Historically the medical profession has waged many much-heralded "wars", such as the war against polio, the war against cancer and the latest wars on heart disease, obesity, and tobacco. But without question the longest war fought by the American Medical Association has been against chiropractors. The America Medical Association was once dubbed "the most terrifying trade association on earth," a truth the chiropractic profession experienced when 12,000 chiropractors were arrested in the first half of the twentieth century simply for helping patients with only their hands. A pivotal point in this war, an antitrust case, Wilk v. the AMA, occurred when court testimony revealed the AMA's Final Solution for the "chiropractic menace" to be the "complete elimination of the chiropractic profession." They called chiropractors "rabid dogs", "killers", an "unscientific cult", and "a danger to public safety." When taken to task in court, the AMA could not provide one witness to prove these accusations; it was purely propaganda. They lost the case, but the war has continued unabated. This ruthless war against chiropractors revealed a dark chapter in American medicine that few people have seen, but chiropractors know well. Ironically, research now confirms there is more proof for chiropractic care than back surgery, which has been "accused of leaving more tragic human wreckage in its wake than any other operation in history." After a century assailing chiropractic as quackery, the table has finally turned with the medical profession now on the defensive, a fact the public has yet to hear but is well documented in this book with the latest scientific findings. The purpose of this book is to discuss this dark chapter in medical history - the events, tactics, and characters involved in political medicine's war against the chiropractic profession from persecution to vindication. This is the untold story of the medical war against chiropractic from persecution to vindication that could only be told by a chiropractic advocate.
About the Author: JC Smith graduated with a BS from the University of California at Berkeley where he experienced the Free Speech Movement. He later received his MA in the Sociology of Sport while coaching at Rutgers University, and he attained his DC degree from Life Chiropractic College, graduating with honors. Although his educational background had a strong foundation, it would not prepare him from the battles he encountered in the medical war against chiropractors he has experienced over his 33-year career. Dr. Smith realized the role of a chiropractor was clouded by innuendo, boldface slander, and prejudice stemming from the medical profession. As a man who was always on top of the heap as an outstanding student, an All-American athlete in college, and an adventurer rafting the great white-water rivers of the wild West, his encounter with the medical bias left him frustrated. Compounding this medical discrimination was the trail of failed back surgery victims who came seeking his help. Time and time again he realized these patients had been misdiagnosed, mistreated, and misinformed when simple yet effective chiropractic care solved their misery. Instead, when patients ask if chiropractic might help, they were often told not to do so because it might paralyze them, which is complete nonsense but effective to scare patients into spine surgery. This first-hand view of the collateral damage of the medical war prompted him to expose this tragedy to the public-a story any veteran chiropractor could tell. This task became a labor of love as he piled through the volumes of research on spine care that began as far back as the early 1990s showing the misguided disc theory that has led to an epidemic of back pain and failed surgery. Moreover, the history of this war between the AMA and chiropractic was a part of American history never before revealed to the public. In fact, the medical bigotry toward chiropractic can be traced back to one man, Morris Fishbein, who headed the AMA for a quarter of a century. Not only did Fishbein soil the chiropractors' reputation with propaganda, he also laid the foundation of antitrust activity that led to a federal court trial that began in 1976 and ended in 1990. As a writer and as a chiropractor, JC Smith gives the reader a first-hand account of the experiences only a chiropractor can tell-the untold story of chiropractic from persecution to vindication.