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Are You A Belizean DC?

Belize, in Central America, is a very small country of approximately 170,000 people. Over the last 30 years, it has been estimated that more than our present population, well over 200,000 Belizean people, have migrated to the U.S. and Canada.

There is a great dearth of chiropractors in Belize, with myself being the only bona fide practitioner, that is, a DC who has attended an accredited chiropractic college.

It is quite possible that one or more of those people who have migrated, or the children of Belizean citizens, now hold a chiropractic degree, or are presently enrolled in a chiropractic college.

It would be very beneficial to legislative efforts here to have at least two more real doctors of chiropractic, which would enable us to form a legal association representing Belize, and to effectively lobby for registration. To have a separate chiropractic board would be even better.

It is easy to establish dual nationality for those children of Belizean parentage born in the U.S. As citizens, they would also have the right to claim Crown lands (even while living out of the country, citizens of Belize still may take advantage of the country's homestead law).

If they did not wish at present to return to Belize to practice, they could still be a very big help in legislative efforts now. We would have the right to registry as health care professionals. The anti-chiropractic forces in Belize have so far effectively blocked foreign DCs from gaining work permits to practice here, and have blocked other types of chiropractic legislation.

Anyone who can help in the search for Belizean DCs, or would like to find out more about dual citizenship may write to me:

Daniel V. Buffington, BSc., DC, CCSP
P.O. Box 191
Belmopan, Belize

An article in your February 26, 1993 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic directed at the beef and cattle industry ("What's the Beef with Beef?"), was brought to my attention. I would like to give your readers "the rest of the story."

Two million people are directly involved in production agriculture. Around one million are involved in the cattle industry nationwide. More than 18 million people are employed to store, process, transport, and merchandise the output of the nation's farms and ranches. One in every five jobs in private enterprise is related to agriculture and agribusiness.

Approximately 85 percent of the feed consumed by beef cattle is from forages and roughage and from food processing by-products not edible by man. Were it not for cattle and other ruminant (four-stomach animals, some one billion acres of range and pasture land (land that is normally too dry, too wet, too rough or to high to be cultivated for crop production) would not have a productive use.

The grain fed to cattle is feed grain, not food grain. Without cattle, the market for that grain would be substantially smaller. Grain purchases for cattle feeding contribute $5.2 billion to grain producers revenues.

Lean cuts of beef are very comparable to chicken. A three-ounce serving of trimmed top-loin steak, broiled, contains eight grams of fat. Choice top round contains 4.8 grams. A three-ounce serving of chicken, dark meat, roasted, no skin contains 8.3 grams of fat; light meat contains an average of 3.8 grams. Skinless chicken and trimmed beef have about the same amount of cholesterol per three- ounce cooked serving -- chicken = 76 mg; beef = 73 mg.

The American Heart Association says, "Good lean meat is hard to beat as an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, including iron," and says, "Yes to meat, with a few guidelines to help you protect the heart. Select lean meat with more muscle than fat, trim all visible fat."

Digestibility refers to the portion of a food that becomes available to the body as absorbed nutrients. Beef is highly digestible -- in fact, 97 percent of beef is digestible, in comparison to 89 percent of flour and 65 percent of most vegetables. Beef remains in the stomach longer than fruits and vegetables and consequently provides a feeling of satiety for a longer time.

American cattle producers are committed to producing a safe and wholesome product for consumers. Experts often describe the American food supply as "the safest in the world." One reason for that evaluation is the outstanding safety record of beef. American beef is one of the safest foods available to consumers today.

One of the most common causes of food-borne illness is improper handling and preparation of foods. Proper storage, handling and cooking would eliminate most food-borne illness in this country.

A few important facts for your information: Water used for the productions of all beef (not just feedlot-fed beef) is less than 200 gallons per pound of carcass beef. This figure includes water for drinking, feed crop irrigation, and other purposes. The average citizen in Ft. Collins, CO, uses 81,450 gallons of water for drinking, waste disposal, laundry, lawn watering, etc. Most of the energy used to produce cattle is solar energy -- the solar energy used in growing grasses and forage, as well as feed crops.

Grazing alone supplies 57 percent of the feed energy used in producing beef cattle.

Less than one percent of all beef consumed in the United States comes from Brazil or Latin America. Cutting out beef would do nothing to halt rain-forest destruction.

Eighty percent or more of the wildlife in the United States (exclusive of Alaska) is dependent on private land for food, water, and shelter. In the West, where 50 percent or more of many states is public land, fertile private lands serve as oasises, making thousand of acres of adjacent federal lands viable for wildlife. Private lands in agricultural production provide valuable rangelands, crops, water, wetlands, riparian (stream and river bank) habitat, and other food sources for big game and nongame species.

Cattlemen have a vested interest in maintaining and improving the land and water. The cattlemen's income is directly related to good range management practices. The ability to feed and clothe the people of the United States rests in skill and management of two percent of the people of the United States. They are doing an excellent job. If there is a doubt compare prices around the world.

Nancy Espy, Rancher
Broadus, Montana

Dear Editor:

I would like to share with you some of my thoughts regarding the "managed competition" plan being put forth by the Clinton administration.

As you know, many politically motivated chiropractors ask us to donate to PAC funds to support more lobbying efforts. Although I support this effort and have given more than my share, I do think that much of it is futile. Every month or two I read or hear about another chiropractor being arrested for fraud.

It is my feeling that we need to clean up our profession before we will be considered part of the "cost effective mechanism" being touted in Washington and Jackson Hole.

Chiropractic abuse and fraud in the workers' compensation has been used as the reason for placing restrictions on DCs throughout the country. In New York, DCs may charge slightly more than Medicare rates, in Oregon the DC may treat for 30 days, and in Colorado they must take a test to be allowed to treat injured workers. This is just the beginning!

Due to continuing budget deficits and increasing health care costs, Medicare pays us less than $25 per visit and limits us to 12 treatments per year. Don't expect this to improve soon as Medicare begins to deal with rapidly escalating costs for basic medical care.

Group health insurance is now establishing more rigid limits on chiropractic care and by 1996 look for all care that includes chiropractic to be strictly managed.

Personal injury carriers have recently been subject to a tremendous amount of abuse by chiropractors who have egregiously inflated their bills to make up for losses in other areas of their practice.

As chiropractic fraud increases, be prepared for a mounting number of arrests of DCs in the next few months. In California, I have witnesses about one chiropractor every one or two months being arrested for some type of fraud charge. There have been three in the last week alone!

Why is this happening? Some people think that chiropractors are being singled out as unjust targets of abuse. Yet, continuing arrests of pharmacists, physicians, and other health professionals belies this specious argument.

Controlling health care costs must involve health care professionals increasing their own self-policing powers. Our job as chiropractors must be to take a more aggressive approach to eliminating the fraud and abuse within our own profession. We must start with our chiropractic boards.

In California when a chiropractor is reported by an insurance carrier, a colleague or the general public, that DC is written a letter informing them of the report. Often the matter dies at this stage as the DC retorts that the allegation is untrue, etc. In far more serious matters, we do not do anything more within our profession! We report the doctor to the attorney general or department of consumer affairs!

Do you feel that it is right for us to utilize the government in Sacramento to investigate our fraud and abuse? Remember that this body knows nothing about chiropractic and is known for political gridlock! Do we have the right as doctors to expect the taxpayers and citizens of this state to get rid of our bad applies?

Do you realize that medical doctors and dentists have paid investigators that follow-up complaints by visiting the accused doctors?

I think that our survival (if it's not too late) will depend upon more vigilance at policing our own profession. This era demands accountability and cost-effectiveness. We will be excluded if we continue to have the front pages of national newspapers splattered with the continuing arrests of chiropractic's bad apples.

By introducing a bill into the California legislature we could increase our license fees by $50 and fund an anti-fraud campaign. By investigating our own violators more vigorously we would be telling government, insurance companies, and California business that we want to once again regain our right as the most cost effective therapy for musculoskeletal disorders.

If you are as outraged as I am about the amount of fraud, overutilization and billing issues that you see in our profession please write your state board.

Curtis Turchin, DC
Palo Alto, California

Dear Editor:

I would like to address a comment (letter) made by David Schmidt in the April 23 issue of "DC." He implied that a high volume practitioner who reduces his visit time by eliminating nonproductive patient communication might lead to injury of the patient. He gave the scenario of a child with a fractured atlas who received an inappropriate adjustment. Since the doctor failed to discuss at length with the child's parents the condition of the child, he failed to recognize the fractured atlas. I don't know about the rest of you, but I identify fractured vertebra through the use of x-ray or other imaging techniques. I haven't found patient communication to be especially accurate for this type of diagnosis.

I average 30 visits per day. One of my biggest concerns about seeing a significantly higher volume had been a degradation of the quality of the care given. Recently I had the opportunity to see 94 patients in one day. What I found was not a sacrifice of quality care, but a sacrifice of wasted time. I found that much of the time I spent with patients was nonproductive. By becoming more efficient, I was able to triple my volume.

With the proper screening methods in place, such as a well trained staff and strategic questions from the doctor, it is a simple process to identify those patients who need more careful and detailed evaluation.

Greg Baker, DC
Chatsworth, Georgia

Dear Editor:

I read your article on the $601,730 NCMIC grant to FCER for research on prostaglandins in dysmenorrhea and have the following comments.

1. Chiropractors probably shouldn't be trying to treat dysmenorrhea in the first place. They are not qualified to diagnose female conditions, let alone treat them.

    

2. In case no one has noticed, chiropractic care really doesn't do anything for internal disorders (despite what those little pamphlets say). I believe if a DC tries to diagnose and treat internal disorders you have a combination of two things: a fool for a patient and a fool for a doctor.

    

3. Why hire a PhD (a PhD in what?) when you should have an MD specialist in OB/GYN helping out to do the study. After all, the MD specialist should be able to differentiate all the different types of dysmenorrhea instead of clumping them all together like I'm assuming your PhD is going to do.

    

4. Why not use this research money for a legitimate chiropractic neuromuscular disorder. Something that the rest of the world just might believe in if you did it right.

Dear Editor:

With the new administration laying the groundwork for socialized health care, I felt it was only a matter of time before a major publication such as yours would come out with a ridiculous statement as your concerning the "harmlessness" of mass immunization (April 9, 1993 issue of "DC"). And that if we (the good little DCs) got in line with the new government policy, we would be considered "team" players and would be happily included in these new grand government program.

Well, thanks but no thanks. I'll stand firm in my belief that drugs are dangerous and the government is not going to suck me into any other belief. Shame on you for suggesting a compromise in our position. Just what did their side give up in this compromise?!

I think it is time your publication, along with others out there, stand up to this bastardizing of chiropractic and be proud that we are successful for what we do without drugs.

Robert J. Rogers, D.C.
Belding, Michigan

Dear Editor:

Thank you for your responsible editorial in the 4/9/93 issue of Dynamic Chiropractic. It's refreshing to read some rational thinking as opposed to the endless supply of extremist's views. Keep up the good work.

David J. Poethke, D.C.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Dear Editor:

Thank you to Elaine Carter, the chiropractic student who wrote in your April 9, 1993 issue, "Is Sex Necessary to Sell Chiropractic?" I also saw the magazine Ms. Carter referred to and was appalled at their unprofessional representation of women.

Pictures of nude women have no place in publications associated with our profession. Publishers or advertisers that promote this image to sell their product will definitely not have my business.

I found the advertisements insulting both as a professional and as a woman.

Kathleen A. Deutsch, DC
Watertown, South Dakota

We Also Get Poems

For eleven years
I have been searching.
Being ignored by deaf ears,
I was left suffering.

People don't really understand
The true intensity of migraines.
Then a chiropractor reached out his hand
And gently relieved me of my pain.

If it wasn't for him willing to try,
I would still be in bed
With tears in my eyes.
Suffering from the pounding inside my head.

Now I wake up greeting the new day
Trying to forget the way I used to be.
I used to be a skeptic, now it's easy to say
Did you hug your chiropractor today?

Beth C. Sparozic, chiropractic patient
Wayne, New Jersey