We Get Letters & E-Mail

Too Sensitive for an MD?

Dear Editor:

Thank you for allowing me to pay for a subscription of Dynamic Chiropractic and having it sent to a medical doctor. Enclosed is a check for another subscription. This one is for the other MD in the rural community where I practice.

I had planned on sending a subscription of The Chiropractic Journal to the other MD, but when I called them to get a subscription price and told them it was to go to an MD, the lady got very upset with me. Her abrupt response was that they do not send their material to the lay public, as some issues are too sensitive.

I explained that it was a medical doctor, and my reasons for sending him a subscription. It must have made her blood pressure rise because I could feel the tension in her voice when she asked for my name and telephone number. She said she would have the editor call me on my request. After three telephone calls by me, I've not heard from the editor.

I know you can not answer for The Chiropractic Journal, or the profession as a whole about the sensitivity of information contained in the pages of this literature. I am curious if the profession thinks this information should be restricted from getting to MDs. I personally do not. It is not like teaching them to adjust. Or is it?

R. E. Keroson, DC
Winnsboro, South Carolina

Dear Editor:

Stanley Greenfield's suggestion in the last Financial Forum to consider consolidating student loans with the federal government is sound advice. The Federal Direct Loan Consolidation Program allows you to consolidate (or re-consolidate) your educational loans at a variable interest rate capped at 8.25% and capitalized annually rather than quarterly.

The program, however, is not Dr. David Klein's "idea" and was not "discovered" by him. He apparently has been charging students and new graduates $80 to $120 for information that is freely available to the general public.

For information on the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, you can call them directly at (800) 433-7327. For application materials, you'll need to call (800) 557-7392.

Randal S. Bouchard, DC
Dansville, New York

Dear Editor:

You have hit the nail on the head -- and us, the profession, between the eyes! Have we failed? Yes, in many ways, but the age-old challenges are still here! We have facing us a formidable challenge awaiting our own solution. It is ours alone...but we can and must engineer it into reality!

Our history is full of it! But the shake-up we need and must have is to be found in only one word: organization. Already, we have the national body, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), and we have the respective state organizations. Now, we must have order, and it must be self-enforcing order. To do this, we must be self-governed with our own voluntary control.

W. W. De Vore, DC
Arcadia, Missouri

Dear Editor:

I would like to comment on the 11/25/96 airwave bashing Mr. Howard Stern dished out to the chiropractic profession. I was traveling across the state, coming back to Buffalo, New York, when I picked up the conversation between Stern and a chiropractor. It was quite a humbling feeling listening to that, and the chiropractor on the other end didn't stand a chance.

In fact, that's the reason for this note. That chiropractor (if indeed he was a chiropractor) couldn't defend his way out of a paper bag. He allowed Stern to walk all over him and never showed an ounce of ethical or philosophical chiropractic gameplay. It totally and simply made the profession look bad. Not once did he give credibility to adjusting kids or babies, and not once did he reference any journal, research or really anything positive about the profession. I do feel bad for the man, though; being put on the spot by someone like Howard Stern is never easy. However, I would recommend he hang out with someone like Dr. Keith Innes for a couple of weeks.

As for Howard Stern, everyone knows he is controversial; that's why he is where he is today. But there is a saying: "...criticism without investigation is the first sign of ignorance." Stern's own father was treated in the out-patient clinic in Levittown, New York. If it's good enough for his father, you'd think it would be OK for the rest of us.

B. Brierley, DC
Lockport, New York

Dear Editor:

Dr. Cianciulli's article "The Patient's Role in Managed Care" is brilliant. The patient's right to choose their provider is a civil right that is violated countless times every day.

Legally challenging this all-too-common violation of civil rights could be chiropractic's next frontier.

Michael Phillips, DC
South Euclid, Ohio

Dear Editor:

Regarding Dr. R. Vincent Davis's article on chiropractic immunization and its efficacy, I would like to point out that I am now a clearly-thinking, rational Doctor of Chiropractic whose son was gravely injured as a result of one of these not so common reactions.

Although Dr. Davis may have worked in the laboratory preparing these vaccines which he seems to believe are safe, there are thousands of other people who work in laboratories every day, producing chemicals and drugs that kill thousands every year. Dr. Davis, these are called side-effects. Dr. Davis also states that for objective, clear thinkers, we can weigh the risk and renewal. Well, dear doctor, in my home town alone I personally know of seven other children, from parents of lawyers to bankers to leaders of fortune 500 companies, who have been damaged by vaccines. In our cases, doctor, the risk is 100% with no renewal.

Also, doctor, for the countless other children out there who have been damaged, I am sure their parents will appreciate your education on how these things don't happen. Remember, doctor: even if 1,000 great minds believe in a bad idea, it's still a bad idea.

As for this chiropractor, don't count on him to back down for what is right. Freedom of choice is what this nation was supposed to base its foundation on. Clearly, not giving families a choice on what is put into their bodies is wrong. Money and politics, which you seem to think do not control our current health care mess, have no place being there. Health is a universal right. No one should have to accept the will of others.

A DC who graduated summa cum laude

Dear Editor:

Understanding that upwards of 80 percent of all diagnoses may be strongly influenced by careful attention to history information, I am interested in reviewing your most effective history questions, questionnaire(s), keys to responses, and form(s) that you have used and found through your clinical experience to provide the most complete, accurate, and useful clinical information. My intention is to assimilate all of your responses to produce for publication a definitive, standardized questionnaire (with a key for the evaluation of responses) to assist preventive health care physicians in the determination of an individual's primary physiological status, especially nutritional status.

In addition, and for the same purposes, I am interested in reviewing any test(s) that you have found through your clinical experience to be the most valuable for objectively evaluating a patient's physiological status, especially nutritional status. As you might imagine, "standard" medical tests are of interest, but less so than unique methods of evaluation which you have learned, created, or discovered to be the most reproducible, objective, and informative.

Please provide as complete an explanation as possible of the setup of the exam(s), the performance of the exam(s), and the evaluation of the result(s) of the exam(s).

In the event of a need for clarification, please provide some way for me to get in touch with you.

Anyone providing any information that is utilized in any published material will be listed as a contributor. With input from a large number of physicians practicing diverse techniques, the resultant history and exam formats should be of great interest and value to every preventive health care practitioner.

I. F. Kelley, MA, DC, CCN, DACBN
530 NW 3rd St., Suite A
Newport, Oregon 97365
Tel: 541-265-5132
Fax: 541-336-7151
e-mail: dockelley@juno.com