Tedd Koren - Chiropractor vs. the FTC

Why is this Pennsylvania pediatric chiropractic publisher and advocate being chased by the FTC and why should you care?



Tedd Koren sent me this e-mail after I had reached the Chiro USA web site of Garry Pomeroy, who said that he would consider launching a lawsuit to defend actions being taken against Tedd Koren. The main issues involve an attempt by the FTC to control what Tedd Koren can publish on subjects like the use of chiropractic manipulation in infants and children.

I am placing this on the Chiropractic Watch web site so that all readers can see both sides of the story. While we may not be too sympathetic to the pediatric practice of chiropractic, there are issues here of the freedom of speach, that we can all defend. I can't find any actual reference to the FTC action against Tedd Koren on their web site, and the minute I do, you will be the first to know.


Subject: What's the real real story here
Date: 24 Sep 1998
From: TKOREN1@aol.com
To: tpolevoy@golden.net


Hi Terry,
I know Garry Pomeroy and discussed the matter with him. I wish him luck in his
route but so far he has not filed suit against the FTC. The only legal action
now going on is the one I am and have been in for the past few years.
Below is some information I've been sending out regarding the FTC.

Tedd Koren, D.C.


Letters from Tedd Koren to anyone who would like to help his cause


From: Tedd Koren, D.C.
Voice: 215-699-7906; Fax: 215-699-0845

I think you may have to read this letter twice because you may not believe it
the first time around. At first blush it appeared that all the Federal Trade
Commission really wanted me to do was "clean up" a few brochures they didn't
like. That was my initial impression. As they continued to bleed me dry,
with no end in sight and as I began to enlist specialized legal counsel
experienced in dealing with the FTC the full reality of this government
investigation was clarified. The FTC wishes to gag the entire chiropractic
and also alternative health care; anything communicated to the public. I was
just first on their list. Everyone is on the block. The FTC has made this
very clear to my attorneys.

Here are just some of the materials regarding this terrible turn of events.
Enclosed are a call-to-arms letter I've written, with the assistance of three
of my attorneys, plus a review of the meeting with the FTC on May 21st written
by Julia Oas, Esq.

The FTC led my attorneys, and me on - we thought we were close to a deal many
times but suddenly they changed their tactic to - "sign the papers or die."
But the papers they wanted me to sign were so severe it was: "Sign the papers
and die." I had three options:

1. Sign the papers and watch the FTC go after everyone one-by-one. By this
time it was obvious from FTC statements that I was just their excuse to
regulate and muzzle the entire profession.

2. Continue to fight the FTC and soon go bankrupt and capitulate.

3. Enlist the profession to begin a major war against a major federal
regulatory agency. This was not a step I would take lightly and I avoided it
as long as I could. It meant, in the words of my attorney, "Your entire life
will be on hold for years."

It became clear that option number three was the only one that we had. I must
repeat that all of us are on the chopping block. This pertains to all
chiropractic patient education, whether purchased by the chiropractor,
produced by chiropractor, in an ad, flyer, brochure, or even spoken in a lay
lecture.

We are all on their list, I am just first. They are planning on taking us
down one-by-one, it's a lot easier for them to do it that way. As Benjamin
Franklin once said, "We must hang together or we most assuredly will all hang
separately." I need your help now!

We need at least five organizations or individuals to donate $100,000
immediately. Plus, we need 1,000 Doctors of Chiropractic to pay for at least
one hour of legal fees per year. Since legal fees are around $400 per hour,
plus expenses, this can be met by 1,000
doctors giving at least $40.00 per month via credit card donation. Every
month their credit card will be automatically charged $40.00 (That runs to
$10.00 per week, which we think most doctors could afford). We expect the
total cost of this lawsuit could run to millions. The upside is however
rather significant. Chiropractic's fight will affect all the alternative
healing arts. We will get tremendous P.R., CNN, Dateline, evening news. But
more importantly, we will have struck a blow for health care freedom that will
help signal the deal knoll of political medicine. But if we lose we face the
gravest threat to the future of chiropractic ever.

The profession has never faced attack by a federal agency before, with the
full power that agency has. You communication will be regulated by the FTC,
you can face severe penalties for violating FTC regulations if you, even
unwittingly, mislead the public that people can be helped with any health
problem other than low back pain. And so far, the FTC has not even told us
which type of low back pain they'll permit us to mention to the public.
Please, let us hang together.

Sincerely,


Tedd Koren, D.C., President
Koren Publications, Inc.
P.O. Box 665
Gwynedd Valley, PA 19437
215-699-7906, 215-699-0845 (fax)
www.korenpublications.com
TKOREN1@aol.com

P.S. For a full legal update and clarification I invite you and your attorneys
to discuss this matter with Mr. Jim Turner who is our lead attorney or his
associate Mr. Charles Brown at 800-510-0151.
Address: Swankin and Turner,
1424 16th Street N.W. Ste 105, Washington, DC 20036


STOP GOVERNMENT INTRUSION INTO CHIROPRACTIC!!

This is the greatest threat to chiropractic's existence we have ever faced.
If you think money is tight now, wait until the FTC regulations take effect.

For the last 4 years, my business of distributing chiropractic patient
education brochures and other information about chiropractic to chiropractors
has been under attack by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC alleges
that my brochures are a vehicle by which chiropractors have misled their
patients and the public.

In my brochures I discuss the chiropractic position on health care,
subluxation and adjustments. In my brochures I discuss the clinical findings
and research that has helped make chiropractic the largest alternative health
care system in the United States. The FTC however, has recently decided that
the (medical) research only supports the position that chiropractic is for
lower back pain (and nothing else). After numerous attempts at resolving this
matter amicably with the FTC in a way that would still allow me to sell
brochures and patient education materials (even with reasonable revisions) and
keep my business, I feel I have reached the end of my financial rope. I am
left with the difficult position of either agreeing to discontinue my patient
education business (and let the FTC go after the entire profession and control
chiropractic patient education) or bankrupt myself in continuing my fight
alone.

Why are my problems important to you? By attacking what I can say in my
brochures, the FTC is setting a strict legal standard for all the claims that
can be made for all forms of alternative health care in the U.S., especially
chiropractic. Unless supported by research according to their (medical)
standards you can only tell patients, by word, advertising or writing that
chiropractic may help lower back pain. You can not address neck pain,
headaches, whiplash, asthma, fevers, ear infections, sciatica, menstrual
problemsÉnothing, except low back pain. (I have sent them cartons of
chiropractic research, studies, reports. Their "experts" rejected them all.)

You cannot tell the public about any research done on chiropractic and various
conditions. If you ever tell anyone that chiropractic can help, or even imply
that chiropractic can help someone for anything other than low back pain you
violate FTC regulations.

All other suppliers of patient education materials, including schools,
chiropractic organizations and individual D.C. could be constrained by the
FTC. This will essentially place a gag order on you, me and the entire
chiropractic and alternative health care practitioners. You will be permitted
to practice, but you will not be permitted to tell the chiropractic story.

Under the standards of the FTC, chiropractic would be forced to practice under
a gag order for the rest of your life. Let me give you some examples:

¤ The FTC position means you cannot tell patients or the public in advertising
or promotional materials or by word or in writing that chiropractic can help
their children or themselves unless they have lower back pain. If a patient
asks you, "Can you help my child with ear infections?" (Husband with a
headache, friend with sciatica, whiplash, carpal tunnel etc.) and if you say
"yes" or "maybe" or "perhaps" you could be stuck in my situation.

¤ If you have an ad in the Yellow pages or newspaper that implies (doesn't say
outright) chiropractic is for anything other than low back pain you could face
the government interfering with your practice.

¤ Do you have an 8 Danger warning sign ad? Do you advertise anything other
than low back pain? Perhaps Kid's Day? Do you even suggest that people with
conditions other than low back pain come in for care? The FTC could decide
that it implies claims that cannot be substantiated and come after you.

¤ You may be thinking "But I tell my patients that chiropractors do not treat
diseases, they adjust subluxations." Sorry. My brochures say "chiropractors
do not treat disease, they correct subluxations, however if you have any
health problems (constipation, shoulder pain, headaches, leg pain, sciatica,
hip pain, hearing problems, vision problems etc.) please see a chiropractor
to make sure your body is subluxation-free, it might make the difference."
The FTC is challenging my claims saying I'm implying a claim.

¤ But its not just what you say. If you write your own literature, write an
ad or use anyone else's literature and the FTC doesn't like the way you say
it, you could face an FTC investigation that could bankrupt you. If a mother
comes to you asking if you can help her child's ear infections and you say:
"Chiropractors don't treat diseases, ear infections included. We do adjust
subluxations which have a positive benefit on overall health and if your child
has ear infections (husband has headaches etc.) he better make sure his spine
is free from subluxationsÉ." You could be subject to governmental scrutiny.

How did this start? It appears that the FTC is consulting with extremists
rather than mainstream experts.

The FTC requires "competent and reliable scientific evidence" to support any
claims made or advertising or promotional materials. What does that REALLY
mean? It means that chiropractic will be judged through the eyes of, and
under the standards of, allopathic medicine. It means that even truthful,
carefully qualified information about chiropractic (indeed, all alternative
health care) will be squelched. It will limit people's ability to choose
options in health care. It means we cannot educate the public about
legitimate forms of alternative care.

You cannot tell the public of chiropractic's successes. You cannot not tell
the public of our hundred + years of case studies, outcomes, histories and
research. None of it is good enough for the "chiropractic experts" of the FTC
or the FTC itself. To them, chiropractic is public enemy number one.

I am not making this up. These people are very serious. The FTC could do
what the AMA could not. You are not safe. They could have gone after anyone;
I was just first on their list. The noose is around all our necks. We will
all hang separately, unless we all hang together. I can no longer fight this
Goliath alone. I need your help. We need to win; defeat will ultimately
destroy our profession. Please, please help us now.

Please send donations, legal and other questions to:
National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy, 1424 16th St., NW suite
105, Washington, DC 20036, 1-800-510-0151, Fax: 202-265-6564,
Jimturner@lawyer4u.com

All contributions will be accounted for and handled in a proper legal manner.
We need $500,000 immediately. Our attorneys are $400 hour, please help pay as
many hours as you can. In addition if 1,000 D.C.s can pledge on their credit
cards $40.00 per month ($10.00 per week = one legal hour plus fees) we can
fight this up to the Supreme Court. Without your help we will all go under.
Sincerely,

Tedd Koren, D.C., President, 
Koren Publications, Inc., 
P.O. Box 665, Gwynedd
Valley, PA 19437
215-699-7906, 215-699-0845 (fax)
TKOREN1@aol.com

I will fight the FTC's takeover of chiropractic.

Amount I can afford to give per month $_______

Name_____________________________________Address______________________________
______

City ________________________________State _______Zip________

Phone____________________________ Circle: Master Card Visa Amex.

Card #________________________________________ Exp Date _______.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


What I learned after hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and
business losses fighting the FTC could save the profession-MAYBE

What I learned is this: There is a great hammer about to fall on a small
profession. Ours. The first D.C. to be squashed is me. As you may know I
have a chiropractic publishing company - I'm mostly known for producing
patient education pamphlets, telling the chiropractic story just as I learned
in chiropractic school although polished up with references and made reader
friendly. Four years ago the Federal Trade Commission called me. At first I
thought they were concerned about some small details. I was very wrong.
Their move wasn't against just me, the proposed standards will affect the
entire profession for "misleading the public." If you advertise, distribute
brochures, booklets or any literature, write your own, send mail, give lay
lectures or have events such as Kid's Day or Mother's Morning Out, that imply
chiropractic can help with any health problem other than low back pain you can
face severe penalties (up to $10,000 fine, per day, per occurrence) for
violating FTC regulations. So far, the FTC has not even told us which type of
low back pain we can mention to the public. Also, you cannot mention any
chiropractic research to the public if it has to do with conditions other than
low back pain. The entire profession is being held to a medical standard that
does not consider chiropractic studies, research, over a hundred years of
clinical observations and your expertise as "scientific." Subluxation
"wellness" research is not considered scientific either. The FTC plans to
regulate our entire profession. Under FTC standards, you would be forced to
practice under a gag order for the rest of your life.

We must fight them we have very little time - a few weeks at best. Legal fees
and expenses are very high. I simply cannot afford to go on with this
personally. It is now up to the profession. My attorney has set up a legal
defense fund. We need at least 1,000 doctors to pledge at least $40.00 per
month via credit card donation. That's $10 per week. We need help now! If
you can give more please do so to make up for those who cannot or will not
help. If we can fight hard now, in the beginning, we may be able to
extinguish this threat quickly. The upside to this battle is that
Chiropractic's fight will affect all alternative healing arts. We will get
tremendous P.R., but more importantly, we will have struck a blow for health
care freedom. If we lose we face the gravest threat to the future of
chiropractic ever. Isn't this worth at least $10.00 a week to you? Please,
let us hang together or most assuredly we will hang separately. An immediate
larger donation now might help us extinguish this fire quickly. If you think
money is tight now wait until these regulations take effect. Your ability to
attract new patients and educate existing patients may be seriously affected.

Tedd Koren, D.C., 215-699-7906; TKOREN1@aol.com (www.korenpublications.com)

See this story in the March issue of Reason Magazine at
http://www.reason.com/9803/col.doherty.html

You may e-mail or call me for more
information. I can fax you letters from attorneys for further verification
or, if you like, you or your legal counsel can contact my attorney, Mr. Jim
Turner at 800-510-0151 or Jimturner@lawyer4u.com


Please fax your (tax deductible) donation ASAP to:
The National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy, 1424 16th St., NW
suite 105; Washington, DC 20036, Fax: 202-265-6564 or call at 1-800-510-0151


I will help us fight the FTC's takeover of chiropractic

I can help you by donating $______per month via credit card.
I will give an initial donation of $______ and a monthly donation of
$______via credit card
I can give a one-time donation of: $_______ via credit card. Make checks out
to NISLPP.

Name___________________________________________________________

Address____________________________________City______________________State____
_Zip_____

Phone____________________________ Circle: Master Card Visa Amex. Card

CC #____________________________________________Exp Date ______-___

People ask me why we waited "so long." The fact is the FTC led my attorneys,
and me on - we thought we were close to a deal many times but suddenly they
changed their stance. Soon I had three options:

1. Sign their papers and watch the FTC go after everyone one-by-one. By this
time it was obvious from FTC statements that I was just their excuse to
regulate and muzzle the entire profession.
2. Continue to fight the FTC and soon go bankrupt and capitulate.
3. Enlist the profession to begin a war against a major federal regulatory
agency. This was not a step I would take lightly and I avoided it as long as
I could. It meant, in the words of my attorney, "Your entire life will be on
hold for years."

It became clear that option number three was the only one we had left. I must
repeat that all of us are on the chopping block. They are planning on taking
us down one-by-one, it's a lot easier for them to do it that way. Under the
standards of the FTC, you would be forced to practice under a gag order for
the rest of your life. Let me give you some examples:

¤ The FTC position means you cannot tell patients or the public in advertising
or literature, by word or in writing that chiropractic can help their children
or themselves unless they have lower back pain. If a patient asks you, "Can
you help my child with ear infections?" (Husband with headaches, sciatica
etc.) and if you say "yes", "maybe" or "perhaps" you could be stuck in my
situation.
¤ If you have an ad in the Yellow pages or newspaper that implies (doesn't say
outright) chiropractic is for anything other than low back pain you could face
the government interfering with your practice.
¤ Do you have an 8 Danger warning sign ad? Do you advertise anything other
than low back pain? Do you even suggest that people with conditions other
than low back pain come in for care? The FTC could decide that it implies
claims that cannot be substantiated and come after you.
¤ You may be thinking "But I tell my patients that chiropractors do not treat
diseases, they adjust subluxations." Sorry. My brochures say "chiropractors
do not treat disease, they correct subluxations, however if you have any
health problems (constipation, shoulder pain, etc.) see a chiropractor to make
sure your body is subluxation-free, it might make the difference." The FTC
says its implying a claim.
¤ If you write your own literature, write an ad or use anyone else's
literature and the FTC doesn't like the way you say it, you could face an FTC
investigation that could bankrupt you. If you say: "Chiropractors don't treat
diseases, we do adjust subluxations which have a positive benefit on overall
health..." You could be subject to governmental scrutiny.

The FTC requires "competent and reliable scientific evidence" to support any
chiropractic claims. What does that REALLY mean? It means that chiropractic
will be judged through the eyes of, and under the standards of, allopathic
medicine. It means that even truthful, carefully qualified information about
chiropractic (indeed, all alternative health care) will be squelched. It will
limit people's ability to choose options in health care. It means we cannot
educate the public about legitimate forms of alternative care.

You cannot tell the public of chiropractic's successes. You cannot not tell
the public of our hundred + years of case studies, outcomes, histories and
research. None of it is good enough for the "chiropractic experts" of the FTC
or the FTC itself. To them, chiropractic is public enemy number one.

These people are very serious. The FTC could do what the AMA could not. You
are not safe. They could have gone after anyone; I was just first on their
list. The noose is around all our necks. We will all hang separately, unless
we all hang together. I can no longer fight this Goliath alone. I need your
help. We need to win; defeat will ultimately destroy our profession. Please,
please help us now financially, with calls and letters to Congressmen and to
your state and National organizations. Please pass this information on to as
many as you can. Please call, write or e-mail or m attorneys me if you have
any questions.

People have asked, "why didn't you just revise your materials?" Good
question. I did. I offered to revise my materials to conform to the FTC's
standards. Only they refused to tell us what standards they'd accept.
"What can we say and what can't we say?" we asked them. They refused to
tell us. they'd said, "Write it and then we'll let you know." How can a
pubisher function like that?

My attorneys were at a loss.  The more we pressed, the more difficult the FTC
became. they were bleeding us to death.  Finally I had to fire a big,
expensive Washington lawyer who used to be head of the FTC. He pushed them to
be up front with us and that's when they tipped their hand and told us that
these were standards that would regulate the entire chiropractic profession
and even pertain to other alternative healing arts.
My lawyers have given this information to others in the profession, letting
them know that this isn't about Tedd Koren's brochures, it's about the entire
profession's relating to the public.
Where are our schools?  Not one school has contacted me or my attorneys.
What's going on here?  I cannot keep doing this alone and will let the
profession fend for itself if this apathy continues.  This FTC order will go
into effect and every DC and every school clinic and every school catalog will
then be in violation of the law.
----------------------------------
To destroy an enemy, destroy their supply lines.  Our supply line is the
public and our ability to educate, advertise and inform them is the "food"
that keeps the supply lines alive.  Every DC's individual practice and every
school is going to suffer.  With our supply lines cut, the entire profession
will wither and die.  Our enemies know this.  Do you?

The laws are being put in place now.  Precedents will soon be in place using
me as an example.  They will most likely use these laws selectivly, perhaps
waiting until the concern quiets down and then begin with little or no
publicity to take out this company, that individual, perhaps a warning to a
school clinic or management company - warnings that will go out to the entire
profession that will have a chilling effect.  Less patient education and
outreach means less patients, less income, less donation to schools and less
students.  There will be a trickle down effect that will damage all of us.

Their next targets will most likely not have the resources or visibility to
bring this to the profession as I have.  Perhaps they won't have the will or
energy to fight.  

Chiropractors will be put in their place and the profession will be scaled
back.

We have the opportunity to fight this now.  There may not be a second chance.
As the leaders in our profession speak to their attorneys and they in turn
discuss this with our Washington lawyers (while we can still afford to keep
them) we must make everyone aware how important this is and how concerned
everyone is (or should be).  Get your national and state organizations behind
this now or the profession will be gagged, muzzled and impoverished.

If you haven't decided to donate $40.00 a month to save this profession and
your future, please do so ASAP.

Tedd Koren, D.C.

215-699-7906; TKOREN1@aol.com (www.korenpublications.com) (See this story in
the March issue of Reason Magazine at
http://www.reason.com/9803/col.doherty.html You may e-mail or call me for more
information.  I can fax you letters from attorneys for further verification
or, if you like, you or your legal counsel can contact my attorney, Mr. Jim
Turner at 800-510-0151 or Jimturner@lawyer4u.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------Please fax your (tax deductible) donation ASAP
to:
The National Institute for Science, Law and Public Policy, 1424 16th St., NW
suite 105; Washington, DC 20036, Fax: 202-265-6564 or call at 1-800-510-0151
I will help us fight the FTC's takeover of chiropractic

I can help you by donating $______per month via credit card.
I will give an initial donation of $______ and a monthly donation of
$______via credit card.
I can give a one-time donation of: $_______ via credit card. If sending a
check, make check out to NISLPP.

Name___________________________________________________________
Address___________________________________City______________________ State_____Zip_____ Phone____________________________ Circle: Master Card Visa Amex. Card CC #____________________________________________Exp Date ______-___


Knee deep in the Big Muddy