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$Lyme: How Medical Codes Mortally Wound Corruption and Scientific Fraud
Beyond the usual suspects, the INSIDE story on the scandalous global corruption surrounding Lyme disease. Exposure unlike anything you have heard or seen before by a former Senior Advisor to the US Government and United Nations.
$LYME tells how scientific fraud has been orchestrated on a global scale. Every day, greed and collusion are generating millions for $Lyme while disabling and robbing lives of millions.
$Lyme is costing the US as much as 25-75 billion dollars pers year. Millions are being denied existing diagnostic technologies that meet required standards such as those set by the European Union and by UN Member States. Persons are being denied treatment options that have met internationally validated standards and becoming disabled and dying because access to cheap generic antimicrobials are being obstructed in favor of palliative care or expensive patented biologics that manage symptoms and leave systemic infection untreated. On June 18, 2018 the World Health Organization issued the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases or ICD11. The World Health Organization received over 10,000 proposals for ICD11 revisions. An international all-voluntary committee executed a comprehensive approach that helped to successfully establish new codes for life-threatening complications from Lyme.This is a major achievement for the global Lyme community because it is the first time in over 25 years that these serious complications have been officially recognized by the World Health Organization. The international all-voluntary committee formed to improve the ICD codes for Lyme and Relapsing Fever borreliosis and address the human rights violations generated by inadequate codes. The ICD codes for Lyme borreliosis have been basically unchanged since the early 1990s. After twenty-five years of outdated codes, the committees' efforts contributed to groundbreaking recognition of certain life-threatening complications from Lyme borreliosis. The new ICD11 codes now include congenital Lyme borreliosis, and dementia and central nervous system demyelination due to Lyme borreliosis. ICD11 codes also Disseminated Lyme borreliosis, Lyme Neuro borreliosis, Lyme Carditis, Ophthalmic Lyme borreliosis, Lyme arthritis, Late cutaneous Lyme borreliosis, Other specified disseminated Lyme borreliosis, Disseminated Lyme borreliosis, unspecified,Infectious panuveitis in Lyme disease and Infectious intermediate uveitis in Lyme disease.
$LYME tells how scientific fraud has been orchestrated on a global scale. Every day, greed and collusion are generating millions for $Lyme while disabling and robbing lives of millions.
$Lyme is costing the US as much as 25-75 billion dollars pers year. Millions are being denied existing diagnostic technologies that meet required standards such as those set by the European Union and by UN Member States. Persons are being denied treatment options that have met internationally validated standards and becoming disabled and dying because access to cheap generic antimicrobials are being obstructed in favor of palliative care or expensive patented biologics that manage symptoms and leave systemic infection untreated. On June 18, 2018 the World Health Organization issued the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases or ICD11. The World Health Organization received over 10,000 proposals for ICD11 revisions. An international all-voluntary committee executed a comprehensive approach that helped to successfully establish new codes for life-threatening complications from Lyme.This is a major achievement for the global Lyme community because it is the first time in over 25 years that these serious complications have been officially recognized by the World Health Organization. The international all-voluntary committee formed to improve the ICD codes for Lyme and Relapsing Fever borreliosis and address the human rights violations generated by inadequate codes. The ICD codes for Lyme borreliosis have been basically unchanged since the early 1990s. After twenty-five years of outdated codes, the committees' efforts contributed to groundbreaking recognition of certain life-threatening complications from Lyme borreliosis. The new ICD11 codes now include congenital Lyme borreliosis, and dementia and central nervous system demyelination due to Lyme borreliosis. ICD11 codes also Disseminated Lyme borreliosis, Lyme Neuro borreliosis, Lyme Carditis, Ophthalmic Lyme borreliosis, Lyme arthritis, Late cutaneous Lyme borreliosis, Other specified disseminated Lyme borreliosis, Disseminated Lyme borreliosis, unspecified,Infectious panuveitis in Lyme disease and Infectious intermediate uveitis in Lyme disease.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2018
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April 24, 2026
There are books you read for entertainment, books you read for information, and books you read because they challenge the comfortable assumptions of powerful institutions. $Lyme: How Medical Codes Mortally Wound Corruption and Scientific Fraud by Jenna Luche-Thayer falls firmly into the third category.
This is not a conventional medical text, nor is it a detached academic review. It is a passionate, urgent, and deeply personal indictment of the systems that, in the author’s view, have failed millions of people suffering from Lyme disease and related illnesses. Luche-Thayer writes with the voice of someone who has spent decades navigating bureaucracy, governance systems, and international institutions—and who has grown tired of watching ordinary people crushed between politics, profit, and institutional inertia.
What makes this book compelling is that it reaches beyond the familiar debate of “Is Lyme disease underdiagnosed?” or “Are treatments adequate?” Instead, the author zooms in on something most readers would never think about: medical coding systems. To many, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) sounds dry, technical, and obscure. But Luche-Thayer convincingly argues that codes determine recognition, insurance reimbursement, research priorities, disability status, and ultimately whether patients are taken seriously or dismissed. In that sense, coding is not clerical trivia—it is power.
One of the strongest sections of the book examines the long struggle to modernize Lyme-related classifications in ICD-11. The recognition of complications such as congenital Lyme borreliosis, neurological manifestations, Lyme carditis, dementia-related impacts, ophthalmic complications, and disseminated forms of the disease represents, as the author rightly notes, far more than administrative reform. It is acknowledgment. For patients who have spent years being told their symptoms are vague, psychological, or imaginary, that matters enormously.
Luche-Thayer’s background gives the book unusual credibility. This is not someone writing from the sidelines. Her extensive experience across the United Nations system, governments, and development sectors gives her an insider’s understanding of how institutions often protect themselves, how policy can lag behind science, and how marginalized communities are frequently ignored. She draws a clear line between governance failures in development and governance failures in health systems.
The tone of the book is unapologetically forceful. Some readers may find it blunt, even confrontational. But frankly, that is part of its value. Too many public health failures are discussed in sanitized language. Here, anger is used as fuel. The author believes people have suffered needlessly, and she writes accordingly.
The broader message extends beyond Lyme disease. This is also a book about how entrenched systems respond when challenged. It is about the uneasy relationship between medicine, industry, regulators, and patients. It is about how those without institutional power are often required to become their own advocates. And it is about the danger of allowing bureaucracy to outrun compassion.
Do I agree with every claim or every conclusion? That is almost beside the point. Serious readers should approach any controversial topic critically and weigh evidence carefully. But dismissing this book would be a mistake. It raises questions that deserve scrutiny and shines light into corners many would prefer remain dark.
In an era when trust in institutions is fraying, $Lyme taps into something larger: the growing public suspicion that systems meant to serve people too often serve themselves. Whether you are interested in medicine, governance, patient advocacy, or the politics of expertise, this book gives you plenty to think about.
My verdict: provocative, unsettling, and difficult to ignore. Even for readers who know little about Lyme disease, $Lyme is a reminder that recognition can be delayed for decades—and that behind every delayed code or denied diagnosis stands a human life.
This is not a conventional medical text, nor is it a detached academic review. It is a passionate, urgent, and deeply personal indictment of the systems that, in the author’s view, have failed millions of people suffering from Lyme disease and related illnesses. Luche-Thayer writes with the voice of someone who has spent decades navigating bureaucracy, governance systems, and international institutions—and who has grown tired of watching ordinary people crushed between politics, profit, and institutional inertia.
What makes this book compelling is that it reaches beyond the familiar debate of “Is Lyme disease underdiagnosed?” or “Are treatments adequate?” Instead, the author zooms in on something most readers would never think about: medical coding systems. To many, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) sounds dry, technical, and obscure. But Luche-Thayer convincingly argues that codes determine recognition, insurance reimbursement, research priorities, disability status, and ultimately whether patients are taken seriously or dismissed. In that sense, coding is not clerical trivia—it is power.
One of the strongest sections of the book examines the long struggle to modernize Lyme-related classifications in ICD-11. The recognition of complications such as congenital Lyme borreliosis, neurological manifestations, Lyme carditis, dementia-related impacts, ophthalmic complications, and disseminated forms of the disease represents, as the author rightly notes, far more than administrative reform. It is acknowledgment. For patients who have spent years being told their symptoms are vague, psychological, or imaginary, that matters enormously.
Luche-Thayer’s background gives the book unusual credibility. This is not someone writing from the sidelines. Her extensive experience across the United Nations system, governments, and development sectors gives her an insider’s understanding of how institutions often protect themselves, how policy can lag behind science, and how marginalized communities are frequently ignored. She draws a clear line between governance failures in development and governance failures in health systems.
The tone of the book is unapologetically forceful. Some readers may find it blunt, even confrontational. But frankly, that is part of its value. Too many public health failures are discussed in sanitized language. Here, anger is used as fuel. The author believes people have suffered needlessly, and she writes accordingly.
The broader message extends beyond Lyme disease. This is also a book about how entrenched systems respond when challenged. It is about the uneasy relationship between medicine, industry, regulators, and patients. It is about how those without institutional power are often required to become their own advocates. And it is about the danger of allowing bureaucracy to outrun compassion.
Do I agree with every claim or every conclusion? That is almost beside the point. Serious readers should approach any controversial topic critically and weigh evidence carefully. But dismissing this book would be a mistake. It raises questions that deserve scrutiny and shines light into corners many would prefer remain dark.
In an era when trust in institutions is fraying, $Lyme taps into something larger: the growing public suspicion that systems meant to serve people too often serve themselves. Whether you are interested in medicine, governance, patient advocacy, or the politics of expertise, this book gives you plenty to think about.
My verdict: provocative, unsettling, and difficult to ignore. Even for readers who know little about Lyme disease, $Lyme is a reminder that recognition can be delayed for decades—and that behind every delayed code or denied diagnosis stands a human life.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review