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Infectious, invalidating and difficult to treat, Lyme disease is rapidly expanding in various parts of the world, including Europe. While it is identified as a major public health issue by the WHO, French health authorities only recognise its acute form. Its possible persistence after treatment in compliance with official recommendations and its chronic form are denied, despite scientific and empirical evidence. This prevents quality care. Patients are often sent over to psychiatry or forced to seek appropriate treatment in Germany or Switzerland. Persecuted by the Ordre des médecins (official medical association) and the Caisses d’assurance maladie (health care insurance funds), those physicians who try to seriously take care of the Lyme patients and the patients themselves have organised themselves to get heard. The recent negotiations in which they took part in for the first time brought about a number of advances, but medical authorities persist in denial. Using little democratic methods, they block any progress in patient care and research. This article shows the history of these negotiations and explores the reasons why certain physicians and the French Academy of Medecine take on such a behaviour.