Lyme doctor with troubled past offers controversial treatment

When Jeffrey Piccirillo, MD, moved to the small college town of Grinnell, IA the Joliet, IL surgeon had been sued multiple times over allegations of malpractice, personal injury and negligence. In 2003, less than a year earlier, he had filed for bankruptcy. Things didn't go much better for Piccirillo in Iowa. Within a few years, he was battling another lawsuit, this time from a knee surgery patient alleging that he failed to properly diagnose a fracture and prevent it from worsening, according to court records. Then the Iowa Board of Medicine charged Piccirillo with “professional incompetency.” Eventually, he signed an agreement with the board that placed his license on indefinite probation and prohibited him from practicing surgery in Iowa. A similar agreement with Illinois followed. Now Piccirillo, 48, has started over again as one of Illinois’ and Iowa’s few “Lyme-literate” doctors — physicians who are willing to treat the dubious diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease.