The International Chiropractors Association's (ICA) Board of Directors has clearly stated the Association's position regarding chiropractors professional obligation to refer patients when the limits of their skill and authority are reached.
According to the ICA, the primary obligation of doctors of chiropractic is to give the finest care within their capabilities and within legal authority. It is also their obligation to recognize their limitations and at that point of recognition, doctors in all fields are ethically and morally bound to refer patients to practitioners in other fields of medicine in order to provide the best quality care.
Not only does the ICA stress the importance of referrals by chiropractors to other practitioners in the health care field, it also stresses the importance of accepting referrals from other health care providers to members of the chiropractic profession.
"The ICA has always recognized the importance of referrals when appropriate for superior patient care," said Ronald M. Hendrickson, ICA's executive vice president.
When I graduated from chiropractic college in 1981 and started practice, I heard it all, and very little was positive. “You are a quack; you do not know what a subluxation is; you couldn’t get into a real health care program, so you chose the one that is slightly above a mail-order degree; you have no proof that chiropractic works; Are you really licensed?”, and so much more.
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A central challenge in creating our identity is that chiropractic is a method of care, not a technique or procedure. This is an important concept for us to promote. Our patients are treated with lifestyle modification, exercise, nutritional supplements, diet and a whole-body approach to accelerate the natural healing process. We are not simply CMT providers.
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