Gillian Graham’s July 4 article, “High court vacates part of damages paid to family of misdiagnosed man,” described a doctor working under an undeveloped understanding of Lyme disease. Forced to follow the CDC’s determination of test levels for Lyme, Dr. John Henson had little choice but to diagnose 25-year-old Peter Smith according to inaccurate interpretations subscribed to by Mercy Hospital.

My husband has been admitted twice to Mercy with a fever, chills and abnormal blood levels on every test — except Lyme. After several days, the diligent staff was baffled by Lyme panels “within normal limits.” After seven days of “broad spectrum antibiotics,” my husband’s fever broke, and he “recovered.” My husband went through this scenario at Mercy not once, but twice.

A functional medicine practitioner retested my husband for Lyme and coinfections via a lab in California. Results indicated reoccurring tick-borne fever, Lyme disease, Borrelia and Babesia coinfections. With Lyme, either you’re pregnant or you’re not.

Our functional medicine practitioner continues to treat my husband with herbal antibiotics; he’s been spared a third bout of tick-borne reoccurring fever and regained his health. My husband’s experience is not an isolated one; I believe Mercy Hospital and the Smiths suffered a tragedy due to outdated Medicare and hospital regulations regarding Lyme disease.

No doubt, Dr. John Henson was shackled by a combination of faulty policies and a lack of “Lyme literacy,” a desperately needed addition to staff training here in Cumberland County, a hotbed of Lyme disease.

Catherine Gentile
Yarmouth