Chiropractic Promotions: Bogus Tests, False Claims & Testimonials

You can complain about any Ontario chiropractor

CCO Complaints and Discipline Committee

If your chiropractor provides services that are not necessary, or if they falsely advertise their services, you have a right to file a complaint. If they keep telling you to come back repeatedly or it will get worse, or maybe you might even die, you can complain. Of course, if they sexually abuse you, it's a given that they will take action immediately. But will the CCO do anything about those chiropractors who:

• Advise you personally not to immunize yourself or your children
• Organize a mass meeting to promote anti-vaccine chiropractors
• Tell you that you must have the same specific procedure or test done before they will see you
• Refer you to someone else in the office who does chelation therapy, Vegatest or electrodermal testing, ear candling, live-cell microscopy, etc.
• Drop you like a hot potato if your insurance runs out for an injury or car accident
• Don't look at your chart before they see you, and tell you they are there to reduce your subluxations, so don't worry about anything else
• Invite you to attend a group meeting to promote chiropractic philosophy based on their religious, or quasi-religious training
• Make you sign a long-term contract for treatment
• Perform the Webster Technique on pregnant women, which may place the fetus and the mother at risk — a technique totally outside their scope of practice
• Use applied kinesiology or NAET to treat allergies and other conditions
• Parade around health expos, shopping centres, and hand out coupons for free visits
• Tell you they can move your skull bones to cure your condition
• Claim to be certified as a pediatric chiropractor
• Claim to be certified as a chiropractic neurologist

Chiropractic First puts testimonials and the Lord first

Dr. Freddie So's Chiropractic.ca — If you want testimonials, they've got them all. Pictures of Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Barry Bonds abound. In fact, if you want to watch a video testimonial by Chuck Swirsky (the Raptors' voice), you can't beat this site. If you watch this presentation, please note how many references there are to the Christian religion. And don't forget to register for your FREE SPINAL examination, too.

The main problems with Dr. So's web site are the repeated violations of CCO policies about testimonials, anti-vaccine links, and the promotion of unapproved therapies and treatments. The site goes on and on and on, and also includes what he calls "health links." Most of them are dubious, and some are outright dangerous. The first link is to the Chiropractic Awareness Council based in Guelph, Ontario. Their members have repeatedly opposed public health efforts. For a review of anti-vaccine chiropractic efforts, click here.

To top it all off, he claims that he is a pediatric specialist, which is NOT ALLOWED by the CCO.

The Complaints Committee decided that a complaint about the content of So's web site was frivolous, vexatious, made in bad faith and an abuse of process as provided for in section 26(4) of the Regulated Health Professions Act.

4. In the course of engaging in the practice of chiropractic, a member is authorized,
subject to the terms, conditions and limitations imposed on his or her certificate of
registration, to perform the following:
    1. Communicating a diagnosis identifying, as the cause of a person's symptoms,
       i. a disorder arising from the structures or functions of the spine and their
          effects on the nervous system, or
       ii. a disorder arising from the structures or functions of the joints of the extremities.
    2. Moving the joints of the spine beyond a person's usual physiological range of motion
       using a fast, low amplitude thrust.
    3. Putting a finger beyond the anal verge for the purpose of manipulating the tailbone.
1991, c. 21, s. 4.

Community Chiropractic Centre — Tecumseh & Belle River

Drs. Small and Dale flogged Innate Intelligence on Christmas Day — What a treat I was in for when I visited the Lakeshore area of Southwestern Ontario for Christmas in 2002. After reading their article in the Lakeshore News, I located their Community Chiropractic Centre along the shores of Lake Saint Clair, just east of Windsor, Ontario. I was surprised that the three chiropractors had all recently graduated from school. I thought that they would surely be scientifically based. But since one of their associates apparently attended the Cleveland Chiropractic school in Kansas City, Missouri, I had my doubts about the types of promotions that they did.

The CCO Advertising Protocols clearly state that "any advertising with respect to a member's practice must not contain anything that, because of its nature, cannot be verified." Does the chiropractic profession support the existence of an "innate intelligence" that controls the body, and the whole world too? I don't think so.

And then there's the issue of pediatric chiropractic care and its promotion. In the same community newspaper, almost a year later, they had their regular column, only this time the title was "Chiropractic and children". They try to answer the question:

Well, I've been asking myself that question for years. It's a question the CCO has failed to address after numerous complaints about Ontario chiropractors who flog this stuff to their patients. Ah yes, it's the invisible "spinal nerve stress" that "most children have in their bodies." These folks really believe this stuff, and it may START IN THE WOMB. That's really scary stuff. They lay the guilt trip on the parents. According to Drs. Dale and Small, whatever imagined intrauterine damage these chiropractors lay on these vulnerable parents,

Then, in describing what they do, they throw in their famous catch-phrase: "It allows for the opportunity for maximum potential for well-being." What utter and complete rubbish. But here's the biggest cop-out of them all:

Roger Turner — a real head turner, from Barrie & North Bay

C.A.T.S. seminars — "The most powerful, dynamic technique advancement in the history of cranial adjusting," according to Turner himself. In April 2004 Turner began mailing out what will eventually be thousands of flyers to promote his bogus cranial adjusting methods to other chiropractors.

"He can change the energy in your nervous system." Roger is a regular fixture at the health expos at the Toronto Convention Centre, where his large booth and his family help adjust people's skulls. It's really amazing that despite disciplinary action against him, his promotions continue.

• The CCO disciplined him in 2002 — PDF, archived, see page 14.
• The CCO disciplinary decision — HTML.

After complaints were launched by members of the local chiropractic society, the College of Chiropractors of Ontario ruled on Turner. He sent postcards to patients soliciting business. He offered a video "that could save your life" concerning parasites feeding on humans. He sold or endorsed parasite-cleansing products as well as an "amazing" diet product. The most amazing thing he did was to authorize one of his office staff to draw blood that would be sent for bogus tests such as dark-field microscopy. This is not allowed under Ontario regulations.

Did Roger Turner's office comply with the CCO's professional misconduct decision?

• Why didn't the CCO rule on his anti-vaccine web site? — He blames autism on mercury in vaccines. There is absolutely no evidence to support this, yet he persists in promoting this dangerous position.
• He still says he can adjust the skull bones — The CCO had no comments about this either.
• "The most powerful, dynamic technique advancement in the history of chiropractic" — bogus claims by Turner, never addressed by the CCO.

The techniques used in the Turner Wellness Centre are collectively called Cranial Adjusting. The skilled hands of Dr. Turner can detect misalignments in the skull very quickly. Then, with 26 years of Chiropractic experience and 16 years of Cranial Adjusting, Dr. Turner will realign the bones in the skull with precision and care.

Allen Turner — Stouffville, Ontario

Allen's Archives

If you need your skull bones rearranged, your allergies cured, your kids' ADHD or bedwetting cured, his clinic is the place to go for treatment. It doesn't matter that one of the folks who works at the centre has a quack PhD, and that an RNC designation has no standing in law. But what does it matter — the consumer is always right, even if the treatment is wrong. And don't forget, Turner has lots of friends in the media. He's been on the Dini Petty show and all that stuff, just in case you need a vote of confidence before you take your newborn for adjustments, or get your C-1 or C-2 jiggled into place.

The CCO has policies that prohibit many things. It seems to me that there are many sections of his web site that are questionable.

• Patient testimonials — strictly prohibited by the CCO.
• Learning disabilities — no proof that chiropractic treatment does anything.
• Bogus NAET treatment

Links to questionable techniques and credentials

• Applied Kinesiology (AK)
• More Applied Kinesiology from HealthWatcher.net — muscle testing gone mad.
• N.A.E.T. — Chirobase.org critique — Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique is a bizarre system of diagnosis and treatment based on the notion that allergies are caused by "energy blockage" that can be diagnosed with muscle-testing and permanently cured with acupressure and/or acupuncture treatments.

RNC stories

• David Sloan interviewed by Colin Elkin, DC
• Trudi Bricker — works with a chiropractor in Waterloo, Ontario. She has used the RNC and PhD designations for years. She's not licensed, and at least one of her certificates is mail-order from Sri Lanka.
• RNC scam insurance companies

Norman Allan, PhD, DC — and more

Norman Allan says that he is a distinguished researcher, has a PhD from Sussex in the U.K., practices as a chiropractor, and to top it all off, he's a poet and an author. He recently appeared on Christine McPhee's radio show, The Touch of Health. When you do that, you've arrived. You've become a person of authority, someone to be believed. So what's the problem here?

• Practice modalities — Many are pure quackery, which means not only is there no scientific evidence for many of them, but if a patient accepts the therapy suggested, they may be ignoring scientific treatment that could help them.

Maria Gagliardi — she's got a Vega idea

Below you will find the text of a pamphlet that Maria Gagliardi handed out at the Constellation Hotel in May at a presentation by a public relations firm that hawked unproved tests for food allergies. If you are surprised at the claims made for the Vega machine, you can file a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council, Health Canada, and the College of Chiropractors of Ontario.

Stephen Barrett, the Quackwatch chief, has extensive experience with these devices, and has the following to say:

We've got questions

• Who trained Gagliardi in the art of Vega testing?
• Does the College of Chiropractors approve of its use? It makes no sense, except to chiropractors.
• Electrodermal testing for allergies is bogus — BMJ, Jan. 21, 2001. A double-blind, randomised study of more than 1,500 separate allergy tests showed that electrodermal testing does not correlate with skin-prick testing and so should not be used to diagnose these allergies.
• Why does the Advertising Standards Authority in the U.K. consider these devices fraudulent?
• Does the Vega machine contravene the Health Professionals Procedural Code by "providing a diagnostic or therapeutic service that is not necessary"?
• Could someone die because they believed the results given to them by a practitioner who uses electrodermal devices?
• Perhaps Gagliardi may know of another Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College graduate named Katrina Kulhay, who also hawks the York laboratory allergy stuff.
• Aetna insurance refuses to pay for the IgG allergy test. Who pays these Ontario chiropractors for this quackery?

Chiropractors' Table Talk

"Crunch amongst yourselves"

• Colin Elkin goes sacrum to sacrum with the soul of the Brantford Expositor — There are no surprises here, really, except Colin Elkin admits to us all that he's not an expert in vaccine or public health. Follow the letters and editorials as they throw barbs at each other. You be the judge on who won.
• Burlington Post chiropractic advertisement upset families — OCA logo used by 13 area chiropractors without permission. The full-colour advertisement was placed by Dr. Brad Ivanchuk, a chiropractor with the Life Chiropractic Centre in Burlington. Duncan of the OCA said he would not comment on the content of the ad because of the ethics and discipline investigation. Discipline action is possible.

You can complain — a good place to start

You have the right to complain to the media and to the chiropractic and medical regulators in your province or state if you feel that you are being railroaded through a maze of "alternative" treatments without end. File a complaint with the College of Chiropractors of Ontario if your chiropractor or one of their associates advises you to:

• Stop immunizing your children
• Displays pictures of themselves picketing the local high school during a meningitis epidemic, asking teenagers to avoid the shots
• Tells you that you must come back three times a week for a minor whiplash, but drops you when your insurance runs out
• Sends you to a specific lawyer, or if a lawyer sent you to them specifically
• Will see you only after a battery of tests such as electrodermal (EAV, Voll, or Interro-type machines) that claim to tell you what food you are allergic to, or what disease you have
• Tells you that your body is full of parasites and you just need a special course of herbs and vitamins, or a "zapper"
• Uses live-cell microscopy and claims to see parasites or fungus in your blood
• Lights up a beeswax candle and tells you that you need earwax removal
• Tells you that cervical spine manipulation has never killed anyone in Ontario
• Takes your one-month-old infant and tells you their spine is out of line and needs a lifetime of preventive chiropractic treatment
• Rolls out a thermography machine to "re-adjust" your subluxation — and wants to do the same test on your two-month-old
• Requires surface EMG tests before every visit
• Does hair analysis and tells you that you have a mineral imbalance
• Wants to invite you to a multi-level marketing meeting about magnetic pads, Calorad, colloidal minerals, etc.
• Shares office space with an unlicensed RNC (registered nutritional consultant)
• Tells you that nerve interference is at the root of all your health troubles
• Sets up at a shopping mall or health fair and uses applied kinesiology to tell you that you need chiropractic treatment
• Mentions that they were trained by Dr. Singer — one of many chiropractors who try to recruit people to become Scientologists

Other places to start: Canadian Broadcast Standards Council complaint form · General CRTC site for complaints (including the Advertising Standards Council).

Kulhay's Korner — anti-vaccination chiropractor of the month

Kulhay Wellness Centre — Katrina Kulhay, DC, 607 – 2 St. Clair Ave. W., Toronto, ON M4V 1L5.

Anti-VAX campaign: Join her in a "vaccine information night." Bring a tray or pot of organic-untainted food and $20.00 — that's how much she told people to bring for the privilege of viewing a 90-minute video tape on vaccination produced by anti-vaccine activists in Australia ("Vaccination: The Hidden Truth" by Bronwyn Hancock).

What's it all about, Kulhay?

Kulhay is a health-care professional who is supposed to advance science, not fear. While in university she studied to be a teacher, then in chiropractic college she apparently studied scientific chiropractic. They tested her and made sure she was qualified to sit for the exams that enabled her to be licensed in Ontario. Somewhere along the line, someone or something went wrong.

Anti-scientific chiropractors and their associates base much of their practice on their ability to manipulate public opinion. By targeting the most vulnerable — especially pregnant women and young parents — and by scaring them, these outlaw professionals live high off the fat of OHIP and private insurance money. They bill patients for lab tests they don't need; they perform totally unproven tests and procedures.

TALK640 show — August 13, 1999 (Marsha Lederman show)

During this hour-long show, Kulhay delivered the following pile of misinformation and supported quackery:

Anti-vax chiropractors and doctors put patients at risk

Kulhay's patients trust her judgement as a spokesperson for chiropractic. But she didn't learn the anti-vaccine rhetoric at any chiropractic college in Canada — the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College denies that they teach anti-vaccination courses. It is conceivable that any medical doctor could be sued if they recommended a patient go to a holistic healer, were advised to avoid their shots, and became seriously ill, or died of measles, or brought forth a severely damaged baby with rubella. We are talking about a doctor's failure to do the best for their patient — and that is malpractice. Are Kulhay and others, like Jeff Winchester, guilty of failing to live up to the standards of their profession?

Anti-vax sites & the facts

• Eagle Foundation — Winnipeg. Three chiropractors run this non-profit corporation; it is loaded with misinformation.
• Complaint against Gerry Bohemier, founder of the Eagle Foundation — who collected $88,654 in chiropractic fees from the government of Manitoba in fiscal 1998 while advocating against immunization.
• For the science on vaccine safety, see the CDC, Health Canada immunization guides, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (SV40/polio studies found no association with higher cancer rates).

Who is Ingrid Naiman, and why did she rent space at Kulhay's Wellness Centre?

Ingrid Naiman promotes cancer salves and medical astrology at the Kulhay Centre. She describes external treatments using various botanical pastes and salves. She uses "Dr." in every article, though she says it's honorary.

She recommends herbs — most of them either useless, or banned by the FDA and Health Canada because they are toxic and can kill people: Scrophularia syrup, Trifolium compound, Essiac, Pau d'arco, Chaparral, Colloidal Silver, and "Hoxiac" blood cleansing. Dr. Andrew Weil even directs people to Ingrid Naiman's book and gives a list of places to buy bloodroot.

Mark Percival — Health Coach

A test for every season — without rhyme or reason?

Mark Percival is a chiropractor and a naturopath who will take your blood before he sees you and, without one shred of unbiased scientific evidence, offer to prepare a special diet and preventive health program based on your blood type. Would you be surprised if your insurance plan paid for unproven diagnostic tests such as hair analysis, live cell microscopy, or even ear candling?

Want to spend $249.95 to learn about your digestive system? "70% or more of your immune system is focused on your digestive and elimination system." If that's not quite what you expected from your chiropractor or naturopath, you can spend hundreds of dollars a month on supplements, books, and tapes.

Colin Elkin's Healthline Show on Rogers Cable 20

RNCs with fake PhD diplomas must be a dime a dozen in Canada. So where do they dig up all those fake degrees, and why doesn't Colin Elkin, a licensed chiropractor, admit that his friends are quacks? The disclaimer at the beginning of the show is a joke. Shame on Rogers 20 for allowing this charade to continue.

Winchester's Cathedral

Jeff Winchester — from the Cathedral Shrine of the Holy Chiropractic on Bridgeport Rd. in Waterloo, Ontario, to your computer. Chiro's best and most honest devotee of pediatric treatment brings you words of infinite wisdom from the innate God-given healers of the only chosen profession on this good green earth that bills OHIP and insurance companies for newborn care for subluxed vertebrae.

• "Hey kiddies — you don't need to get your shots during a meningitis epidemic!" Was he sorry that two kids died, and many more were seriously injured? He picketed Bluevale Collegiate, placed a large sign outside his Bridgeport Ave. office, and appeared on radio, TV and in the K-W Record with his anti-immunization views. If he were a doctor, he might be up on charges of malpractice. But he's a chiropractor.
• "Drug companies lie" — December 29, 1998, with editorial feedback from ChiroWatch.
• "DC didn't speak for profession" — January 4, 1999, response from another Waterloo chiropractor.
• "Chiropractic training doesn't include immunization training" — Vincent Leering, Waterloo chiropractor, says Jeff Winchester and James Gregg don't know squat about immunizations — January 28, 1999.
• Waterloo Chiropractic Society responds to Winchester and Gregg
• Tedd Koren, inspirational leader of the pediatric chiropractic "cult"

James Gregg

He "informs" Waterloo and CKGL radio listeners that:

• 7 out of 8 infant crib deaths are due to problems in the cervical spine
• Patients who use chiropractors have a 200% better immune system
• Why does it take a chiropractor 6 months to treat a child's ear infection?
• The immune system is controlled by the spine
• There's a mysterious microscopic particle floating in the blood that comes from the nerve system and lands on the immune cells to tell them what to do
• Seizures can be treated with spinal manipulation

George Traitses — infinitely less than expected

• George's snazzy web page asks for donations. This masterfully designed site leaves nothing to the imagination — including ear candling and live cell.
• Dr. Watson and Fioravanti — Stoney Creek — have all the links.

Waterloo, Ontario chiropractors — Beattie & Martin

• Gregg and Scott Martin's web page
• Michael Beattie's web site
• Newborn subluxations — a total sham
• Bedwetting — not a single case of proven cure exists
• Asthma — even though it doesn't work in Canadian kids studied by Canadian chiropractors like Beattie and Martin
• Scoliosis — again there is no evidence manipulation helps

Chiropractic Regulations & Codes of Ethics

Regulations

• College of Chiropractors of Ontario — Standards of Practice
• Alberta — College of Chiropractors
• U.S. Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards

Codes of Ethics

The American Chiropractic Association's code states that doctors of chiropractic should utilize only those laboratory and X-ray procedures, devices, and nutritional products that are in the best interest of the patient; and that advertising should be accurate, truthful, not misleading or false or deceptive, and should not appeal primarily to an individual's anxiety or create unjustified expectations of results. See also the College of Chiropractors of Ontario Code of Ethics.

Recommended reading

Spin Doctors: The Chiropractic Industry Under Examination

Canadians visit chiropractors about thirty million times a year, and surveys show patients are generally satisfied. But Paul Benedetti and Wayne MacPhail have another opinion. This book exposes the weaknesses of chiropractic theory, its weird and wild practices, and its potential dangers. If you visit a chiropractor, you need to read this book.

Amazon.com (U.S.) · Amazon.ca (Canada)

The Naked Chiropractor — Dr. Preston H. Long

An insider's guide to combating quackery and winning the war against pain. Dr. Preston H. Long is a recognized authority on back care and the limits of chiropractic medicine.

Amazon.com (U.S.) · Amazon.ca (Canada)