Calif. Board Adopts Emergency Regulations under Threat

In the May 18, 1993 issue of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the front page article, "Chiropractors Seeking to Expand Practices Take Aim at Children," blasted the chiropractic profession for trying to make inroads into the pediatric and basic health care realm, and painted a picture of chiropractors endangering the health of children by giving adjustments to combat infectious disease (see "Wall Street Journal Rips Chiropractic" in the April 9, 1993 issue),

The unbalanced reporting and scare tactics of that article have been felt across the country, and has resulted in a kind of legislative blackmail in California.

The WSJ article caught the attention of many across the country, including California Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. Several items in particular in the article held Assemblyman Margolin's eye: the pro-choice vaccination advertisement placed by San Diego DCs: "California law clearly states that your children do not have to be immunized to attend school"; that DCs in New York are barred form treating infectious disease, but not in most states, including California; and the "circular logic" quote from Vivian Davis, executive director of the Calif. Board of Chiropractic Examiners : "A doctor of chiropractic in California can treat any condition as long as it's treatable by chiropractic."

Although his Health Committee has never received a complaint regarding chiropractors treating infectious disease, Mr. Margolin felt compelled to introduce bill (AB2294) to place an initiative on the 1994 California ballot to amend California's Chiropractic Act to prohibit the treatment of infectious diseases and the offering of chiropractic care as a substitute to immunization. Assemblyman Margolin told representatives from the Calif. Chiropractic Association that he did not have confidence that the state board was effectively regulating the profession.

Such a bill would be open to modification and amendment that would ultimately become part of the chiropractic scope of practice in California. One can imagine how the enemies of chiropractic began to salivate at the opportunities to attack and restrict the profession's scope of practice.

This action left the California Board with a choice. Either they adopted their own emergency regulation(s) concerning immunization and infectious disease, or allow the anti-chiropractic forces the opportunity to modify the proposed bill and ultimately the Chiropractic Act (through the ballot process) to the detriment of chiropractic. The choice was clear.

In quick response, the Calif. Board voted at their meeting on June 3, 1993 to enact the following emergency regulations (subsections "w" and "x"):

Title 16, California Code of Regulations

"The board shall take action against any holder of a license who is guilty of unprofessional conduct which has been brought to its attention, or whose license has been procured by fraud or misrepresentation or issues by mistake."

"Unprofessional conduct includes, but is not limited to, the following:

 

(w) The offer, advertisement, or substitution of a spinal manipulation for vaccination;

(x) The treatment of a "communicable disease" as
listed in Health and Safety Code section 3380 as
follows:

1. diphtheria
2. hepatitis B
3. haemophilus influenzae type b
4. measles
5. mumps
6. pertussis (whooping cough)
7. poliomyelitis
8. rubella
9. tetanus

This subsection shall not prohibit the treatment of any conditions, diseases, or injuries within the legal scope of chiropractic practice as set forth in California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Section 302, in any patient with a "communicable disease."

In a subsequent meeting in San Diego, July 29th, the California Board added subsection "y" to Title 317:

(y) The treatment for infectious disease. This subsection shall not be interpreted to prohibit the treatment of nueromusculoskeletal or other conditions, diseases, or injuries within the scope of practice of chiropractic in any patient with an infectious disease.

By making the emergency regulations part of Section 317, Unprofessional Conduct, the scope of practice was left untouched. This will also allow the regulation to be modified as chiropractic research continues to advance and the benefits of chiropractic treatment become better established.

California Board Chairman Louis Newman, DC, made this comment:

"While there have never been any substantiated complaints to the board regarding chiropractors treating infectious diseases, Assemblyman Margolin and the Assembly Health Committee perceived a problem due to the Wall Street Journal article. The board acted to avoid making this a scope of practice issue. It appears to me that a lot of negative articles came out at the same time throughout the country. This appears to me to have been timed to coincide with the development of the president's national health care program"

A public hearing on all three emergency measures will be held at 9:00 a.m., September 9, 1993, in Room 127 of the State Capital Building in Sacramento. This will provide the opportunity for any person interested in providing oral or written testimony.