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Physician Calls for Nationawide Chiropractic Ban Provided by: Canadian Press Written by: Nancy Carr
"We believe there is substantial evidence that (Ronald Grainger's) death was not due to natural causes but was due to chiropractic neck manipulations, the last being a few days before a massive stroke that rendered him unconscious," Dr. Mark Grainger said. Grainger flew to Toronto from Calgary to attend a news conference with the sister of Lana Lewis, whose death is being examined in the Toronto inquest, and Flo Limage, the wife of a Waterloo, Ont., man who has been in a chronic-care hospital since a November neck manipulation. The Lewis family's lawyer, Amani Oakley, also read a letter from Thomas Fawcett of Barrie, Ont., who believes his wife died almost 15 years ago after the same procedure. Grainger stressed the need to better inform the public about the risks involved in chiropractic procedures. Despite being a physician for 33 years, Grainger's father was no better informed of the risks. "(My father) was well-educated and was able to make sound medical judgements," Grainger said. "If he, even with his knowledge, was so permissive (as to allow a neck manipulation), how can others, not as knowledgeable, be protected?" But the College of Chiropractors of Alberta was critical of the Grainger family, saying they went to the media first without informing any chiropractic organization. That and withholding the name of the chiropractor involved makes it impossible to investigate the matter, said Dr. Les Shaw, president of the college. Shaw suggested the Graingers' grief is being misdirected by a faction in the medical community worried about the popularity of alternative care. "Do we believe there's a political agenda to this? Absolutely," he said Wednesday. Last week, Grainger requested that the Alberta Health Ministry ban neck manipulations in adults and spinal and neck manipulations in infants and children. He had not received a response from the Alberta government by the time he widened his request Wednesday to include all provincial and territorial health ministries. The Ontario Health Ministry has not received any such request from Grainger, said ministry spokesman Dan Strasbourg, adding that even if the ministry had received a request, it's not within its jurisdiction to ban the procedure. The Canadian Chiropractic Association recognizes there are risks involved in its practices, as in any health-care procedure, but spokesman Dr. Stan Gorchynski said the chance of a chiropractic procedure going wrong ranges from one in a million to one in six million. Gorchynski also said Grainger's news conference was an inappropriate bid for attention. "I think that it's a desperate act to influence the jury and I think it's interfering with the coroner's ability to maintain an impartial public-centred review of what actually happened to Lana Dale Lewis," he said. Grainger said attending the news conference was a matter of striking while the iron was hot. "The best way to try to (ban these procedures) is to get the maximum impact," Grainger said. Lewis died 17 days after receiving a chiropractic neck manipulation in 1996. A coroner's inquest has been examining the circumstances surrounding her death since April. It's not expected to wrap up until the fall. Limage partially blamed her husband's condition on the fact the Lewis inquest and the resulting publicity are happening six years after Lewis's death. "If the inquest
into Lana Dale Lewis's case hadn't been delayed as much as it has,
there's a possibility that some of
these neck manipulations
that have been devastating to families, as well as our own, wouldn't
have taken place." © COPYRIGHT
2004 - FAACT Disclaimer |