In the 1970s, when I was at work as a doctor specializing in occupational medicine (yes, I have many skills you don’t even know about!), I found myself at an OM conference in the Scottish Highlands. What was really good is that one of the “works visits” was to a nearby whisky distillery! I don’t think I need to draw it out, do I?
But what I remember most about that year’s conference was a contingent of American MDs. They were very mouthy and full of themselves (some would say that’s normal American!) and I remember well, they all had a seemingly virulent hatred of chiropractors, which they referred to, over and over, no matter the topic on which they were to speak. At times the auditorium resounded to an almost Nazi-like fervour and emotion.
If I hadn’t known a couple of chiros personally, I might have formed the view they were aliens, or ate babies. I could not understand the aggression and bitterness.
Now, of course, I do. It’s all about turf and doctors did not want anyone muscling in on their territory and taking fees that were due to them! Chiros were “quacks” straight and simple. But they sure wanted us Brits to really get that!
What they did not mention was the legal shenanigans the AMA was into, on their behalf, trying to suppress chiropractors, discredit them, block their access to lab facilities and generally trying to make it impossible for them to function (some of it rubbed off in the UK and elsewhere).
Recently I came across a book detailing this whole criminal saga. It’s by journalist Howard Wolinsky: “Contain and Eliminate” is its title. It reveals all and the incredible lengths the American Medical Association went to, to deprive chiropractors of their livelihoods and destroy the chiro profession, might surprise many doctors today.
The AMA spent decades dissuading its members from having anything to do with chiropractors. Physicians were instructed never to refer patients to chiropractors, nor even see patients who were under a chiropractor’s care. The “War Against Chiropractors” became so intense that at one stage there was a dedicated office within the AMA assigned to attack chiropractic, with disinformation.
This was confusing to patients, who recognized that chiropractors could often relieve back pain and other conditions that still frustrate allopathic physicians.
Finally a small group of chiropractors sued on antitrust grounds, and won their case, in 1990.
Howard Wolinsky was contacted in 2018 by one of the chiropractors involved in the litigation, Louis Sportelli, who wanted the history of that effort written down. A surprising number of the principals were still alive and willing to talk. Wolinsky agreed and in November 2020, “Contain and Eliminate: The American Medical Association’s Conspiracy to Destroy Chiropractic” was published.
Wolinsky had covered the story originally in 1990 and had already co-authored another title with Tom Brune, “The Serpent on the Staff: The Unhealthy Politics of the American Medical Association”, so he was an obvious choice.
The AMA, remember, under one Morris Fishbein, had been responsible for attacking Essiac herbs and Hoxey herbs, and destroying the credibility of the Rife machine. They sure did not want anyone to get cured of cancer! But it was worse than that. Fishbein was a racketeer and later charged as such.
Fishbein operated the AMA for the sole purpose of dominating medicine and discrediting anything he could not control. He also masterminded a scam where he determined what products were fit to carry the AMA’s “seal of acceptance” and then accepted money from the manufacturers of those products in exchange for permission to use the AMA seal.
But in reality, the association had no facilities in which to conduct tests of foods or drugs to evaluate their so-called “fitness.” Gaining the seal was merely a matter of paying Fishbein shady advertising fees to feature the products in AMA publications. Those fees were in fact “protection” money. As editor of JAMA, Fishbein had full control over what information reached the public and what did not.
The AMA was even complicit in suppressing results of tobacco research. In 1964, the Surgeon General’s report condemned smoking, however the AMA refused to endorse it… (read Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 25).
Ironically, Morris Fishbein had failed anatomy at med school; he never completed his internship before going to work at the Journal; and unbelievably, Fishbein never practiced a day of medicine or treated a single patient in his entire career. He was a seriously failed doctor. Yet he saw fit to ruin the careers of others (good people) and attacked anything he couldn’t control.
I have already mentioned his action against the highly effective Rife Beam Ray technology. Fishbein was spurned by Royal Raymond Rife, when he attempted to buy into his company. In response, Fishbein decided that if he could not control the therapy, he would destroy it.
And he did. To this day, the “Rife” machine is regarded as a quack device.
Not that I am telling you that all chiropracters are skilled angels. Like any other profession, there are some seriously skilled guys, some dangerously BAD ones, and the rest in-between. Same as doctors, in other words!
I personally have always had trouble accepting that EVERYTHING comes down to spinal cohesion. But Viv had a severe spinal injury fixed by a chiro. She had seen one here in the USA, who took her money but did little. Then she found a really good chiro in London, who fixed her back in one visit!
But against that, I had a lovely patient who had beaten off cancer TWICE, using Gerson therapy. But she was still at risk and I told her, in no uncertain terms, that she needed to fix her emotional issues. Unattended, they were the reason it kept coming back.
Despite Charlotte Gerson’s claims to the contrary, unresolved psychic issues are not just important… they are the number one reason people get sick, with any disease, including cancer (see my book Cancer Research Secrets
Well, this patient did not follow my advice, she let matters slide and a year later she was back in my office, with severe breathlessness. She had been seeing a chiro for months, who told her that it was just a matter of her “spine out of adjustment”. I knew better and sent her immediately for a chest x-ray. It came back, as I expected, that her lungs were riddled with secondary tumors.
No amount of “spinal adjustment” would fix that. Stick that up your jaxie Daniel David Palmer (founder of chiropractic 1839 – 1914)!
So, as always, choose carefully and review the credentials of any health care advisor you hire… Oh and beware false positive “reviews” on social media. Anyone can buy 10 “positive reviews” from China, for just a few dollars. Those grateful patients may be just automated reviews, with a small percentage of (mild) complaints, to make them seem more credible overall.
Source:
http://tormodhansen.no/artikler/ama_history.htm
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