We Get Letters & E-Mail

Time to Tell the Chiropractic Truth

Dear Editor:

How long? How long will we wait until we do something? Anything.

I, for one, am tired of standing by and doing nothing. So I wrote a letter to the editor.

For the past two or three years, Connecticut has been bombarded with anti-chiropractic advertising. Some say it will go away. Some say there is nothing we can do legally. Some say it just looks like a greedy lawyer looking for malpractice cases. It does look like that. And no, it's not going away.

Now they are in Massachusetts. How long before they are in your state? Are you going to sit by idly and watch it all play out? Or are you going to get in the game?

Buses, billboards, Yellow Pages, TV and newspaper ads - Victims of Chiropractic Abuse is covering all its bases. It is using every possible media outlet it can to spread its anti-chiropractic message: "Have you been injured by a chiropractor/chiropractic manipulation?"

We in Connecticut hear their case never went to court; that the chiropractors' malpractice insurance settled out of court - $11 million in all. That's what we hear. But what's the truth?

Who cares? Do you? The VOCA is slandering us. It is insinuating we hurt people badly. What would our forefathers do? Did they go to jail so we could rub backs and collect huge insurance checks? Would they be running away the way we are today? Would they have sat behind their desks and insurance payments like we all are? Or would they have been ready to man up and play some defense?

It's time we all took our heads outof the sand. It's time to do something -anything. It's time to take out our own billboard, print ad, TV spot or radio ad. It's time to tell those we love and serve what we do - truthfully. It's time to support our brothers and sisters in Connecticut and stop this tyranny before it gets out of control. Donate to the Connecticut Chiropractic Council or the Connecticut Chiropractic Association. Write your own letter to the editor at the Hartford Courant. Place an ad in your local newspaper, citing the truth about chiropractic. Do something.

I heard a lawyer once say, "A lie that goes uncontested becomes the truth." He's right. So, for now, they're telling the truth. And we haven't contested it. How long are you going to wait and allow this to continue?

Brian Nardi, DC
Avon, Connecticut

The Power of Preventive Care

Dear Editor:

This is in regard to Dr. David Seaman's recent article ("When Chiropractic Wellness Care Causes Cervical Radiculopathy," Jan. 15 DC: www.chiroweb.com/archives/26/02/24.html) concerning iatrogenic complications during wellness care, specifically with respect to aggravation of pre-existing cervical discopathy. The headline is overly dramatic considering he describes a couple of cases which more than likely represent individual errors of judgment. Perhaps those particular patients should not have received HVLA cervical adjustments, but to insinuate that all prophylactic cervical spine adjustments should be avoided is overkill.

Imagine if the other health disciplines abandoned preventive conservative measures and instead relied only on end-stage heroic interventions out of fear of a rare iatrogenic event secondary to preventive care. One can only guess what the burden in needless suffering would be for the population. It is unfortunate enough that a majority of Americans do not seek wellness care without looking to promulgate weak arguments within our own profession to discourage practitioners from providing it.

As a DACBN, perhaps Dr. Seaman should consider never advising the use of nutritional supplements in the absence of obvious pathologic illness. After all, there will be a few patients who will suffer an adverse reaction. Like a previously unidentified cervical disco-pathy, an unknown sensitivity to any supplement could trigger an iatrogenic event. Finally, has Dr. Seaman given any thought as to how many cases of cervical discopathy may have remained asymptomatic because of appropriately delivered prophylactic care?

All sarcasm aside, Dr. Seaman's article may have been useful as a "wake-up call" for DCs to be more vigilant in avoiding iatrogenic events in general by improving their clinical decision-making skills. We should avoid the irresponsible solution of "throwing the babyout with the bath water" with respectto providing wellness care requested by a patient.

Desi M. Menendez, DC
Smithtown, New York

Thanks to Dr. Hanks

Dear Editor:

I just wanted to take a minute and write to thank you for carrying the articles by Dr. John Hanks. I get so tired of the bad news and constant struggles that we all seem to hear and read about. What a treat to read John's column. Always fun, ridiculous and out there somewhere in the late '60s. He does such a great job of poking fun at all of us and our idiosyncracies. He never fails to make me smile and laugh. In short, he lightens the load for awhile. Reading his most recent article ("Gadgets and Gizmos," Jan. 15 DC: www.chiroweb.com/archives/26/02/13.html) might actually help me stop the gizmo-buying spree I was thinkingabout going on! But tell him thanks for the heads up on the "knife channel." Thatcould be real fun!

Steve Troeger, DC
Denver