Chiropractic Transvestites by Corte Madera chiropractor Dr Harte

Last weekend, I attended one of those awful "continuing education" seminars, ordered by the Board.

A lot of people have been fooled into thinking that various government licensing boards exist to protect the public from fraud and to improve the quality of care from individual practitioners. No. This is merely a dance.

I will speak of my own profession, though I suspect that this is the case within others. The chiropractic board has no grand plan of excellence. Yes, they do get rid of the occasional sexual predator or drug addict. But the Board serves its own power, as is typical of government agencies. Changes of requirements and regulations are often not clear and often not disseminated properly. it is almost as if they want chiropractors to mess up, so that they can be prosecuted.

I had my own long war with them, which led to me being named WCA "Chiropractor of the Year" in 2006, and led to me becoming known within the profession as the "Chiropractic Avenger." But that story is for another time.

Let's get back to fraud. It seems that rather than taking action against fraud, what seminars that are approved by the Board appear to encourage fraud. How?

This seminar last weekend was a pseudo-medical orgy. I was shocked to see and hear the teaching of diagnosing of various kinds of cancers and other diseases from X-rays, and various physical therapy taping pf extremities as would be done by a physical therapist or a trainer.

What was the one word that was not mentioned during the whole seminar? Subluxation. This is the one thing that Chiropractic is supposed to be about... the detection, analysis and correction of subluxation. This seminar was designed for the chiropractor who yearns to be a "primary care provider," which means that he or she wants to take the place of the GP or medical internist. Yes, this is why I used the term "Chiropractic Transvestites." They want to dress up as something that they are not. Hey, whatever people want to do socially, as long as they don't push it on anyone else, fine. But a chiropractor playing this game, in my opinion, is passing into fraudulent territory. In some other states, the wildly medical fringe chiropractors have been pushing for prescription rights. Some chiropractic schools have dropped the word "chiropractic" from their names, and do not teach subluxation.

If a chiropractor does not accept the vitalistic philosophy of healing and health from Above-down, Inside-out, he or she should get out. If he or she wants to diagnose and treat like a medical doctor, act as a "primary care provider," then he or she should go to medical school. That would be the right thing to do. Dressing up is not the way to go.

I left med school to become a chiropractor, after a chiropractor saved my life. That's why I dedicate my life, every day, to save lives through Chiropractic. Understand that I am offended by fakes in my ranks. You, as health care consumers, should not tolerate fakes either.

Don Harte, D.C.
Marin Straight Chiropractor
Liberator of Innate