Recognize, Diagnose and Treat Lyme Disease in BC

This petition is to help bring awareness of the growing number of people in BC who have contracted Lyme disease and to claim their right to receive the medical care and treatment necessary to recover from this devastating disease. As citizens of this country, we demand that our right to medical care be acknowledged and provided. For too long those of us suffering with debilitating symptoms of Lyme disease which is caused by bacteria (and co-infections) found in infected ticks, have been mistreated by our Health Authority. Because of ignorance and/or misinformation our doctors are unable or unwilling to recognize the symptoms of Lyme disease and therefore do not diagnose us. The current testing available to BC residents (and across this country) is unreliable and better methods of detecting this infection is desperately needed. Our physicians need to be educated about Lyme disease so they can give a clinical diagnosis. Physicians need to be able to treat each case individually and have the freedom to prescribe long term antibiotics to those patients suffering from Chronic Lyme disease. We, the patients have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, to have our health taken seriously and we should never be told "your symptoms are all in your head". This arrogance needs to stop, and replaced with compassionate care for those whose lives have been devastated by this insidious disease. We want to be validated in our suffering. We want the same rights as other Canadians: The right to health care. We want the recommendations outlined in the Provincial Health Authority's paper written by Dr. Brian Schmidt to be upheld and we want to see these changes immediately.