# Romney Policy Position: Vows to combat Lyme Disease

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [September 28, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192 "2012-09-28T22:48:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/41 "2012-09-30T12:30:56Z")

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> [@elucidator](#):
>
> What, perzackly, are “aggressive antibiotics”? Pugnacious penicillin? If this is a standard and recognized medical treatment, why does it need legal protection from lawsuits?
> 
> …
> 
> And until someone clearly explains to me what exactly are “aggressive antibiotics” and why it would be necessary to protect doctors from lawsuits for prescribing them, I’m setting this firmly in the “looking askance upon” file.
> 
> …
> 
> WTF?

I think what they’re getting at is that doctors are hesitant to prescribe long-term IV antibiotics for patients with “chronic Lyme disease” because they’re afraid they’ll get sued.

Of course, the reason they have to worry about that is that there is no evidence that prolonged symptoms after Lyme infection are the result of a continued infection, there is good evidence to show that prolonged antibiotics for those with symptoms after treatment for Lyme are no better than placebo, and obviously there are huge risks associated with using IV antibiotics daily for years.

Make no mistake–this is high-grade woo being elevated to the level of policy by a major candidate at the behest of a single wealthy donor. The fact that he would allow this is one more reason why Mitt Romney cannot be allowed near the Oval Office.

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**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/42 "2012-09-30T20:10:17Z")

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[From our friends at Casewatch](http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/jemsek/order.shtml) (via quackwatch).

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