Posted on 01/01/2005 7:13:21 AM PST by aculeus
Some threaten to resign over the proposed school.
A growing number of professors in the Florida State University College of Medicine are saying they will resign if FSU administrators continue to pursue a proposed chiropractic school.
"I would no longer wish to volunteer my teaching energies to FSU medical school, should it encompass a school of chiropractic," wrote Dr. Ian Rogers, an assistant professor at FSU's Pensacola campus, in a Dec. 15 e-mail. "This is plainly ludicrous!!!!"
The threatened resignations - at least seven to date, all from assistant professors who work part time - reflect a belief among many in the medical establishment that chiropractic is a "pseudo-science" that leads to unnecessary and sometimes harmful treatments. Professors are even circulating a parody map of campus that places a fictional Bigfoot Institute, School of Astrology and Crop Circle Simulation Laboratory near a future chiropractic school.
But the professors' stance has a political aim, too.
Opposition is clearly mounting as the chiropractic school heads for crucial votes in January before the FSU board of trustees and the state Board of Governors.
In fact, the school is now seen as a test case for the fledgling Board of Governors, which critics have accused of kowtowing to Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature on the higher education issues it is supposed to oversee.
FSU was closed for the holidays Tuesday. FSU president T.K. Wetherell, provost Larry Abele and John Thrasher, chairman of the FSU board of trustees, could not be reached for comment.
But Sen. Dennis Jones, the Treasure Island Republican who spearheaded legislative support for the school in the spring, said the professors were "overreacting."
He accused anti-chiropractic groups from outside the state of stirring faculty opposition at FSU.
"If they resign, so be it," said Jones, a chiropractor himself. The instructors don't deserve to teach at FSU, he said, "if they're putting their credentials with people known for promoting professional bigotry."
The Legislature appropriated $9-million annually for the chiropractic school, which was pushed by Jones and then-Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, an FSU graduate. It would be the only school of its kind in the country.
As supporters envision it, more than 100 new faculty members would train legions of chiropractors, with a special emphasis on Hispanic and African-American students. The school would also draw lucrative federal grants in alternative medicine.
Planning began years ago, but criticism didn't ramp up until after the legislative session.
Some opponents see the school as an end run around the Board of Governors, which oversees the state's 11 universities but has yet to consider the chiropractic school. Last week, a group headed by former university system chancellor E.T. York filed a lawsuit against the board, accusing it of failing to flex its constitutionally granted muscle and pointing to the chiropractic school as a prime example.
But some FSU faculty members are upset, too, fearing the school will shatter FSU's academic reputation. The list of critics include FSU's two Nobel laureates - Robert Schreiffer, a physicist, and Harold Walter Kroto, a chemist - and Robert Holton, the chemistry professor who developed the cancer-fighting drug Taxol, which has brought FSU tens of millions of dollars in royalties.
In recent weeks, more than 500 faculty members have signed petitions against the chiropractic school, including about 70 in the medical college, said Dr. Raymond Bellamy, an assistant professor who is leading the charge against the proposal. The medical college has more than 100 faculty members.
Some of them say they're willing to do more than sign a petition.
"I teach wonderful medical students from Florida State University here in Orlando," Dr. James W. Louttit wrote in an e-mail to Bellamy, who shared it with the St. Petersburg Times. "If they decide to start a chiropractic school I would no longer be able to support this program."
"It should come as no surprise that no major medical institution in this country, public or private, has embraced chiropractic medicine," wrote Dr. Henry Ho, a Winter Park physician and FSU assistant professor, in another e-mail. "If Florida State University were to do so, its fledgling attempt for credibility as a medical institution of stature would be severely jeopardized."
The situation at FSU isn't the first time chiropractors have sought to tie themselves to an established university.
In the late 1990s, faculty at York University in Toronto - one of Canada's largest schools - considered plans to affiliate with Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. The plan would have brought York millions of dollars in new facilities and donations and given the chiropractic school academic credibility.
After a bitter, years-long fight, York faculty narrowly vetoed the plan in 2001.
At FSU, faculty have not officially voiced their concerns about the chiropractic school. Bellamy said they fear retaliation from lawmakers if they do.
"Everybody wants somebody else to kill it," he said.
Ron Matus can be reached at 727 893-8873 or
matus@sptimes.com
© Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved
Heh, okay, THAT is a great word!
(anti-chiroite)
That was a very "wild and misleading" generalization of what I said. Surely, you realize that the legislature is the place where funding priorities are set and statutes are written. Thankfully, this authority does not belong to the universities or the professional unions.
Yes, that's what I thought at the time. Odd how out of the zillions of common chronic ailments that afflict people, he zeroed in on the two I suffered from, bladder infections and hay fever -- no others, and he didn't ask me about any others; those were the only two he asked about. I later considered the possibility that my mom had told him about them; she said she hadn't.
Regardless, did you read my post? Perhaps that first time, as a college student and waitress, I should have just listened to the medical docs and laid in bed for two weeks? It was a strange coincidence that the following day as I lay helpless on the living room floor, that I was referred to a chiropractor who charged me $25 and had me pain-free, walking, and working the next day -- two days after the medical experts charged me $85 to tell me I had to accept the "fact" that my back would take two weeks to heal.
I suppose that chiropractor helped me by simply telling me what I wanted to hear?
I didn't mention that in my search for replacement DCs upon moving over the years, I went to several who did no good at all, who used electronic gizmos and gimmicks. I don't currently see a chiropractor because I don't have any ailments; haven't had for years, and haven't seen a DC for years.
The old wisdom is that you can tell a tree by its fruit. The fruit of the medical docs spoke for itself -- for my three ailments, over the course of several years they charged me plenty of money and gave me plenty of tests and drugs, yet my ailments remained. The fruit of the chiropractors: they treated me, my ailments ceased.
It isn't really a matter of accepting only what I want to hear. It's a matter of identifying the tree by its fruit.
I will start by saying that personally I know quite a few people who go to Chiropractors and swear by them. The humorous thing to me is that they never seem to get better. They say they are better but it never lasts.
I have studied martial arts for many years and I can say that I have suffered my share of injuries. One of my instructors was also a Physical Therapist who works at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital in Mass. This guy is truly great. If I had a serious problem I would go to him but through decades of training and observation I have learned a few things.
1/ Most every adult you see has awful posture and almost none of them work to prevent lower back strain (Or neck strain, whatever.) or lord forbid to strenghthen these areas.
2/ Whenever I have a pulled back or a strain, I have a ten-minute routine that relieves all pain temporarily. I don't do this for the pain but to promote healing of the area. Of course, since I work myself to prevent injury, I don't need a "return visit". A lot of these folks could benefit from standing up straight like thier mothers told them to. I know it sounds stupid but nevertheless it's true. Keeping your spine bent all day is not a good thing. Keeping your back straight is.
3/ Maybe some Chiropractors are OK at physical alignment but they are doing the basic job of a Sports Trainer or Physical Therapist. Chiropractic is a scam. I myself can make folks feel better with an "Adjustment" but that's it. Any torn muscles or ligaments will not benefit from a chiropractor. Some therapy helps with the process but if you really have a problem with your back, chiropractic is not for you. The reason Chiropractors exist is that for minor injuries, sometimes traditional doctors do not get the diagnosis right and are not trained in basic massage and body manipulation that helps the body heal. That's what Physical therapists are for.
All I know is this, I know quite a few folks with back problems and some of them are in my own family. They have used chiropractors and I don't consider them functional. I play with thier kids when they can't. I do things that they can not. They are older than me by about a year but they are all done. They like the chiropractors though. Good for them. I suggest those of you with back problems choose some exercise and strectching routines and take up Tai Chi. Daily exercise will help you all far more then any Chiropractor or Doctor for that matter.
Arioch7 out!
You won't get any argument from me that bad chiropractors -- and there are plenty of them -- can do horrible damage to people. I don't doubt it for a second. I've heard of(though not personally known) people who suffered from paralysis and even death because of bad chiropractic treatment.
On the other hand, I personally know someone who was once very nearly killed by a medical doctor. Indeed, his heart stopped beating; fortunately, they were able to get it going again and my man is alive and with me today. He was also nearly killed again by a very bad doctor whose surgery infected him so badly that it almost got into his heart, and we had to go to a surgeon specialist, who saved his life.
My point is that clearly, not all doctors are butchers, neither are they all saints, and sometimes they just plain don't know what they're doing, but either don't know it or won't admit it. Some can and do harm people; others save them. The same appears to be true for chiropractors.
Actually my massage therapist is legit, but i hear may have a few of those "other" massage parlors around here.I was compelled to comment on the article.Countless chiro sessions and adjustments never really helped me.I think any improvement is in relaxing the muscles.
For me two experiences, two successes...but Mencken is long gone to tell. Then again, I didn't go to one because of an infectious disease, LOL.
How many people are killed by chiropractors each year as compared to doctors? I'll bet not many.
Maybe we should meet! Read my posts 324 and 343. I'm 47, swim a mile and a half three to five mornings a week, can put my palms flat to the ground without bending my knees, am a size 6, cholesterol and blood pressure are such that docs haven't given me any grief over them at check-ups, don't have nor have had in years any ailments that have prompted me to want to see an MD or a DC. I don't currently have a chiropractor ... haven't for years ... because the chiropractors I saw years ago made me better (disappearing three nasty, chronic ailments), and in my case, it HAS lasted.
My philosophy: Ignore it and it will go away! ;^) Of course, it doesn't always work! In principle I wholeheartedly endorse your advise and approach. I think a lot is simply personal maintenance. It's why I swim, and God willin', I will continue to enjoy good health. I pray I do.
Perhaps you chiropractor bashing persons should understand the difference between a relief from chronic pain and a cure. There is a difference, you know.
Well, I'll give you this much. The average doctor kills more of his patients than the average chiropractor. But that has to be balanced against the number of patients the average chiropractor saves from an early death, which is also quite limited.
The medical specialties where you can save people lives the most often, like geriatrics and heart surgery, are also ones where there is the greatest chance of making a fatal mistake.
I will also allow that today's physicians often aren't very good at giving a prognosis.
I am thinking you don’t recognize a joke.
That is very sensible as far as it goes. The botched procedures that nearly killed my husband were apparently because of inept doctors, because both were very common procedures. To this day I regret that we didn't sue the second doctor (other doctors clearly thought him a "butcher" and were horrified at what he had done to my husband). We didn't pursue it because at the time, we thought it was just an honest mistake on his part, we didn't want to go through the hassle of a lawsuit, and we are both morally pretty repelled by lawsuits and litigation in general. In retrospect, however, I have come to believe that this doc was probably lazy, negligent, and in fact we renegged on a moral responsibility to protect others from him by suing him. Oh well, live and learn.
The fact remains that in my personal experience -- bleeding bladder infections, very bad hay fever, a one-sided sinus infection, all of which plagued me not for months, but years, medical doctors were able to confirm them (they weren't in my head), but were unable to do anything but supress the symptoms temporarily with drugs, whose side-effects and costs negated their benefit.
The chiropractors, unlikely as it seems, made the symptoms disappear. And where medical docs prescribed that I lay in bed for two weeks for a sprained (or strained .. I fergit which!) back, a chiropractor had me up and walking in a day.
Now, all the talk and writing here in the world doesn't change those facts. I would not be a sensible person if in spite of my history, I allowed myself to become convinced that chiropractic is fraudulent simply because the majority of the medical establishment says it is.
Identical to Florida, New York is another fraud hellhole, led by chiropractors who are nothing more than an organized crime enterprise here.
That would be a felony in most states.
Sorry, I have been dealing with the chiropractor Kool Aid drinkers on this thread too long. Their crazy views are indistinguishable from satire!
How 'bout "Instead of the Law School?"
Why not? Maybe chiropractic could solve legal problems too.
But they're going to militate for insurance coverage...
Chiropractic visits are covered by insurance here in Wisconsin.
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