Regulators Approve Probation, Fine For Controversial Doctor

By William Hathaway, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Dec. 18–State regulators today upheld a review panel’s recommendation that controversial pediatrician Charles Ray Jones be reprimanded and put on two years’ probation for his diagnosis and treatment of two Nevada children.

The New Haven area pediatrician — who gained support across the nation because of his willingness to ignore consensus treatment guidelines and prescribe long-term antibiotics to children with symptoms of Lyme — will also have to pay a $10,000 fine and pay a doctor to review records of his patients.

The decision by the medical examing board sidestepped the question the medical validity of treating patients who show symptoms of Lyme disease — such as aching joints and fatigue — but don’t meet the criteria established by mainstream doctors. Instead, the board said Jones violated established standards of medical care by diagnosing a disease and prescribing treatment for children he had never examined.

Advocates for patients who say they have chronic Lyme disease, who showed up at today’s hearing, argue the decision has a chilling effect on doctors and lead to needless suffering.of thousands of patients.

But the panel from the Connecticut Medical Examining Board upheld most, though not all, of the state health department’s allegations about Jones’ diagnosis and treatment of two Nevada children in 2004 and 2005, which came into question during a bitter custody dispute.

Jones prescribed antibiotics to the son of Jeffrey and Robin Sparks and told the boy’s school principal that he had diagnosed late-stage Lyme disease without having seen the boy, the panel found.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

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