Chiropractor slates fellows

Press, 9 November 1978, Page 6

Chiropractor slates fellows

PA Wellington A “disenchanted” chiropractor spoke out in WelI lington yesterday against his colleagues. ! Dr P. J. Modde, who is a practising chiropractor in i Washington, was making : submissions for the Medical I Association at the comtnisi sion of inquiry into chiropractic. i He said that chiropractors I had "inadequate clinical and hospital experience” to act i as primary health care doctors and suggested that they should be put under the supervision of medical doctors during a time of evaluation. In a brief personal speech ! he also told how he had j helped “approximately 200” i ! students cheat during examI inations at the Palmer Col-1 lege of Chiropractic. “I would go to rhe examination and supply answers ; to others in the room by the use of hand signals.' For other examinations 1 would exchange numbers with the applicant, pass the exam- ' ination for him or her, and I flunk my own. This method would, of course, allow me to only’ write for one person at each examination,” he! said. "Without putting this forward in any sense as an excuse, I wish to state that practices of this kind were to my knowledge very common in chiropractic colleges at that time.” said Dr Modde. Dr Modde still has his i own chiropractic practice in Renton, Washington. After; ihe graduated from Palmer! College in 1964 he was ; licensed and became an inifluential member of several; chiropractic associations. ■ But he said that between 1972 and 1975 he ex-j perienced a “growing dis-1 Enchantment” with the

i principles of chiropracti theory. “In particular. I was com ing to' the view that chin: . praetors should not be ion ’ cerned with anything he than mechanical disorders o i the spine.” Dr Modde sai> i he now practises only to re lieve structural disorders a I the spine. He now spends a lot o time lobbying against chirn practic inadequacies, and ha been suspended from twi chiropractic associations Dr Modde also gave exam pies of alleged misues o X-rays by chiropractors n the United States, and sail that chiropractic was no true medical radiology, bu an “irrational and unproven' system of searching fa “spinal subluxations." I He said that the philosd phy of the chiropractic pro fession made chiropractor “unable to approach a clini cal practice in an objectiv and rational manner.” “The sincerity and warn interest expressed by th humanistic oriented chira praetor, in my opinion, n not enough to ensure deliv ery of sound medical care,' Dr Modde said. He spoke against the in elusion of chiropractic in t I national health-care pre gramme because, he said, i would create more confusioi for patients. He suggested a transitiol period for research into th value of manipulation, anextra training to teacl ; chiropractors to treat dis eases in the same way a .medical doctors. I “At present, until thl transition period is endec lit w-ould be in the bes j interests of the public if th ; chiropractic profession wa ! monitored and supervised b the medical profession.” ' Dr Modde will make ful ■ ther submissions today.