Chiropractor pleads guilty to fraud

Harrisburg Patriot-News ^ | 7/3/03 | PETE SHELLEM

[TomB]

A taped phone call in which a Luzerne County chiropractor assured a woman that a dying epileptic would be all right without anti-seizure medication led to a guilty plea to fraud yesterday in U.S. Middle District Court.

Joanne M. Gallagher, 43, of Hazleton, pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud which carries a maximum term of five years in prison.

She also must give up her license and stop practicing under the plea deal accepted by U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Connor.

She could have faced up to life in prison had she been convicted of fraud in the 1999 death of Kimberly Strohecker, 31, of Hegins.

Strohecker died after suffering massive seizures while under the care of Gallagher, who claimed she could treat epilepsy and Down syndrome through chiropractic.

Gallagher's trial was abruptly halted last week after prosecutors announced they had received new evidence in the case.

The evidence was the tape of a telephone call between Strohecker's fiance's mother and the chiropractor the night before Strohecker died.

During the call, Marcella Schade expressed concerns about Strohecker's condition and repeatedly asked if she could die or suffer brain damage without further treatment.

Gallagher assured Schade that the seizures and vomiting were a result of Strohecker's purging her system of medication.

"Eventually you will see her just go into a peaceful sleep," Gallagher told Schade, according to a transcript of the taped conversation. "And it's going to take her brain a little while, she's going to be tired for a while, but she'll recover."

Schade found Strohecker dead the next morning.

When the trial opened, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod told the jury that Gallagher was responsible for Strohecker's "slow and horrible death."

He said Strohecker, who had lived fairly normally on medications, arrived at her last appointment with Gallagher in a wheelchair, wearing adult diapers, choking on vomit, with her tongue nearly bitten through.

Although Gallagher billed for spinal adjustments, Zubrod said her only treatment consisted of waving her hands around her head and lightly touching her in what she termed balancing the meninges, the protective membranes around the brain.

Chiropractors are prohibited by state law from treating illnesses outside their expertise.

Gallagher's attorney, Matthew Gover, initially blamed Strohecker's fiance for the death, saying he was a Jehovah's Witness determined to get his bride-to-be off drugs.

[TomB]

Utterly speechless.

How could they accept this worthless plea? This is murder, plain and simple.

[Grim]

Don't get me started about chiropractors. But how dumb were the parents who agreed to this nonsense?

[gov_bean_ counter]

You crack my back, I'll crack yours.

[Petronski]

Just what did they expect when they sought medical advice from the guy with the office down at the mall next to the Chick-Fil-A?

They'd might as well invite a witch doctor and a Scientologi$t as well, and go for the Stupidity Trifecta.

[TomB]

A "too bad krodriguesdc isn't around anymore" ping.

[HarryDunne]

Not that I'm succumbing to reverse psychology or anything, but ...
Do you have some negative experience with chiropractors, or with chiropractic treatment in general?

[TomB]

Don't get me started about chiropractors. But how dumb were the parents who agreed to this nonsense?

I know people who are totally enthralled with their chiro. They'd wear moose antlers on their heads if they were told it would help their "subluxation".

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Typical chiropractic voodoo. You can go into any one of those quacks' offices and pick up reams of litereature on how chiropractic cures everything from the common cold to digestive ailments.

The whole damn bunch of them are frauds, and if it were up to me, I'd shut down the entire "profession".

[TomB]

Typical chiropractic voodoo. You can go into any one of those quacks' offices and pick up reams of litereature on how chiropractic cures everything from the common cold to digestive ailments.

And what REALLY pisses me off is that NONE of them admit they do it. When you ask them, they shake their heads and swear they only treat back pain.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Show me a chiropractic patient who was ever told - "wow, you're 100% healed - no more need for adjustments for you"....

[Xenalyte]

"Eventually you will see her just go into a peaceful sleep," Gallagher told Schade, according to a transcript of the taped conversation.

Which is exactly what happened.

Full disclosure: I have found great benefit in chiropractic. I wouldn't use it to cure cancer, but it does wonders for stiffness of the back and neck.

[longshadow]

How could they accept this worthless plea? This is murder, plain and simple.

Given the taped conversation, it is clearly malpractice and probably negligent homicide, if not murder.

The chiro should have been sentenced to chock to death on her own vomit, just as the patient was doing under her "treatment."

[Xenalyte]

Zubrod said her only treatment consisted of waving her hands around her head and lightly touching her in what she termed balancing the meninges, the protective membranes around the brain.

Um, if someone is charging you for spinal adjustment, you should demand spinal adjustment.

Sounds like there was some stupidity on the patient's side to counterbalance the chiropractor's fraud.

[Xenalyte]

When you ask them, they shake their heads and swear they only treat back pain.

Mine treats - get this - my back pain. Shocking, innit?

[EggsAckley]

There are a lot of really goofy, bad chiropractors out there. And then there are a small number of really good ones. I once dated one of the good ones, and learned a lot about the BS that they are taught. Then they go to conventions and buy "new treatment" packages. These are mostly new ways of increasing revenue.

And Worker's Comp? My friend was an investigator for Worker's Comp and was disgusted by the blatant fraud being committed by sleazy chiros. He finally got out of the business, it upset him that much.

Trouble is, if they let this lady doc loose, she can go to any other state and hang up her shingle again.

[TomB]

Mine treats - get this - my back pain. Shocking, innit?

Unfortunately, it is.

The shame is, I have a lot of back pain, and I'm sure manipulation would help. But there is NO WAY I'd let one of these people get their hands on me.

[JmyBryan]

It happens commonly.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You ought to see the literature that all too many keep around, though. They claim much, so much more....

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Where, fantasyland?

[Xenalyte]

My point is that my chiro doesn't presume to treat head colds or stomach flu or any of that nonsense. He deals in pulled muscles.

Also, as a result of breaking my femur at nine, I have one leg about a half-inch shorter than the other one. He managed to work the muscles around my hip joint so that my pelvis is back in balance.

I wouldn't have bought it, except that I had Xena's Guy use a level on me before and after my appointment.