How long could we chiropractors encroach further and further into the practice of medicine before the medical profession cried “enough!” I guess we thought that since we were confining our actions to treating mostly musculoskeletal problems they would not notice. However, the continued and increasing emphasis on diagnosing medical conditions has finally caused them to take notice and begin to take action.
Can you really blame them? We get bent out of shape because the physiotherapists have begun to manipulate the spine and are now working toward becoming primary care portals of entry. We have been doing the same thing for years even to the point of wanting to prescribe over the counter drugs. The AMA supported Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP) is trying to stop “limited license practitioners” from practicing medicine. And that is exactly what we are. Read your license. We have been appropriating medical procedures over the years little by little hoping no one would notice (like the boiled frog analogy). Well he has just hopped out of the pot and is boiling mad and rightfully so.
I respect the right of any chiropractor to practice chiropractic as he sees fit, as long as it is within the law and that is the key. What does the law say? I do not diagnose. I do not treat diseases. I correct something (the vertebral subluxation) of which they have no interest. I have absolutely no fear that any medical arm is going to come after me and my approach to practice. While the actions of the SOPP have not even addressed the practice of chiropractic (at this time they only specifically mention nurse practitioners), an article in Chiropractic Economics implies that they may be coming after us as well. Perhaps, deep down inside, many of us realize that we are practicing medicine and that they will be legally justified in challenging many of our approaches to chiropractic, and that has some of us worried. It will be interesting to see what happens.
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