide
- Vice: The Doctor Can Heal You Now (Exposé of Marvin “Rick” Sponaugle)
- Metro: Woman underwent years of treatment for Lyme disease and needed a wheelchair – but her life was a lie
- Bloomberg Businessweek: Dubious Alternative Lyme Treatments Are Killing Patients (deaths of patients of Marvin “Rick” Sponaugle and Henry Childers, who have both been associated with ILADS and ACAM)
- Chronic Lyme drugs cause life-threatening skin detachment
- Woman dies from illicit drugs after seeing a recommendation on a chronic Lyme forum
- Self: If It Isn’t Chronic Lyme, What Is It?
- Washington Post: Her unexplained jitteriness and weight loss were telling clues (paywall-free link, Mirror)
- Dr. Steven T. Chen, MD: Woman who suffered from a possible drug reaction from needless antibiotics, and her true diagnosis was delayed
- The Guardian: ‘What do I have to lose?’: desperate long Covid patients turn to ‘miracle cures’ (authored by a victim of “Lyme literate”/functional medicine charlatan Chris Foley, MD)
- New York Times: Her Face Started Drooping. What Was Wrong? (paywall-free link, free summary)
- Patient story: My experience & false hope at Nutech MediWorld embryonic stem cell treatment: Beware!!
- Tony Ortega: TRAGIC: Clearwater OT 8 Scientologist, 40, set fire to herself before shooting herself dead [Whitney Mills was near long-time charlatan David Minkoff]
- Court case: Misinformation on the internet causes distress
- Lawsuit: Mia Kelley and Mitch Kelley v. Skilling Institute and Warren J Starnes (alleging that claims that the “Photon Genius” could treat multiple sclerosis and Lyme disease, “were deceptive, fraudulent, false, misrepresentations” and “By reason of the Photon Genius not being fit for the purpose of treating multiple sclerosis and Lyme disease when sold, the Photon Genius directly caused or directly contributed to cause or aggravate grievous, serious, permanent and progressive injuries and damages to plaintiff Mia Kelly’s person.”
- Jill Neimark: The Big Bird, the Big Lie, God, and Science
- CTV News: ‘I was desperate’: Former patient warns about Calgary doctor awaiting penalty for professional misconduct [discusses victims of ILADS doctor Bruce Hoffman, who is guilty of unprofessional conduct]
- Natural treatment. A view from science: How difficult diagnoses are sometimes… [Polish]
- Natural treatment. A view from science: Lyme disease story [Polish]
- Natural treatment. A view from science: Lyme disease, Lyme disease… [Polish]
- The case of Kimberly M.
- Anonymous Dutch patient who had cancer, not Lyme (perpetrators: physician/acupuncturist and a naturopath)
- Appeals: Doctor | Naturopath
- Arts en natuurgeneeskundige veroordeeld voor afhouden van reguliere zorg (Doctor Peter J. and naturopath Marthe B. convicted of withholding regular care)
- Hoger beroep in zaak alternatieve genezers (Appeal in alternative healers case), 2013-06-27
- Cel voor natuurgeneeskundige na dood patiënt (Prison cell for naturopath after patient’s death), 2013
- OM eist celstraffen na dood kankerpatiënte (Public Prosecution Service demands prison sentences after death of cancer patient), 2013-05-30
- Arts en natuurgenezer: ‘Niet schuldig aan dood patiënte’ (Doctor and naturopath: ‘Not guilty of patient’s death’), 2013-05-29
- Arts voor rechter wegens onthouden van zorg aan kankerpatiënt, 2013-05-29
- ‘Arts onthield kankerpatiënte reguliere zorg’ (‘Doctor withheld regular care from cancer patient’), 2013-05-28
Other consequences of false Lyme diagnosis:
- The Expert Witness Newsletter: Lyme Disease, Thrombocytopenia [NP, EM]
- News.com.au: ‘The doctor gasped’: Woman left her tampon in for two years
- AMA News: Lyme misdiagnosis story from 1991
- NY Times: He Was Diagnosed With Lyme Disease. Why Did the Treatment Have No Effect?
- Washington Post: Medical Mysteries: A Teen’s Swollen Ankle
- 🟦 More on our false Lyme diagnosis page
More resources from LymeScience:
- Legislative guide
- Rogues Gallery
- Good Journalism on Chronic Lyme pseudoscience
- Papers in the scientific literature documenting harms of chronic Lyme treatments
See also:
Science-Based Medicine: Chronic Lyme posts
Quackwatch: Index of Lyme-related government actions