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
"...more than 500 faculty members have signed petitions against it."
I figure since there are that many ignorant faculty it isn't a good place for anyone I know.
Reply #273 misdirected.
The chiropractors are now going to treat surgical trauma cases? I am think you are confused.
Neurosurgeons and other trauma surgeons are in exceedingly short supply (and often now absent) in Florida.
Despite what chiropractors claim, snapping the neck is not recommended for treating the bloody messes wheeled into Florida ERs.
My parents lived in a small town in south Texas at the time. This DO was the only doc in town so my parents went to him not knowing he was not an MD. In fact when I went down after mother had her stroke I asked my dad why he went to a DO instead of an MD. He had never realized that he was not an MD. Then after dad ruptured his discs carrying mom he went back to the same DO. He was badly in need of surgery but the DO could not perform it and wasn't willing to tell dad to go to someone who could correct his problem, hence he spent 2 months giving him whirlpool baths and NOTHING else.
So a DO who was considered "lower level" could not work in regular hospitals but he still had DO after his name. Is that correct?
No, it's not to the level of deatil of med school. Chiro's in their work don't require much of the detail that MD's do, certainly not pharmacology (why would they need that?). And MD's don't learn much of what chiro's learn. I know a bit about this as my fiancee is a chiropractor and my two brothers are MD's.
My point in the earlier post is that chiropractic school is not some degree you're handed in 6 months - it's not massage school. They learn what they need to do their jobs well, just as MD's do.
Listen, nobody has all the answers. Try to have an open mind.
Sigh.
Guilty as charged. Self inflicted victim of too many revisions to posts before posting.
Kind of reminds me of..."What have the Romans ever done for us..."
Fair enough, I will buy that. Of course, with my extensive "ahem" experience in all matters legal (count...none...) I would think any Chiropractic Doctor on the stand for pain and suffering would be subjected to a rigorous cross examination...something along the lines of:
Beginning with:
"What is your educational background?"
Ending with:
"YOU'RE NOT A REAL DOCTOR! ADMIT IT! YOU JUST SAID THAT TO GET THIS POOR WOMAN INTO BED! ADMIT IT!"
Well, maybe not that dramatic...:)
My fiancee is a chiropractor. She's got an xray machine in her office and takes pictures of all her patients. Is that real enough medical technology for you?
If you worked in a hospital for 20 years as I have, you would know why.
In short, ignorance, prejudice, politics and "pie-slice" grabbing.
And that is is. Period. Any Physician worth his salt recognizes that Çhriropractic has a place in the spectrum of treatments.
As I said in an earlier post, Blue Cross+Blue Shield would NEVER EVER pay for it if it did not have some value. Take that to the bank. Believe me, I work with Radiology billing, and we have to use big tongs and nuclear weapons to get the money we deserve for mainstream radiology exams that are performed. If they could deny Chriropractic, believe me, they would.
Veto,
Where are your stats on statement #1?
If there are no stats, could the statement be:
"1. MOST chiropractors have good training and do good work. SOME are charlatans. If the State of FL can control the training, perhaps all Florida chiropractors would do decent work"
Nothing personal, and maybe things are different here in Massachusetts, but My experience with three different chiropractors is the polar opposite of your statement.
Well, given that 80% or more of college faculty nationwide are dyed in the wool Democrats...are you surprised???...:)
Fair enough...and after working in a variety of hospitals for many years...exactly the same can be said of physicians. Exactly the same thing. Sure, the bad ones eventually have things catch up to them. But I guarantee you, it doesn't happen overnight. No one will ever be able to give you a total number of fouled up patients by a given bad apple MD. But they are out there. Don't get me wrong, the vast majority of health care professionals including physicians do their jobs superlatively, and genuinely care about their patients, and it is a pleasure and privilege to work in the profession. But like everything, there are bad apples.
I agree with you. However, having gone to Chiros on and off sporatically over my lifetime, I have encountered only one, the sister of a dept. manager at the plant where I work. No x-rays, no nonsense.
My last serious bout (and chronic I might add) was with the nephew of a "friend" of mine. he gave me some sort of test with sensors stuck on my back that they said would be covered by my insurance. Never happened. Cost me $350 hard earned bucks! Stupidly I returned for several more adjustments and then said the heck with them.
With all the chronic back problems I have had over the years (all of which would easily be cured if I were to stop doing the athletic things I do- which will never happen)my suggestion would be to utilize the services of a very good Masseuse. My niece was having chronic lower back problems at one time which were alleviated by the manipulations of the masseuse she went to see. From what she told me, he put her thru some contortions during the massage that no chiro had ever used.
In terms of insurance coverage, some insurances cover a chrio, most do not. My insurance does not which is why I will go to a masseuse the next time my back acts up.
Best Doctor I ever went to was a DO, who worked his way through Medical School as a ...... CHIROPRACTOR!
Did they pay for Vioxx, Seldane, Hisminal, Rezulin, and all the other pulled from the market medications? Did they pay for all those useless childhood tonsillectomies surgeons used to do? Did they (and do they still perhaps) pay for hysterectomies done by OBGYN's who did the operation on every one of their long-time patients without exception?
I would say that the only thing worse than relying on the government as a judge for what medical treatments are safe and effective would be to rely on Blue Cross.
"I would think any Chiropractic Doctor on the stand for pain and suffering would be subjected to a rigorous cross examination..."
I think it's more along the lines of documenting the "pain and suffering" where Chiropractors come in. On the stand they can say they are licensed by the state to provide a service.....then just say "Mr. Jones came in every week for 18 months for that nasty whiplash pain....and is likely to require regular adjustments for the rest of his life"
Of course, Mr. Jones gets a nice massage, a bit of attention, so he doesn't mind going, because in the end he's gonna win the legal lottery.
I had a neighbor that did this.....until the case was settled, she had to take her son to the chiropractor a couple times a month. Once settled, no chiropractor. That's how it works.
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