Arrested in Thailand for "Practicing Medicine without a License"

Dear Editor,

On Tuesday, March 18, 1997, I was busy with patients at Dr. Don's Center for Natural Health in Bangkok. About noon, a new patient came in with a vague leg complaint. The adjustment of her neck surprised her, but she was immediately better. Half an hour later we found that she is with the public health department, had two witnesses, and a marked bill for payment. They returned with two plainclothes policemen who arrested me for practicing medicine without a Thai license. Thailand has no law yet on chiropractic.

So, off to the police station for five and half hours. The detective who escorted me into the police station then complained of "tension between the shoulders." I adjusted his T4-5 on a sofa. He yelled, jumped up, stretched and began praises. Then they lined up. I adjusted 12 or 15 with all good results, while the public health team watched.

Then 50,000 baht bail and fingerprints, I returned to the office at 5:55 p.m. That ruined the schedule for the afternoon. We overheard that they hoped to get Don on his first day back from the states. He was delayed two days, so I got the "honors."

Interestingly, my work permit has me as a "Chiropractic Specialist" under the "Drugless Practitioner [sic] Act" (emphasis mine.) This is based upon the wording of my Ontario provincial license. Lincoln Chiropractic College was chartered as a "college of medicine specializing in chiropractic." My Ohio license is from the Ohio Medical Board to practice chiropractic; and my Ontario license is from the Board of Drugless Practitioners to practice chiropractic. The younger chiropractors don't have any of these, so it may be best that they grabbed me rather than Don.

I was arrested for practicing "medicine" without a license. I'm out on bail and am adjusting subluxations. I have been practicing normal days and hours since then. The plea was NOT guilty. I had to report to the police station again every six days for the rest of the month. We checked with two law firms, who asked for lots of papers, licenses, laws, and precedents. They translated my Ontario license into Thai. Now one big effort will be to push on for a proper chiropractic law in Thailand. I had adjusted over half their detectives and the captain in charge of the case. The police have officially dropped the case, but the public health department may want to push it into court.

My work permit has me scheduled to work in Pattaya, our second office 80 miles south of Bangkok. So I was temporarily covering the Bangkok office while Dr. Don was away on business. I am now full-time here in Pattaya. Here in Thailand with no chiropractic licensing, we do not have Medicare. We are not low back, strain-sprain folks. We adjust anyone with a subluxation, hemiplegia, semi-blindness, asthma, allergies, many failed disc surgeries, pneumonia, ulcers, and any sickness. we are NOT treating any of these conditions, but are adjusting the subluxations. The symptoms usually disappear quickly. Our results bring the pioneers' stories to life; we have many astounding recoveries. That makes it worthwhile to tolerate the heat and humidity. This is history repeating itself. I never expected to adjust patients in jail or in a police station, but have done it with excellent results. They begin to see that chiropractic is a great system and is clinically effective. We wish that the true scope of chiropractic could be better understood in the states.

Sincerely yours,

Ronald J. Watkins, DC, PhC
Lincoln Chiropractic College, 1942