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| | This is an emergency appeal for donations to Dr.
Jones' Legal Defense Fund. (from Ellen Lubarsky)
Remember, this is the fund that will enable Dr. Jones
to protect himself against the CT medical board's
attempts to revoke his medical license.
Since Dr. Jones is so beloved by the Lyme community,
I'm trying to figure out why contributions are not
pouring in.
( I know the financial situation of Lyme patients is
not good. But with other legal defense funds in the
past, there have been enough of us to compensate for
that.)
SO I'm thinking there are some specific problems and misconceptions:
MISCONCEPTION 1: There is no need to contact other
Lyme patients since they already know about the
problem.
REALITY: Every day I find people who are learning
about this emergency for the first time. So please
start actively spreading the word. Lyme patients
often have to hear things a few times before we get
it.
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MISCONCEPTION 2: Other people with more money have
been contributing to the fund..
REALITY: I'm here to tell you that not nearly enough
have
done so, so it's up to us.
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MISCONCEPTION 3: Fundraisers are planned that should
take care of the problem.
REALITY: I know that some people have run
fundraisers and will
continue to run them. These are wonderful!! But
fundraisers bring in only a few hundred or, at most,
a
few thousand dollars. They alone can't bring in
nearly enough to
solve the problem. So don't wait for those. Donate
now.
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MISCONCEPTION 4: Not that much is at stake. Dr.
Jones cannot lose his license. After all, both Dr. Jemsek and Dr. Burrascano had medical board
hearings and are still practicing.
REALITY: Please understand that these were both GOOD
conclusions to hearings when compared to what happens
in the majority of cases in states like NC, NY and
CT where
the law does not require a high level of proof to
revoke a
doctor's license.
A guilty verdict in Dr. Jones' case could well mean
his license is revoked.
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MISCONCEPTION 5: Most of us will not be affected if
Dr. Jones loses his license.
REALITY: The ripple effect of Dr. Jones losing his case will be that fewer and fewer doctors will be
willing to risk their licenses to treat Chronic Lyme
disease. We have trouble finding doctors now as it
is.
Plus, if you have children, there will be no one
there to treat them if they get Lyme.
____________
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Please give whatever you can today.
2) Please get the word out to all Lyme patients you
know that Dr. Jones is in need of these contributions
immediately.
3) Please write to friends and family asking them to
contribute. I know this isn't easy to do, but MUCH
is
at stake here.
A SAMPLE LETTER TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY MIGHT BE -
Dear ------
I know you've been aware of my family's fight with
chronic Lyme disease.
I hate to have to ask you for additional help, but
there is a very serious problem that threatens both
my
own family and all Lyme patients present and future.
Dr. Charles Ray Jones, the pediatrician who has
devoted his whole life to saving kids with Lyme
disease, has been brought up on charges before the CT
state medical board. For all intents and purposes,
he is the only pediatrician in the country treating
chronic Lyme disease.
(If Dr. Jones has helped your child, please describe
that here.)
To get a feeling of just how heroic this guy is,
please go to http://lymetimes.
org/archives/
LT32.PDF
and scroll down to
page 5.
As you might be aware, medical politics has been such
that doctors across the country who treat chronic Lyme disease have been targeted for attempts to
revoke
their medical licenses.
If Dr. Jones loses his license, most doctors will get
the message and be too afraid to treat chronic Lyme
disease. This would be disastrous.
Again, I would not be asking for your help here if I
didn't think this was an emergency Please give
whatever you can to the Charles Ray Jones Defense
Fund.
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE:
1) Checks can be mailed to:
The Dr. Charles Ray Jones Legal Defense Fund"
C/O George Heath, III (CPA)
26 Fairlawn Drive
Wallingford, CT 06492
Please make your checks out to the "Charles Ray
Jones
Legal Defense Fund" and be sure to write "GIFT" in
the memo section of
the check.
2) Credit card contributions can be made by going to www.DefendLymeDoctors.com
Thanks so much to all of you,
Ellen
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