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
Her family sued the D.C. and what I was reading was the appellate court's decision affirming the trial court's verdict against him.
The is b***t! The American Medical Association recognizes chiropractic as legitimate. Chiropractors have the same basic medical education as all doctors do. I go to a chiropractor on a regular basis. Have much less pain, and more mobility and don't have to take those expensive dangerous drugs which doctors love to prescribe!
How 'bout "Instead of the Law School?"
I've had nothing but excellent, professional care from my Chiropractor, though I don't doubt that there are bad chiros out there, just like there are bad doctors and bad lawyers and bad paper boys.
With bad lower back problems (genetic deformity, not disc-related, plus aggravated by years of grinding Army life) my chiro has been a lifesaver for me. When my back goes out I am down for the count.
I love being able to walk. Makes life a whole lot easier for me!
What would be useful would be(and I believe ther are beginning to be some) a clinic staffed with good M.D.'s, Chiropractors, nutritionists, and other "healers"..
Dang, now I have stepped in it....healers=witch doctors and shamans....well maybe if the M.D.'s have found no physical or medical problems?....
What say you all?
Yet the university probably has a psychology college and a womens studies department.
Nutjob ping.
Be careful, Doc-
Stroke
May 2001 (Volume 32, Number 5)
Chiropractic Manipulation and Stroke: A Population-Based Case-Control Study
Rothwell DM, Bondy SJ, Williams I, et al.
Stroke. 2001;32(5):1054-1060
Dissection of the extracranial carotid or vertebral arteries can result in cerebral infarction. The injury may produce hemorrhage into the vessel wall leading to occlusion of the vessel or possible thrombus formation with subsequent embolization. In comparison to atherosclerotic stroke, the patients who suffer carotid or vertebral artery dissection tend to be younger in age and the injury may occur spontaneously or in association with trauma. Several case reports have suggested a link between vertebral artery dissection and chiropractic manipulation of the neck. In this new study, Rothwell and colleagues conducted a recent population-based, nested, case-control study to examine the possible association.
...
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/404178
Forgot to say this map is funny!
Absolutely correct analysis. Chiropractic would vanish if there were ever serious reform of the crooked and parasitic lawyer industry.
When I developed serious low back problems, my orthopedist, who was postiviely crestfallen that surgery was not indicated, tossed me a 'script for Celebrex and told me to knock off the exercise. Luckily, I was smart enough to investigate alternatives with a chiropractor. Saved my life (maybe literally). I can see why the Sawbones are so upset.
Not all chiropractors are bad... some people don't like their $$$$$ being taken away.
Coffee enemas are good for you :o)
I have a friend who is a surgeon and he loved them. They keep the "unsick" out of the doctor's offices and most can fix a variety of problems with simple solutions.
Not a flame but one has to take what they have to offer that works for most, including me (fixing acute back problems) and rejecting all the rest (vitamins, return "maintenance" visits, X-Rays, cancer treatment, etc.)
I saw a new MD on a different matter during all this and he wrote me a referral to a chiropractor. The chiropractor completely handled my case in a matter of weeks. I don't have pain and I don't live on drugs.
My favorite chiropractor scam here in NY City are the carloads of 6 Russians tapping the bumper of a car with 6 Haitians in faked car accidents. All then get $50,000 each of phony no fault chiropractic treatment billed to No-Fault (which pays no questions asked!).
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