Just got this from my local Lyme group, thought you might want to read it:
Yesterday (January 2), Dr. Jones filed with the Connecticut Medical
Examining Board a Motion for Reconsideration and to Vacate the decision
of December 18, which had imposed civil penalties and placed Dr. Jones
on probation for two years.
The basis for the motion is bias on the part of one of the panel
members, Dr. Senechal, who had told the parents of a child diagnosed
with chronic Lyme disease during the Jones hearings that there was no
such thing as chronic Lyme disease, that the treatment of chronic Lyme
disease was a “big racket,” and referred to physicians who treat chronic
Lyme disease as “quacks” who were “in cahoots” with lab companies. The
motion argues that this profound bias prevented Dr. Senechal from having
the necessary impartiality to provide Dr. Jones a fair trial in a fair
tribunal, a fundamental underpinning of due process under the
constitution.
Due process requires an absence of actual bias in the trial of cases.
Two parents who attended the December 18th hearing stepped forward at
its conclusion to express their concerns that a physician with such
strong bias had been included on the panel. The parents had learned of
Dr. Senechal’s bias through personal encounters with him as a physician
of their child, who had been diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. The
information came to light at the end of the December 18th hearing, when
the two parents first approached counsel for Dr. Jones. The parents had
not met Dr. Jones nor his counsel prior to the conclusion of the
December 18th hearing.
