A major chiropractic malpractice insurance program has decided to directly confront the controversial issue of whether it is legal and ethical for chiropractors to solicit people to be research subjects and then to treat them as patients. As a result of a front-page article in Dynamic Chiropractic, "Vertebral Subluxation Research Institute VSRI (a.k.a. OUTREACH 2000) Is It Research? Is It Legal?" October 1, 1989 issue, the National Chiropractic Council (NCC), an insurance buying group for California chiropractors under the Federal Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, and its insurer, PROMED Intrnational Ltd., have decided to create a specific policy exclusion for claims by patients who were formerly solicited to be research subjects. Moreover, their application for membership in the NCC and for chiropractic malpractice insurance will now contain a question designed to screen out practitioners who engage in such a practice.
A spokesperson for the NCC stated, "We believe that the practice of asking or soliciting people to be research subjects and then converting them into paying patients would, in most cases, be considered illegal and unethical solicitation of patients. While it is conceivable that there could be instances where true research was being conducted which led a person to seek care, we believe that such a practice is more likely to be a marketing scheme to get paying clients while conducting little or no true scientific research, data gathering, and compilation and thesis testing. Malpractice insurance covers claims for negligent treatments and is not intended to cover research, much less unethical and illegal acts.
"The NCC so strongly disapproves of illegally soliciting patients that our application for NCC membership and insurance now includes a question asking if the applicant has ever treated a patient who was formerly his or her research subject. A 'yes' answer would suggest to us that the practitioner has questionable judgement or ethics. Thus a 'yes' would probably disqualify the applicant from NCC membership and inclusion in our malpractice program. Our program is based, in large part, upon careful screening to select practitioners with good sense who engage in prudent practices.
"In our opinion, it's important to screen out practitioners who lack the sense or the scruples to reject a practice which is likely to be viewed by the public as a ruse and which exposes the entire chiropractic profession to changes of unprofessional or even illegal conduct."
