Confessions of a Quackbuster

This blog deals with healthcare consumer protection, and is therefore about quackery, healthfraud, chiropractic, and other forms of so-Called "Alternative" Medicine (sCAM).

Monday, January 31, 2005

Another Chiropractor Calls It Quits

The nightmare is just about over. After 18 years in practise I have called it quits. I don't believe that the profession is not going to get better. The problem is multy faceted.

(1) From a business point of view we are not expanding our market share. We have doubled the number of DCs in the last 20 years and yet we are still seeing only 7% of the population. I have seen the number of DCs grow from 20 to 85 in our area in the past 18 years.

(2) Insurance is also problematic . I am presently being reimbursed less for a manipulation now then I was when I initially opened in 87. Co-pays used to be 20%
of the bill and now I have seen co-pays up to 45$ per visit.

(3) Managemant companies that I have investigated want you to employ procedures that I don't agree with.

Incidently they are also suffering . They are marketing to accupunturists.

(4) I don't see our reputations changing. We are still seen as a marginal profession. This proven by the fact that we are still stuck at 7% for the past 30 years.

(5) We are the wild west of health care. The patient never knows what he is going to get when goes into a DC's office. One office is EBM and the next office has the patient getting mucsle tested while he has fecal matter on his chest or maybe he is receiving a homeopathic potion for a miasm that ancestors gave him. When an expose reveals the nonsense the wagons circle and nothing changes. The state boards refuse to protect the public. I guess the foxes are guarding the hen houses.

My only regrets is that I will miss many of my patients. I will looking for a EBM DC or maybe an osteopath who can safely care for my patients.



Sunday, January 30, 2005

Vitalism and the future of chiropractic

Let's start with an excerpt from the article below:

“Perhaps ch’i, or prana is related to the quantum fields? Cells within tissues are interconnected frequently by gap junctions. Ebb and flow of sol-gel transitions within cells, perhaps coordinated among cells, would elicit and extinguish quantum states along meridians, for example.

Understanding the influence of chiropractic on the “life force,” then, is a prerequisite for establishing the profession as a 21st century wellness approach. By returning to our vitalistic roots, we are not regressing to the past but forging ahead into a new and exciting future of advanced health and wellness care."

End quote.

.... and this is the foundation and future of chiropractic? So what else is new!


For more about the religious aspects of chiropractic:

D.D. Palmer's religion of Chiropractic, by DD Palmer himself


*********************************************

Vitalism and the future of chiropractic

by David A. Jackson, DC, RCS Chief Executive Officer


Since its founding by DD Palmer, chiropractic has been known as a vitalistic health care approach, as opposed to the functionalistic or mechanistic paradigm adopted by the medical profession. For many years, in an attempt to mimic the medical profession, some doctors of chiropractic abandoned the vitalistic character of chiropractic in favor of one focused on musculoskeletal treatment only. During the late 20th century, however, the tide began to turn as researchers probed the complexities of quantum physics and the nature of matter and energy.

Cellular biologist and researcher Bruce Lipton, PhD, observed: “In an effort to present themselves in a more ‘scientific’ light, the profession has been gradually moving toward allopathic science for the last 90 years. Interestingly, allopaths have now begun to realize Palmer’s truths. If things continue as they are, allopaths may soon be more ‘chiropractic’ than chiropractors!” (“The Evolving Science of Chiropractic Philosophy”)

Vitalism is the doctrine that living organisms possess a non-physical inner force or energy that gives them the property of life, that there is more to life than the sum of the physical parts that make up a living entity.

Many religions incorporate a belief in a vitalistic force, often called the spirit or the soul. But vitalism has long been associated with secular healing arts as well. Most traditional healing practices recognize a non-physical component to human health. In Eastern traditions, it is called “chi” or “qi” (in China), “prana” (in India), or “ki” (in Japan).

In Western medicine, before the advent of the mechanistic paradigm, the concept was often referred to as the “humours” – a theory espoused as far back as the ancient Greeks and Hippocrates. In the 19th century, vitalists thought the force was electromagnetic in nature, often called the “life force,” “elan vital,” or “life energy.”

Although the concept of vitalism has changed so radically since then, making it almost unrecognizable as the descendent of that original idea, the basic premise that there is a non-physical component of life has been “re-vitalized” by the findings of quantum physics.

Dr. Stuart Hameroff, associate director of the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona and author of “Quantum Vitalism – Are Consciousness and the ‘Living State’ Fundamental Quantum Processes?” (Quantum-Mind Conference, 1999) notes:

“We believe the dawn of the 21st century marks a paradigm shift in understanding the ancient riddles of consciousness and the physical world. This is because of the impending development of quantum computers and quantum information technology arising from 100 years of quantum theory, as well as a confluence of developments during those same 100 years since the hallmark works of Ramon-y-Cajal (neuroscience), William James (psychology) and Meyer and Overton (mechanism of anesthesia).”

In his course, “Consciousness at the Millennium: Quantum Approaches to Understanding the Mind,” he explains:

“Questioning functional explanations of consciousness has led to consideration of relevant macroscopic quantum mechanisms in the brain. If quantum mechanisms participate in consciousness, then quantum mechanisms of some sort must occur more generally throughout biology, presumably preceding the onset of consciousness in the course of evolution. Perhaps it’s time to question functionalism and consider quantum vitalism. The basic idea is that life derives by direct extension from dynamics at the fundamental level of reality. Is such a drastic leap necessary? What’s wrong with functionalism? As we shall see, mysteries about life persist in the face of functionalist/reductionist science.”

He adds that this theory may have direct implications for health care:

“Perhaps ch’i, or prana is related to the quantum fields? Cells within tissues are interconnected frequently by gap junctions. Ebb and flow of sol-gel transitions within cells, perhaps coordinated among cells, would elicit and extinguish quantum states along meridians, for example.”

Understanding the influence of chiropractic on the “life force,” then, is a prerequisite for establishing the profession as a 21st century wellness approach. By returning to our vitalistic roots, we are not regressing to the past but forging ahead into a new and exciting future of advanced health and wellness care.

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Chiropractic college killed

Jan. 28, 2005

HIGHER EDUCATION

Chiropractic college killed

Flexing its muscles, Florida's Board of Governors rebuffed the state Legislature and killed a proposed chiropractic school that lawmakers said last year should go to Florida State University.


BY GARY FINEOUT


GAINESVILLE - In the end, the money didn't matter, and neither did a state law nor the potential wrath of state legislators.

Florida's Board of Governors, the panel pushed into existence by former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham to watch over Florida's public universities, voted Thursday to kill a proposal to set up the nation's first chiropractic college at a public university.

The panel shot down the college even though the Florida Legislature had authorized its creation a year ago in a state law and guaranteed Florida State University $9 million annually to operate it. Earlier this month, FSU's own trustees had asked for more time to let their own faculty review the merits of the college.

But by an overwhelming margin, the Board of Governors rejected the idea, questioning the need for the program and whether it fit into FSU's mission to become a nationally recognized research university. They also pointed fingers at FSU's trustees, chiding them for not taking a stronger vote in favor of the school two weeks ago.

The Board of Governors vote Thursday was 10-3. Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts, who said she opposed the school as well, did not cast a vote.

''I am not convinced there is a need for the program,'' said board member Rolland Heiser, a retired Army general from Sarasota. ``I think there are more pressing needs in the state university system, considering our limited resources. I intend to vote my conscience.''

That's exactly what Gov. Jeb Bush, who appointed most of the board's members, urged them to do a week ago. Board member and state Education Commissioner John Winn, once a top aide to Bush, also voted against the chiropractic college.

''The one thing we all agreed on was they had not established a need for it,'' Winn said.

The governor's apparent defection -- he had once been a supporter of the chiropractic school -- drew the ire of Sen. Jim King, the Jacksonville Republican and former Senate president. He and Sen. Dennis Jones, a chiropractor and Pinellas County Republican, were instrumental in obtaining the money for the college.

Sounding bitter, King said Thursday that he agreed to hold a special session in late 2003 and spend more than $300 million to lure the Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach County -- a measure the governor avidly sought -- in exchange for a promise that the governor would support the chiropractic college.

''I'm disappointed in the governor,'' King said. 'I don't understand the governor's position. The governor shook my hand and drank my champagne and said, `Congratulations, a battle well won, but it's over now.' I said, 'Are you sure?' -- 'Oh, yeah, everything's fine.' ''

CHANGE OF POSITION

King said that Bush later retreated, saying he made his promise before the Board of Governors stepped in.

'So he stepped back and said, `Jim, I promised you this, but y'know, I never promised you the Board of Governors vote,' '' said King, who added that if Bush would have lobbied members they would have supported the college. ``It doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that I shook hands on $360 million worth of Scripps, you know, in an effort to make sure that everything was going smoothly, in exchange for which the chiropractic college was supposed to be a fait accompli.''

FSU's bid to open the chiropractic college, which would have offered a doctorate in chiropractic along with a master's degree in other areas, was moving along smoothly until November, when the Board of Governors demanded to review the proposal.

Initially, FSU officials and lawmakers were inclined to fight the board, saying the measure had been in the works for years. FSU officials relented, but between that time and Thursday's vote, the university's own faculty began to rise up against the proposal, stoked on by a small band of angry alumni. Many faculty members derided chiropractic as ''pseudoscience'' and openly expressed fears that a college for chiropractic would harm FSU's academic reputation. Chiropractors in turn accused medical doctors of professional bigotry and turf-guarding.

Ray Bellamy, the Tallahassee orthopedic surgeon and FSU alumnus who sparked the opposition, was openly jubilant at Thursday's vote.

''They voted their consciences. They did the right thing,'' Bellamy said.

Roberts, the board's chairwoman, insisted that the vote was not about whether or not chiropractic is legitimate, but whether there is a need for a public university to produce more chiropractors. A study put together for the board pointed out that Florida now has more chiropractors than the national average and that a new private chiropractic college recently opened near Daytona Beach.

By taking the vote, however, the board signaled a shift in how the state's universities are run. In the past, lawmakers were able to dictate programs such as new law schools and medical schools when the universities were under the old Board of Regents, a panel that the Legislature eventually abolished. But the new Board of Governors was created by a constitutional amendment and it has powers that can't be trumped by the Legislature.

CAN FSU KEEP MONEY?

FSU President T.K. Wetherell said that FSU would not defy the board and move ahead with the program, although he said he doesn't know how the Legislature will react or whether it will take back the money it guaranteed the university a year ago. The law says that FSU can use the money for other purposes until it is used for the chiropractic college.

Wetherell said he will ask for a meeting with Gov. Bush and legislative leaders to decide what to do next. Wetherell said he wasn't surprised by the vote, but he said he was ''frustrated'' by a process that squeezed the university between the Legislature and the Board of Governors.

Roberts said she has assurances from top legislative leaders that there will not be any repercussions to FSU or other universities by Thursday's vote.

House Speaker Allan Bense was surprised at the lopsided vote on the school.

''Wow,'' he said, when he heard the vote. ``Unless there's a different message from the Board of Governors, that's the end of the FSU chiropractic school.''

The Panama City Republican said legislators will review FSU's $9 million allocation and the budget committee will decide what to do. Meanwhile, he has assigned Rep. Dudley Goodlette to lead the review of the issues surrounding university governance.

''The chiropractic school was the flash point and that debate will continue,'' he said. ``Maybe the saga will continue.''

Herald staff writer Mary Ellen Klas and Marc Caputo contributed to this report.



Board of Governors kills FSU chiropractic school

Board of Governors kills FSU chiropractic school
an Associated Press report 01/27/05

GAINESVILLE - The state Board of Governors killed a proposed chiropractic school at Florida State University on Thursday, saying the program was pushed by the Legislature instead of the university's faculty and administration.

The 10-3 vote ended a contentious debate and dashed the chiropractic world's hopes of seeing the first chiropractic school open at an American public university.

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said he would have liked to have seen the school open, but doesn't plan to continue to push for it.

'We've had a difficult time discussing the merits of the proposal at a number of different stops. It's been frustrating, very frustrating,' Wetherell said.

The project has been ridiculed by FSU's faculty, who say chiropractic medicine is a pseudoscience. The chiropractic community has been pushing for the school for at least a decade and the issue has been watched nationally.

The project began last year when state lawmakers put $9 million in the state budget for a school.

Friday, January 28, 2005

TIME: The Skeptical Eye - Leon Jaroff

TIME: The Skeptical Eye - Leon Jaroff

Tempest in Tallahassee
Florida State University considers chiropractic
Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005

So Far, Psychics Are Batting .000
2004 turned out to be a tough year for the predictors
Monday, Dec. 27, 2004

More Questions on Healing Prayer
A medical journal responds to its critics
Friday, Dec. 10, 2004


Faith-Based Parks?
Creationists meet the Grand Canyon
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004

Medical Sharks
The problems of using shark cartilage to treat cancer
Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2004

Strange Doings on Tunguska
Amazingly, some people still believe the devastating Siberian event was caused by space aliens
Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004

Finding Clues in the Sky
A new blend of astronomy and history is revealing the past
Friday, Jul. 23, 2004

Questioning Healing Prayer
A reevaluation of a study threatens to tarnish the reputations of two prestigious institutions
Thursday, Jul. 01, 2004

Guess What I'll Write Next
Psychics continue to make outrageous claims
Wednesday, May. 26, 2004

Coming Clean About My Military Service
Our columnist sets the record straight
Thursday, Apr. 29, 2004

Who Needs Manned Spaceflight?
The successes of the Mars rovers show again why a lot can be done without spending $400 billion
Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2004

Beyond Ephedra
Even as the FDA bans the herb, other potentially dangerous supplements are taking its place
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004

Larry King and the Paranormal
The CNN host covers a variety of important, news-y topics. So why is he wasting time with pseudo-science?
Friday, Nov. 07, 2003

How I Won the Michigan-Minnesota Game
Sometimes, fans really can make a difference
Saturday, Sep. 13, 2003

Apocalypse No
Why the media fuss over The Asteroid That's Going to Hit the Earth was all wrong
Thursday, Sep. 04, 2003

Erin Brockovich's Junk Science
Her new suit against oil companies and Beverly Hills has little scientific grounding
Friday, Jul. 11, 2003

Hold That Tiger
The confessions of a fanatical baseball fan
Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2003

Pat Buchanan's Iraq Conspiracy
The pundit says a small cabal of Jews launched Gulf War II
Thursday, Apr. 17, 2003

Coral Calcium: A Barefoot Scam
Robert Barefoot's theories about the powers of coral calcium don't hold up
Friday, Mar. 14, 2003

It's Time To Rethink Ephedra Regulation
The FDA needs new authority to evaluate the weight-loss supplement
Wednesday, Mar. 05, 2003

Can We Trust the Cloning Journalist?
Michael Guillen, the reporter who was supposed to verify the Raelians' cloning claims, is hardly a skeptical observer
Friday, Jan. 10, 2003

Save Us From Alternative Medicine!
One good thing for Bill Frist's legislative calendar: Removing the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994
Tuesday, Jan. 07, 2003

Are We Being Taken by Spielberg?
A skeptical look at the filmmaker's alien abduction show
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002

The Surprising Joys of Aging
Some things, it turns out, actually do get better the older you get
Monday, Nov. 18, 2002

Against Nukephobia
Reactors and nuclear waste are perfectly safe from attacks like flying a plane into them
Saturday, Oct. 12, 2002

It's the Little Asteroids that Get You
Forget about looking for the six-mile-across monster asteroids. A much smaller one could trigger a nuclear incident
Tuesday, Sep. 17, 2002

Ephedra: Who's Telling the Truth?
The FDA and the dietary-supplements industry battle over the active ingredient in hundreds of popular diet aids
Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002

The Circular Logic of 'Signs'
Why would aliens bother to make crop circles?
Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002

Does Body Chemistry Make You Gullible?
A new study finds that dopamine can make you dopey
Friday, Jul. 26, 2002

Bamboozled on Long Island
An exotic plant takes over
Wednesday, Jul. 10, 2002

Wasting Big Bucks On Alternative Medicine
Why are the feds spending millions studying questionable treatments?
Wednesday, May. 15, 2002

There's Nothing Dangerous About 'Silver' Fillings
But some in Congress continue to insist there is
Wednesday, May. 08, 2002

At the DOE, Dowsing for Dollars
The feds make an investigation into the paranormal
Wednesday, Apr. 17, 2002

The Rocket Man's Dark Side
Many scientists insist Wernher von Braun only observed German concentration camps. New revelations tell a very different story
Tuesday, Mar. 26, 2002

Nukes Are Necessary in Space. Period
Activists are up in arms over a Bush proposal to allow nuclear reactors in spacecraft
Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2002

Back Off, Chiropractors!
Recent research suggests some chiropractic techniques may be dangerous for patients
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002

Debunking Seeing Without Sight
A Russian girl accepts James Randi's $1 million challenge to prove she has paranormal powers
Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2002

Investigating the Power of Prayer
A San Francisco researcher looks into whether prayer can heal from a distance
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002

Email the Columnist

Leon Jaroff was the founding managing editor of DISCOVER, the newsmagazine of science, and was a longtime correspondent, writer and editor for TIME and LIFE. [more]




Thursday, January 27, 2005

FSU chiropractic school DEFEATED!

A bit of chiro history:


Jan. 27, 2005

This message was forwarded to me:


-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Hayward
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 12:59 PM
Subject: Chiropractic

Dr. Abele asked that I inform you that the Board of Governors voted 10-3 to deny the approval of a chiropractic program at Florida State University. As far as we are concerned this will end our discussion of this issue and the designated committees need not continue work on this project. There will be a full report at the next Faculty Senate meeting. Dr. Abele and President Wetherell asked that I thank all who have contributed to this effort. Pat
--

Patricia C. Hayward
Associate Vice President
Office of the Provost
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1310
Phone: (850) 644-1711
Fax: (850) 644-0172


******************


For more chiro information:

ChiroLinks

Chiropractic Index

I would like to invite everyone interested in skeptical discussions about chiropractic to join us at Chirotalk.

If you're interested in discussing healthfraud, quackery, and so-called "alternative" medicine, join us at the HealthfraudDiscussion List. Dr. Stephen Barrett is the Moderator.

If you have a website or blog that is relevant to one of the following webrings, please submit your URL for membership:

Anti-Quackery Ring

Skeptic Ring


Some of my views on the subject can be found here:

CHIROPRACTIC INDEX

Why the FSU Chiropractic School Shouldn't Happen

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule

No justification for the existence of chiropractic

So many questions....about FSU chiropractic school

Are Chiropractors "Back Doctors"?

Monday, January 24, 2005

Chiropractic school faces key vote

Jan. 23, 2005

Chiropractic school faces key vote

Result could drive wedge between board, Legislature Editor's note: As the Board of Governors faces making a decision about the fate of Florida State University's chiropractic program, the Tallahassee Democrat examines the issue. Monday: Is there a need for more Florida chiropractors?

By Melanie Yeager

DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


Members of the Board of Governors thought they were perfectly clear in May:

Despite legislative approval and a $9 million spending tab, no chiropractic school should begin at Florida State University without the state board's approval.

On Nov. 12, FSU advertised for a chiropractic school dean in The Chronicle of Higher Education's online job ads.

A week later, the governors drove home their earlier message, demanding again that FSU bring its plans before the state board before proceeding.

They get their wish Thursday, but not exactly as they hoped. FSU trustees have taken no position on the program initiated by lawmakers. They are asking the Board of Governors for more time to examine their own proposal.

"I believe our board is prepared to make a decision," Carolyn Roberts, chairwoman of the state board, said Friday. "It would not surprise me if it were an up or down vote."

It's unlikely the state board would support the program because it hasn't been fully vetted by the university. But it could vote to reject it or send it back to FSU for more work. The governors are faced with asserting their authority over a graduate program that the Legislature already has authorized.

This battle for control has dominated any discussions the state board has had about the chiropractic program. Several state board members have said this legislatively created chiropractic program should not be the first test case for who manages the state's 11 universities. They say legislative plans to create the chiropractic program were well under way before the voters created the state board to run universities in late 2002.

But other state board members have been eager to demonstrate the board's power. A suit filed last month in Leon County Circuit Court alleges Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature violated a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2002 that created the Board of Governors to manage universities.

Meanwhile, FSU's stuck trying to please two authorities - the Legislature, which holds the purse strings, and the Board of Governors, which approves graduate and professional programs.

Some board members concerned

FSU has submitted a 100-plus page proposal for the program that spells out the state's need for a chiropractic program, how it fits the state's higher-education mission and how it will be implemented. Board members have copies of that proposal, the board's staff analysis of that proposal and reviews by two consultants: Richard Stevens, an associate professor of medicine (neurology) and anatomy at Dartmouth Medical School who has medical and chiropractic degrees; and David Wickes, executive vice president and provost of Western States Chiropractic College.

Board members reached last week - including John Dasburg and Lynn Pappas -said they are not making up their minds until the board meeting. The 17-member board includes 14 appointees by Gov. Jeb Bush, the education commissioner, the chairman of the Advisory Council on Faculty Senates and the president of the Florida Student Association.

"I have an open mind regarding the chiropractic-school issue," said John Winn, education commissioner. "However, I am concerned that we may not have a completed proposal on which to act."

Several other board members agreed.

"There's a process in place, and any new Ph.D. or professional-degree program that's approved at the Board of Governors level should have gone through all the various steps," said Dreamal Worthen, Florida A&M University professor and the state board's faculty representative.

Steve Uhlfelder admitted it's hard to vote positively with the information given.

"I haven't been excited over this program, but I'm not one of these people who thinks if it came up in the Legislature, it's a bad idea," Uhlfelder said. Several of the state universities' professional programs, especially medical and law schools, were created by lawmakers without the blessing of state education officials.

But he said he's not getting any indication that FSU really wants the program. FSU trustees had a chance to endorse it, but they didn't. Many FSU faculty members have been fighting it.

"Extending time to debate this further - I'm not sure it would solve much," Uhlfelder said.

Up to the Board of Governors

Several FSU trustees have made their opinions known. Dr. Jessie Furlow, June Duda and Manny Garcia were ready to vote against the proposal.

"I hope you will join me in encouraging the Board of Governors to kill this proposal and not waste the time and money it will take for our faculty to come up with the obvious conclusion," Garcia wrote in a letter last week to his fellow trustees.

He said he's not condemning chiropractic care, but he feels strongly his board made a mistake sending the proposal on to the state board without "a strong negative message."

"We certainly have spectacular medical-school facilities; we do not need the reputation of being the first medical school in the USA and Canada to 'dabble' in reputed 'quackery.'"

But at least one trustee disagrees. Andy Haggard said he is prepared to support a chiropractic program at FSU.

"Someone is going to be the first university that does have a chiropractic school. Whether that's FSU - that's up to the board of trustees or the Board of Governors," he said.

It's not up to the naysayers such as Dr. Ray Bellamy, a Tallahassee orthopedic surgeon, he said. Bellamy has led the charge against the school and called trustees "cowards" for not taking a stance, he said.

Said Haggard: "I want to see the bashing stop."

Jarrett Eady, student member of the state board who also sits on FSU's trustees board, said he's no authority on chiropractic medicine, but he does have concerns about any program that has divided FSU's campus as this one has. He's heard from undergraduate students who support it and think FSU should be a trendsetter in chiropractic education. He's also heard from graduate students, who are worried it will erode the university's reputation for scientific research.

If Roberts has her way, Thursday's Board of Governors meeting will not become a debate about the merits of chiropractic care, but instead discussion will focus on whether the state needs such a program at FSU.

Now it's up to the Board of Governors to take a stand, she said.

"FSU decided not to make a decision, ... They didn't take the responsibility," Roberts said. "I wanted them to make a firm decision up or down. I'm disappointed that they did not. I understand their reasoning, but that doesn't stop me from being disappointed."



Breaking the back of legislative meddling

Jan. 23, 2005

Breaking the back of legislative meddling

By C.B. Hanif
Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Sunday, January 23, 2005


The drama regarding the proposed chiropractic school on Florida State University's campus is just the sideshow. As state lawmakers have shown, the real story is whether they will continue to lord over higher education policy even though Florida voters have said politics no longer should prevail.

Thus the vote Thursday by the Board of Governors, which the voters put in charge of approving programs such as the school of manipulation of the spine, will reveal whether the board has one. For whatever the merits of the nation's first public chiropractic college, it's impossible to defend the way the proposed school was concocted.

Ideally, under the system of higher education governance that voters established by constitutional amendment in 2002, university programs will germinate among the faculty, and have thorough vetting that includes public debate. The programs next would have to be approved by the school's Board of Trustees, then by the Board of Governors. The Legislature, whose years of academic meddling had prompted the amendment, retains power to appropriate public money for the university system and require an accounting of the finances.

But lawmakers were divested of the power to enact state higher education policy. In 2000, Gov. Bush and some of the same lawmakers had abolished the Board of Regents that opposed handing out expensive political favors in the name of education, such as the school of medicine that then-House Speaker John Thrasher pushed through the Legislature that year for his alma mater, FSU. For the first time since 1905, Florida had no citizen board governing universities, and, with lawmakers running the 11-member public university system, no checks and balances. The 2002 amendment restored citizen oversight through a governor-appointed Board of Governors, to "operate, regulate, control and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system," with local trustee boards administering each university.

Almost as if to show they were still at the head of the class, however, lawmakers established the controversial chiropractic school last spring after little public debate. They also bestowed $9 million in public money per year in the state budget toward the program's nearly $70 million estimated cost of completion.

That's a big-ticket item the state cannot defend when Gov. Bush's latest proposed budget includes yet another 7.5 percent tuition increase for university students — regardless of whether the classes they need are unavailable as the governor and Legisture continue their pattern of paying for Florida education on the cheap. Yet the program is being foisted on taxpayers with none of the discussion that should have happened in the Legislature, nor the exhaustive review that should have happened at FSU.

Worse than the fact that FSU faculty did not ask for the school, and that it was approved by neither FSU's Board of Trustees nor the Board of Governors, is that the school was devised for no demonstrated medical need. By the Board of Governors' own recent staff evaluation, The St. Petersburg Times reports, Florida already has more chiropractors per capita than the national average. An estimated 108 chiropractors are needed to keep pace with annual demand. But a new, private Volusia County college is expected to graduate up to 188 per year by 2007.

Part of the proponents' objective is institutional legitimacy for chiropractic. Chiropractic treatment is gaining ground as an alternative therapy among some patients, and being embraced by more medical doctors. Insurers commonly cover chiropractic care, whose features include promoting the body's innate healing ability without using invasive techniques or drugs. Still, chiropractic generally is considered at best untested and at worst pseudoscience by the medical profession for treating illnessess.

That includes some of the hundreds of FSU faculty members, not to mention FSU's two Nobel laureates, who are protesting the school. Many are threatening to resign if the school is approved, citing negative implications for national accrediting bodies and damage to the reputation of the school whose new medical building a week ago was named, ironically, for Mr. Thrasher, now the trustees' chairman. In turn, the faculty's parody map of a campus with an Institute for Tea-Leaf Reading has brought charges of medical bigotry from chiropractors.

But the only established basis for the FSU program's existence is as a favor to powerful state lawmakers and lobbyists with FSU connections. Those include Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, who as last year's Senate president railroaded the program and its financing to his alma mater; Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, then the majority leader and himself an alumnus and chiropractor who reportedly hopes to work at the school; and FSU booster and fellow alum Guy Spearman, lobbyist for the Florida Chiropractors' Association. FSU is run by another former House speaker and alumnus, President T.K. Wetherell.

When FSU's Board of Trustees voted 11-2 last week to forward the chiropractic proposal to the Board of Governors, rather than legitimize the program that is vipering its way backward through the system, Gov. Bush slammed the trustees for dodging the issue. "They should have voted their conscience," he said. "This has gotten way out of hand." The same trustees who had advertised to hire a dean for the chiropractic school wisely concluded that this contrived political showdown is not their fight.

But asking wimpy trustees to take point in shooting down what the Legislature already had approved and financed is typical of the kind of political calculus from which the Board of Governors is supposed to insulate the universities. And if the Board of Governors won't defend the constitutional mandate voters gave it to govern the state's university system, how can school trustees?

Even as Gov. Bush criticized the trustees, he offered his own muddled signal, announcing that he was allocating just $1.9 million in his budget — nearly $7 million less than what lawmakers approved — for the school. Between the talk of conscience and his budget cut, there appeared to be cover for his appointees to the 16-member Board of Governors. He and Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts, for example, also expressed concern that the traditional faculty review and approval process had not been exercised first.

What Sen. King's threats of budgetary consequences and other political retaliation underscore, however, is that the chiropractic school is just the latest flashpoint on the question of who runs the university system. Even if the Board of Governors finally takes a stand, count on lawmakers to continue to try to finesse this and other pet programs. At stake is whether future university policy will function backward and bend to the whims of the powerful.

That explains the citizens' lawsuit by Floridians for Constitutional Integrity, which includes E.T. York, former chancellor of the state university system. The group not only is challenging the back-door chiropractic school. There's also the political overreach in 2000 that lumped higher education in Gov. Bush's "seamless" system with a "superboard" to set education policy. Voters in 1998 had approved only a switch to an appointed board and secretary of K-12 education rather than have the Cabinet continue as the board of education.

The cover is off the long-standing tension between the Legislature and university governance. If the Board of Governors ultimately has no spine for its constitutional mandate to make public policy prevail over politics in higher education, more lawsuits are likely to come. This suit serves notice that if members are more loyal to politics than to the state's citizens, they should resign from the board, and that no great universities are run by politicians, particularly with everything up for grabs each legislative session.



Does science have chiropractic's back?

Jan. 23, 2005

Does science have chiropractic's back?

By Melanie Yeager
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


Education politics aside, opponents and proponents of Florida State University's proposed chiropractic program hinge their arguments on the issue of science.

Is there science backing chiropractic care? And is it the right kind of science or enough science to warrant FSU's starting a chiropractic school?

Dr. Ray Bellamy, a longtime Tallahassee orthopedic surgeon who teaches FSU medical students, calls chiropractic science "gobbledygook" that is based on "pseudoscience." He says a chiropractic school will destroy his alma mater's hard-earned academic reputation.

But John Triano, a chiropractor at the Texas Back Institute with a combined staff of medical doctors and chiropractors says, "We (chiropractors) have to stand up to the same criteria as everyone else when we get published," Triano said. "The notion we keep hearing that our science is somehow inferior is the hype." Triano also is a research professor in bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Proponents believe having a chiropractic school at a public research university will accelerate efforts to validate best methods of chiropractic care.

FSU faculty members watched as both sides espoused their argument's merits earlier this month at a forum. Ross Ellington, a professor of biological science who was there, compared it to the age-old debate between those who believe in "intelligent design" and evolutionary biologists.
"Both parties walk away convinced that they're correct," he said.


Gathering research

Scientific research does exist regarding chiropractic care. Even Bellamy concedes on this point. But he says the overwhelming evidence doesn't support it.

"There are solid studies showing chiropractic is no better than the placebo effect ... for most conditions with one exception - low back pain," Bellamy said.

Spinal manipulation is the primary chiropractic treatment, chiropractic experts say. And the research for that continues to build.

"In the last 10 years, $20 million has been put into chiropractic research from the federal government and $4 (million) to $5 million from the profession itself," Triano said.

But everyone - opponents and proponents - seem to agree there still is not enough.

Walter Herzog, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Calgary in Canada, reviewed what had been studied in an attempt to develop a chiropractic paradigm - a theory to explain the beneficial effects of chiropractic treatments. What he determined was there isn't a generally accepted paradigm.

"Although many studies have described the mechanical, neuromuscular and physiologic effects produced by chiropractic treatments, a comprehensive picture has not emerged," he wrote.

Many findings still need to be independently verified, he said. And the research does not go far enough. For instance, he said, research repeatedly shows neuromuscular reflex responses during and after spinal manipulation, but more needs to be known about the origin of the responses. Also, most chiropractic research measures reported patient relief, instead of how the body changes during and after spinal manipulation.

FSU Provost Larry Abele, also a member of the biological-sciences faculty, said in his assessment about 90 percent of chiropractic research is in clinical trials, which measure patient response, and about 5-10 percent is in the basic sciences.

"And the basic sciences is very, very preliminary," he said.

The clinical trials, which have been systematically reviewed, do provide quality research, said Partap Khalsa, an associate professor and researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Neurobiology and Orthopaedics at the Stony Brook University in New York.

"For any treatment that's been devised, it's important to show it's effective," Khalsa said. But clinical trials don't usually investigate why treatment is effective. "This is where there's not good data, at this point."


Out there, but hard to find

Still, many FSU faculty members are wondering where to find this research, especially studies in basic science. Chiropractic researchers admit they also have had difficulty getting their arms around it because it's spread among different disciplines, such as neuroscience and biomechanics. And it can't always be found using "chiropractic" or "spinal manipulation" in a database search engine.

Marc Freeman, a veteran FSU professor of biology and neuroscience, hasn't seen the science.

"They say the research is out there. It seems to me it's up to the pro-chiropractic community to provide that research, to educate us, and that hasn't happened," Freeman said.

Alan Adams, the chiropractic researcher hired to help develop FSU's proposal, said he's ready to educate.

"I haven't had very many people ask me, 'Can you get me some papers on these?'" Adams said. He said the research does exist.

FSU's provost insists any new chiropractic program would be embedded in science.

"We wouldn't want to teach a theory that wasn't true or backed by strong evidence," Abele has said. "This is a real opportunity to take some very important but somewhat untested therapies ... and integrate them into rigorous academic programs."

To do that, FSU's program would need to "explicitly reject" some chiropractic methods because of a lack of scientific evidence, he said.

But many faculty wonder how FSU would ensure this. Where do you find chiropractors to teach this new program who are fully scientific in their approach? How does FSU ensure its program will be different from existing chiropractic colleges?

"I need those assurances," said David Houle, an associate professor in biological sciences. "It seems it's hard to get these assurances without starting this thing. Then how do you get those assurances? I don't know."

And for some faculty, the mere perception that FSU might be embracing a discipline not fully grounded in science is the bigger issue.

"I do not believe that the efficacy of the broad spectrum of what chiropractors do has been documented and validated carefully," Ellington said. "But again, I think that is a secondary issue. The issue is whether the university with its goals and aspirations wants to do this."

FSU continues to build its research reputation among public universities.

"This is just a terrible distraction," Ellington said.

The ongoing controversy at FSU made the Jan. 14 issue of SCIENCE magazine. Alongside the article was the fictitious map by Albert Stiegman, an FSU chemist, depicting a chiropractic medicine school and renaming science buildings with titles such as "Bigfoot Institute" and "School of UFO Abduction Studies."

FSU scientists have been fielding e-mail chuckles and concerns from their colleagues nationwide.
Abele has said the university will need to study the arguments against a chiropractic program, including the academic community's perception of FSU if it goes ahead with the program. He said FSU needs to consider whether it's stable enough in its development of its new medical school.

Chiropractic care has evolved into a health service regularly used by 15 million Americans each year, he said. And more scientific research is needed to examine the biological reasons behind Americans' great satisfaction with chiropractic care.

But should FSU be the university to take on the task?

"That's a good question," Abele said.




Sunday, January 23, 2005

Action Alert! Stop FSU School of Chiropractic

Jan. 27, 2005: FSU chiropractic school DEFEATED!

which makes the following a part of history! Here you'll find documentation of the discussions and news reports:



Action Alert! Stop FSU School of Chiropractic

Now is the time to make a concerted and united effort to stop the planned FSU School of Chiropractic. Florida State University is on the fast track to becoming Quack U..

Its reputation has already been seriously tarnished, thanks to an aggressive and manipulative chiropractic politician, Florida Senate Majority Leader Dennis Jones, DC, R-Seminole. Unfortunately no one had the guts to say "No!" to him.

If the Board of Governors fails to understand the seriousness of this attempt to sneak quackery into the university system, they will cause irreparable damage, not only to the university's reputation, but to the educational system. They will open a Pandora's box by giving chiropractic an undeserved appearance of legitimacy.

Now is the time for skeptics of pseudoscience and quackery to publicly do what they can to stop the plans to build the proposed FSU School of Chiropractic Medicine (an obvious oxymoron) at the new

FSU School of Pseudoscience.


[Times art]
To poke fun at Florida State University's bid for a chiropractic school, an FSU professor has created a new campus map. Opponents of the proposed school say more than 500 faculty members have signed petitions against it. (source)


The following is from a great blog that covers this situation from the local battlefield:

FSU Chiropractic Proposal Goes National

Each day this issue is in the national news it will damage FSU's reputation in the scientific community, and detract from the real science going on at FSU's campus. Florida's state-wide Board of Governors will have an opportunity to put an end to this proposal -- which the faculty does not want and which the FSU administration has refused to endorse -- when it meets later this month.

Since FSU's administration has affirmatively refused to take a position on the proposal (which, oddly, it drafted). The issue is now in the hands of the Florida Board of Governors (which will vote on whether the proposal will continue at FSU).

The above was written by the anonymous blogger of FSUblius.


Some of my views on the subject can be found here:

CHIROPRACTIC INDEX
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2006/12/chiropractic-index-to-all-entries-here.html

Why the FSU Chiropractic School Shouldn't Happen
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/why-fsu-chiropractic-school-shouldnt.html

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/chiropractic-exception-does-not.html

No justification for the existence of chiropractic
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/no-justification-for-existence-of.html

So many questions....about FSU chiropractic school
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2004/11/so-many-questionsabout-fsu.html

Are Chiropractors "Back Doctors"?
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/are-chiropractors-back-doctors.html

ChiroLinks
http://chirolinks.quackfiles.com

Chirotalk
http://chirotalk.proboards3.com/index.cgi



The current (temporary) URLs for this page are:
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2006/12/action-alert-stop-fsu-school-of.html
and
http://www.quackfiles.com


This page will soon be moved here:
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/action-alert-stop-fsu-school-of.html
and
http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/fsu_stop.html



======================================================

(I apologize for problems with the length of some links. Please clip and paste them.)


FSU chiropractic school resources below:

1. Websites, blogs and articles

2. Newspaper Articles

3. General chiro resources:

4. Google search: fsu chiropractic school



***************

1. Websites, blogs and articles discussing the FSU chiro situation:


Confessions of a Quackbuster
CHIROPRACTIC INDEX
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2006/12/chiropractic-index-to-all-entries-here.html

Why the FSU Chiropractic School Shouldn't Happen
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/why-fsu-chiropractic-school-shouldnt.html

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/chiropractic-exception-does-not.html

No justification for the existence of chiropractic
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/no-justification-for-existence-of.html

So many questions....about FSU chiropractic school
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2004/11/so-many-questionsabout-fsu.html

Are Chiropractors "Back Doctors"?
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/are-chiropractors-back-doctors.html

School could prove -- or dispel -- claims: Annotated - Greg Smith, MD
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/school-could-prove-or-dispel-claims.html


Chirobase
Controversy Erupts over Proposed Chiropractic College at Florida State University - Samuel Homola, DC
http://www.chirobase.org/03Edu/fsu.html


ChiroWatch
http://chirowatch.com/FSU/
http://www.chirowatch.com/bulletin.html#fsu
http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-fsu.html


FSUblius
FSU blog pretty much dedicated to this issue. Lots of good entries.
http://fsublius.typepad.com/fsublius_a_forum_for_dial/
more

Boing Boing
University of Pseudoscience
http://www.boingboing.net/2004/12/30/university_of_pseudo.html


Rhosgobel: Radagast's Home
FSU Chiropractic?
http://rhosgobel.blogspot.com/2005/01/fsu-chiropractic.html

More On FSU Chiropractic
http://rhosgobel.blogspot.com/2005/01/more-on-fsu-chiropractic.html


Pharyngula
Chiroquackery
http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/chiroquackery/


CodeBlueBlog
Remember The Seminole! FSU Docs Take a Stand Against Kook Medicine
http://tinyurl.com/6lr8r

A Call To Arms
http://tinyurl.com/6pfkn


University Diaries
More on FSU and Chiropractic
http://margaretsoltan.phenominet.com/2005/01/more-on-fsu-and-chiropractic-scientist.html


Gift Returns
http://margaretsoltan.phenominet.com/2004/12/gift-returns-regular-readers-know-that.html


BarelyFitz Designs
Followup: Chiropractic school at FSU spawns parody map ...
http://www.barelyfitz.com/blog/archives/2004/12/30/142/

Florida State needs an adjustment (chiropractic, that is) ......
http://www.barelyfitz.com/blog/archives/2004/06/14/66/


2% Company
Academic Validation of Pseudo-Science Bullshit
http://www.twopercentco.com/rants/archives/
2005/01/academic_valida.html
http://www.twopercentco.com/rants/archives/
2005/01/update_chiropra.html
http://www.twopercentco.com/rants/archives/
2005/01/attention_flori.html
http://www.twopercentco.com/rants/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=fsu&Template=rants&IncludeBlogs=1

blog.bioethics.net
What if the Faculty Hate Alternative Medicine
http://blog.bioethics.net/2005/01/what-if-faculty-hate-alternative.html


Paige's Page
Chiropractic? Show Me The Evidence!
http://paiges-page.net/2005_01_01_archive.html#110496578249349929


FSU To Open Chiropractic School (Probably)


Medical Doctors vs. Chiropractors: History Repeats Itself
Michael H. Cohen, Esq.
Jan. 27, 2005


************************

2. Newspaper Articles About the FSU Scandal (in chronological order):


Administrators push for FSU chiropractic school
Kristen Bolles
April 14, 2003
FSU News
http://www.fsunews.com/vnews/display.v/
ART/2003/04/14/3e9a268fc7b4e


House budget panel approves medical research money
Associated Press
Mar. 1, 2004
Bradenton Herald
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/8080419.htm


New FSU school backed
Diane Hirth.
Mar. 4, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/8100416.htm


$30 million in leaders' projects gets top priority
S.V. Date
Mar. 4, 2004
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/
editions/today/news_04644b98723262a200f8.html


Chiropractic school out of alignment with taxpayer interests
Jann Bellamy
Mar. 9, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/opinion/8136609.htm


New FSU chiropractic school still needs a building
April 22, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/
news/breaking_news/8494916.htm


Chiropractic school taking shape at FSU
Melanie Yeager
April 23, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/8498345.htm


Activists decry level of pork, lack of benefits on state's $58 ...
April 30, 2004
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-fturkey30apr30,0,3071381.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines


SICA Reflects on FSU Chiropractic College
Brett L. Casanova
May 2004
The Beacon: Palmer College of Chiropractic
http://www.palmerbeacon.com/archives_article.asp?id=597


'Turkeys' fly in face of Constitution
E.T. York
May 22, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/22/Opinion/
_Turkeys__fly_in_face.shtml


Beware of Gifts From Lawmakers
May 27, 2004
The Ledger
http://search.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040527/NEWS/405270352/1036


Budgetary larceny
Editorial
May 27, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/27/Opinion/Budgetary_larceny.shtml


University board to ask FSU why chiropractic school is necessary
Larry Keller
May 28, 2004
Palm Beach Post
http://static.highbeam.com/t/thepalmbeachpost/may282004/
universityboardtoaskfsuwhychiropracticschoolisnece/index.html


MAG lab stays safely on budget
Bill Cotterell and Melanie Yeager
May 28, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/8779351.htm


Some construction jobs at FSU, FAMU have to wait some more
Melanie Yeager
May 29, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/8789667.htm


Law guarantees money for King, Byrd projects
Lucy Morgan
Nov. 9, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/09/State/
Law_guarantees_money_.shtml


Legislators, Gov. Bush Seek Cooperation
Lloyd Dunkelberger
Nov. 14, 2004
The Ledger
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041114/NEWS/411140353/1036


FSU control over planned chiropractic school gets tense
Melanie Yeager
Nov. 19, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/10220249.htm


FSU Bonecrackers
Rick Flagg
December 9, 2004
Capitol News Service
http://www.flanews.com/december/1209Fsu.htm


Question of Science
Melanie Yeager
Dec. 12, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/10397168.htm


FSU chiropractic school not a done deal just yet
Steve Bousquet
Dec. 12, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/12/State/
FSU_chiropractic_scho.shtml


Chiropractic school spurs higher-ed power struggle
E.T. York
Dec. 13, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
news/opinion/10388789.htm


Opponents Try to Kill Plan For FSU Chiropractic School
Steve Bousquet
Dec. 13, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041213/NEWS/412130348/1134


Gov. Bush denies his system of running education is unconstitutional
Dec. 21, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/
breaking_news/10468920.htm


Suit rips way colleges are run
Marc Caputo
Dec. 22, 2004
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10470913.htm


Lawsuit Takes Aim At Universities Board
Gary Haber and Allison North Jones
Dec. 22, 2004
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBK452013E.html


Suit claims amendment not enforced
Editorial
Dec. 23, 2004
Fort Pierce Tribune
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/trib_editorials/article/
0,2547,TCP_1111_3418474,00.html
http://www.flboe.org/clips/clips/122304.asp
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:Rt6YQtt2vCAJ:www.tcpalm.com/
tcp/trib_editorials/article/0,2547,TCP_1111_3418474,00.html
+Tribune+editorial+%22Suit+claims+amendment+not+enforced%22&hl=da


Changing attitudes on chiropractic
Donald J. Krippendorf, D.C., president, ACA
Dec. 24, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/24/Opinion/
There_s_no_harm_in_sh.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/27/Opinion/
Inauguration_price_ta.shtml


Alpha boards
Dec. 26, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
news/opinion/10477970.htm


Panel May Have Bone To Pick With Capitol
Brad Smith
Dec. 28, 2004
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBIVJCK93E.html


Chiropractic is thriving in spite of demagoguery
Lance Armstrong
Dec. 29, 2004
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
news/opinion/10515763.htm


Chiropractic school angers FSU professors
Ron Matus
Dec. 29, 2004
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/29/State/
Chiropractic_school_a.shtml


Twisted Arms, Twisted Egos, Twisted Politics
Daniel Ruth
Jan 1, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBA8LRWD3E.html


Doctors threaten to quit FSU over school
Kimberly Miller
Jan. 1, 2005
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/
epaper/2005/01/01/m1a_CHIRO_0101.html


Jim King Threatens FSU Funding if Chiropractic School is Defeated
Ron Matus
Jan. 4, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1314409/posts


Chiropractic school splits FSU
Ron Matus & David Karp
Jan. 4, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/04/State/
Chiropractic_school_s.shtml


Chiropractic School Becomes Nagging Pain At FSU
Gary Haber
Jan. 4, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGBYAR3NJ3E.html


Physicians urge school be stopped
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 5, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10567145.htm


Readjust the priorities for Florida's universities
Editorial
Jan. 6, 2005
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/
epaper/2005/01/06/a16a_chirocolledit_0106.html


Chiropractic has backers, but is it just voodoo?
Lisa Greene
Jan. 9, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/09/Tampabay/
Chiropractic_has_back.shtml


Will FSU school improve image of chiropractic?
Martin Dyckman
Jan. 9, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/09/Columns/
Will_FSU_school_impro.shtml


Faculty: Hold off on chiropractic deal
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 11, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/10614755.htm


Chiropractic school may cost state $84 million
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 12, 2001
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.fsu.edu/~chiro/news.html


Governors Say FSU Ad For Dean Premature
Gary Haber
Jan 13, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBS3TCCW3E.html


School could prove -- or dispel -- claims
Jacob Goldstein
Jan. 13, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
living/education/10631557.htm


Chiropractors, doctors feud over FSU plan
Gary Fineout
Jan. 13, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
living/education/10631500.htm


Chiropractic College at FSU
Jan. 13, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10631559.htm?1c


FSU Board of Trustees votes yes on chiropractic college
Gary Fineout
Jan. 14, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10648057.htm


Chiropractor school resistance stiffens
Brent Kallestad
Jan. 14, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
living/education/10640789.htm


Proposed School At FSU Heats Chiropractic Debate
William March
Jan. 14, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBYIZAWX3E.html


Get Conflicts And Lobbyists Off Higher Education Boards
Jan 14, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://tampatrib.com/opinion/MGBB1Q7T24E.html


Sparks Fly Over FSU's Proposed Chiropractic School
Jan. 14, 2005
WCTV
http://www.wctv6.com/home/headlines/1349296.html


South Wire: Proposed chiropractic school at FSU ignites furor between lawmakers, profs
Brent Kallestad
Jan. 15, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/
news/breaking_news/10650656.htm


Chiropractic school takes step forward
Gary Fineout
Jan. 15, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10650753.htm


Doctors, Others Deride Chiropractic School
Brent Kallestad
Jan. 16, 2005
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/
news/world/10661941.htm


Chiropractic School Derided
Associated Press
Jan. 16, 2005
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/
news/politics/10661946.htm


Latest on Chiropractic College at FSU
Debra Brown, FCA CEO
Jan. 17, 2005
FCA News
http://www.fcachiro.org/FCAnews/public_abstracts.asp?dismode=article&artid=197


Chiropractic school faces opposition
Jan. 17, 2005
CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/01/17/
chiropractic.school.ap/index.html


Set record straight about chiropractic school
Wayne C. Wolfson
Jan. 18, 2005
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpmyword18011805jan18,1,5758119.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines


FSU's hands-off approach
Editorial
Jan. 18, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/18/Opinion/
FSU_s_hands_off_appro.shtml


Restoring order
Jan. 18, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
news/opinion/10667089.htm


Making FSU flagship for subluxation theory of disease takes backbone
Tom Lyons
Jan. 18. 2005
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050118/COLUMNIST36/501180402


Bush criticizes FSU handling of chiropractic school dispute
Steve Bousquet
Jan. 19, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/19/State/
Bush_criticizes_FSU_h.shtml


Who's in control? Let universities' governing board do its job
Editorial
Jan. 19, 2005
Daytona Beach News-Journal
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/
Editorials/03OpOPN31011905.htm


Florida State awaits board's decision
Fate of chiropractic program uncertain
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 20, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/
news/local/10685986.htm


No habla either
Opinion
Jan. 20, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/
news/opinion/10683467.htm


State budget may give UF less funding
James Vanlandingham
Jan. 20, 2005
Independent Florida Alligator
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/050120budget.php


FSU chiropractic school deserves lack of support
Jan. 20, 2005
Independent Florida Alligator
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/050120eddy.php


Fair Vote On Chiropractic School Promised
Gary Haber
Jan. 21, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBOK96W74E.html


Does science have chiropractic's back?
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 23, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10711501.htm


Chiropractic school faces key vote
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 23, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10711534.htm


Breaking the back of legislative meddling
C.B. Hanif
Jan. 23, 2005
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/
2005/01/23/a1e_chiro_0123.html


Med School Alumnus Leads Charge Against Chiropractic School At FSU
Allison North Jones
Jan 24, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB7SXZ2C4E.html


Need key to chiro school fate
Ron Matus
Jan. 24, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/24/State/
Need_key_to_chiro_sch.shtml


FSU cites growth as rationale for school
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 24, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/10717449.htm


Officials balk at making decision on FSU chiropractic school
Kimberly Miller
Jan. 25, 2005
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/
2005/01/25/a8a_chiro_0125.html


Governors Should Stand Tall And Reject Chiropractic School
Jan. 25, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGBNIDOBD4E.html


Medical `Cold Call' Soliciting Possible
William March and Elaine Silvestrini
Jan 26, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBXX4VZE4E.html


Tempest in Tallahassee: Florida State University considers chiropractic
Leon Jaroff
Jan. 27, 2005
Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/
article/0,9565,1021206,00.html


State board kills chiropractic school at FSU
Gary Fineout
Jan. 27, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/10749555.htm


FSU chiropractic school voted down
David Damron
Jan. 27 2005
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-bk-chiropractice012705,0,6108891.story?coll=sfla-news-florida


Board of Governors kills FSU chiropractic school
Associated Press
Jan. 27, 2005
ABC Action News
http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2005/01/050127fsu.shtml


Chiropractic college killed
Gary Fineout
Jan. 28, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/
breaking_news/10753709.htm


Board vote ends chiropractic school
Ron Matus
Jan. 28, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/28/State/
Board_vote_ends_chiro.shtml


Board of Governors snubs legislature, rejects chiropractic school
Kimberly Miller
Jan. 28, 2005
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/
2005/01/28/m1a_CHIRO_0128.html


University board rejects chiropractic school for FSU
David Damron
Jan. 28, 2005
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fchiro28jan28,0,1922673.story?coll=sfla-news-florida


The board rules
Editorial
Jan. 28, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/28/Opinion/The_board_rules.shtml


Rejection saddens college's promoter
Steve Bousquet and Alisa Ulferts
Jan. 28, 2005
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/28/State/
Rejection_saddens_col.shtml


Hot-topic school at FSU gets rejected
Janine Young Sikes
Jan. 28, 2005
Gainesville Sun
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050128/LOCAL/201280338/1078/news


State board votes against program
Melanie Yeager
Jan. 28, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10753729.htm


Chiropractic college killed
Gary Fineout
Jan. 28, 2005
Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10753709.htm?1c


University board rejects chiropractic school for FSU
David Damron
Jan. 28, 2005
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fchiro28jan28,0,1948140,print.story?coll=sfla-news-florida


Not in Our Backyard
Katherine S. Mangan
January 28, 2005
The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i21/21a01001.htm


Chiropractic School No More For FSU
Gary Haber and Allison North Jones
Jan. 29, 2005
Tampa Tribune
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
krtampa/20050128/lo_krtampa/
chiropracticschoolnomoreforfsu




St. Petersburg Times - archives
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/results.html?QryTxt=chiropractic


For the latest coverage, check FSUblius.



*****************

3. General chiropractic resources (skeptical):

ChiroLinks
http://chirolinks.quackfiles.com

Chiropractic Index
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2006/12/chiropractic-index-to-all-entries-here.html

Chirotalk
http://chirotalk.proboards3.com/index.cgi

Chiropractic: Flagship of the Alternative Medicine Fleet
http://www.theness.com/articles/chiropractic-cs0202.html



***************

4. Google search: fsu chiropractic school




The current (temporary) URLs for this page are:
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2006/12/action-alert-stop-fsu-school-of.html
and
http://www.quackfiles.com


This page will soon be moved here:
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/01/action-alert-stop-fsu-school-of.html
and
http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/fsu_stop.html

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule

In chiropractic, logic is often twisted to make things mean something other than their original intent. Arguments in support of the supposed legitimacy of the chiropractic profession (I'm not talking about spinal manipulation) often use a special spin on a truth, to justify the acceptance, and even protection, of existing nonsense.

We all know what the phrase "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" means. It implies that something of great worth may have become dirty, but that fact doesn't make it any less worthwhile. It's just the crap that needs to be washed off of all babies every day. The baby is still a wonderful little person with great potential. Keep the baby, and throw out the dirty bathwater.

We also use another phrase "The exception confirms the rule".

Here's a good explanation:

"The true origin of the phrase lies in a medieval Latin legal principle: exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis, which may be translated as "the exception confirms the rule in the cases not excepted".

Let us say that you drive down a street somewhere and find a notice which says "Parking prohibited on Sundays". You may reasonably infer from this that parking is allowed on the other six days of the week. A sign on a museum door which says "Entry free today" leads to the implication that entry is not free on other days (unless it's a marketing ploy like the never-ending sales that some stores have, but let's not get sidetracked). H W Fowler gave an example from his wartime experience: "Special leave is given for men to be out of barracks tonight until 11pm", which implies a rule that in other cases men must be in barracks before that time. So, in its strict sense, the principle is arguing that the existence of an allowed exception to a rule reaffirms the existence of the rule." - source

Chiropractors of all kinds, including reformers, often use a specious argument that would legitimize inclusion of chiropractic in the healthcare and educational systems, such as the attempt at Florida State University (FSU).

They (correctly) claim that there exist a few chiropractors who are sensible, ethical, and skilled, and who help a lot of people with their aching backs, among other problems in the neuromusculoskeletal system.

Does the existence of these exceptional chiropractors justify keeping the dirty bathwater? Of course not.

Does the fact that they help many people justify the existence and acceptance of chiropractic as a profession? No.

-- The exception does not justify the rule.

The rule is that the majority of chiropractors believe and practice various forms of nonsensical, unscientific, and unethical ideas and practices. Even though many of them may have good motives, that doesn't justify them in doing what they were taught in their schools and in their postgraduate courses. It doesn't cease to be nonsensical, unscientific, and unethical just because they have good motives.

It is also claimed that a few chiropractic schools do not emphasize the chiropractic subluxation and chiropractic philosophy.

Even if this were true - and it can certainly be questioned - does it justify the existence and acceptance of normal chiropractic education as carried on in all the other schools? No.

-- The exception does not justify the rule.

The rule is that all chiropractic schools teach and/or tolerate various forms of pseudoscientific and unscientific ideas, the most notorious of which is the nonexistent and metaphysical "chiropractic subluxation".

Even if some of them might not place much emphasis on it, it is still the very foundation of the profession, and an education to become a chiropractor is predicated on this foundational principle. Without it there is no excuse for chiropractic.

We're not dealing with a valuable baby here. We're dealing with a fiction disguised as a baby, a fiction that dissolves into so much crap when bathed in the light of scientific scrutiny.

The few upright chiropractors who are aware of the situation are struggling to keep their heads above the dirty bathwater. They would do well to leave the mess of a profession and find a more honorable way to use their talents. They are too good for the profession, and it doesn't deserve them. Their reputation will always be tainted by their association with it.

I can understand why some chiropractors consider the DC degree to be "the herpes of all degrees." It is even such a hindrance to them in attempting to get other educations and jobs, that they hide the fact that they have been chiropractors. These are honest people who are suffering because of "the 95% who make the 5% look bad."

No real need for chiropractors

No one ever really needs to go to a chiropractor. They are not the only choice. That which they can actually treat with some effect, can be treated by other professions, and the rest of what they promise to do (the prevention or treatment of organic disease conditions, or the improvement of general health) they can't. These conditions can best be addressed by the scientifically oriented professionals they so bitterly oppose, who are MDs and PTs.

People with backaches and other neuromusculoskeletal disorders should first see their MD, and then some of them should be treated by PTs; while those with organic illness need to be treated by MDs. Neither group needs to see a chiropractor.

When the dirty bathwater in the chiropractic bathtub gets thrown out, the baby that's left in the tub is what PTs already do in cooperation with MDs.

In an attempt to ignore the elephant filling their living room, chiropractors often attempt to move the focus of discussion away from the quackery so pervasive in their profession, to manipulation as a technique. They say that one shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I once wrote this comment:

"IMHO, NACM-minded DCs need to abandon the old "ship" completely and find another name for their new "ship"."

To which a reform-minded chiropractor responded:

"They can't... it's already called 'physical therapy.' In fact, PTs represent perhaps the greatest potential threat to 'chiropractic' and chiropractors that I can think of (besides insight, that is). If they as a group ever decided to 'embrace' manipulative therapy by adding to their baseline requirements for graduation, after the battle-dust between the professions cleared, there would be no requirement for a separate profession called 'chiropractic.' IOW, whatever it is that chiropractors CLAIM is valid biomedically about what they do, the so-called (and much overrated) 'baby' in chiropractic's turbid bath-water, would ALREADY be a part of what physical therapists could offer. And that, as they say, would be that.

But, this is wishful thinking on _my_ part ;')".

I couldn't have said it better.

I think he's right. I still support all attempts to reform the profession, but I also think that it is ultimately futile effort. What such reform attempts can do positively is to make the public and susceptible chiropractors and students aware of the dangers and pitfalls of association with this misfit of a so-called "profession". Attempts at reform should be seen as a rescue mission, not for the profession, but for those in danger of being tricked into accepting it.

Chiropractic degrades manipulation

The only legitimate baby in the bathwater is spinal manipulation, and chiropractic is dirtying the water. Throw chiropractic away, clean manipulation of all the contamination associated with it, and then place manipulation in its proper and limited place. It does seem to have some value as just one of the many techniques available to PTs in the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal problems. There is no need for a whole profession dedicated to manipulation.

Chiropractic, as a profession, has no justification for its existence. It has always been a nuisance and the credibility of the profession has been tarnished right from the start. It is beyond saving.

Political maneuvering is something the chiropractic profession has become eminently experienced at, and therefore it is not to be trusted. In reality, mass marketing and political maneuvering are the major reasons, some would say the only reasons (the cultish mentality that some chiropractic patients often have, is another reason.) that chiropractic has survived. It is an unnecessary, unneeded profession, that acts more like a business. The unholy combination of belief, cultism, power, and money brings to mind similarities to Scientology.

In fact, chiropractic is to science, what Scientology is to religion.
It is just as much a pseudoscience, as Scientology is a pseudoreligion.

So far, the profession has side-stepped approved methods of seeking acceptance, having taken advantage of the fact that non medically-versed legislators can easily be pressured into enacting laws that ignore the existing, problematic differences. Thus politicians have been duped into enacting laws that fly in the face of reason, scientific thinking, and facts, thus creating confusion in the health care system, as well as with the public. Pressure, popularity, and votes - not reason and truth - have decided the issues.

Now it is attempting to sneak into the university system, without first having shown in any way that it can reform what is already going on. If it actually did reform what was going on, it would become apparent that there is nothing worth saving, and ideally the profession would simply shrivel up and die. Of course it won't, since the remaining chiropractors will continue to practice their nonsense on brainwashed patients.

Quackery will likely always exist (just like homeopathy), and the Florida State University system shouldn't help it. Establishing such a program will only make it harder to combat and eliminate quackery within chiropractic.

In fact, since chiropractic is the flagship of healthcare quackery, it will make it harder to combat all forms of quackery.

The profession and its schools need to be contained, controlled, and pressure applied for change within the existing system. Establishing a new, university-based, school will function as a pressure relief valve, lessening the profession's motivation to reform.

They will point to it as an example of acceptance being possible without any changes being made.

It would be similar to releasing convicted felons from prison before they have served out their sentence, and without any evidence of "good conduct". They should only be freed from prison after they have shown evidence of good conduct, and provided evidence that they will not go back to their former profession after being released from prison.

Likewise, chiropractic should only be freed from pressure when it has shown convincing evidence of good conduct, and provided evidence that it will not "go back to its former profession" after being released from pressure. Since there won't be anything worth saving once it has reformed, it should close shop.

Whenever chiropractic argues for acceptance, remember:

The exception does not justify the rule!


***********************************************************

Resources

For more about the FSU chiro school scandal

Why the FSU Chiropractic School Shouldn't Happen

Chiropractic: The Exception Does Not Justify the Rule

No justification for the existence of chiropractic

So many questions....about FSU chiropractic school

Are Chiropractors "Back Doctors"?

School could prove -- or dispel -- claims: Annotated - Greg Smith, MD

FSU chiropractic school DEFEATED!



Other chiroskeptical resources

Chirobase

ChiroLinks

Chirotalk(SM): The Skeptical Chiropractic Discussion Forum

Chiropractic Index



Bonus material

D.D. Palmer's religion of Chiropractic - D.D. Palmer

Spin Doctors I: The Interactive Investigation - Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail

Spin Doctors II: Manipulating Children - Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail

Keeping Your Spine In Line - PBS

Adjusting the Joints - PBS

Adjusting the Joints: Video - PBS
Go to the "Adjusting the Joints" section. Then turn on your speakers and watch the video.