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IN TOUCH

Keeping you In Touch with what's happening in the world of Health Care

Vol. 4, No. 8 August 2000 ISSN 1525-416X

CHIROPRACTIC CARE SAFE FOR CHILDREN

Much has been made lately about the safety of Chiropractic care and children. A research literature review published in the September/October 1997 newsletter of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association found that during the period between 1966 - 1997 there was only one reported case of damage to a child from receiving a chiropractic adjustment.

The case in which it was reported that an adjustment caused damage involved a rare spinal tumor with associated tissue damage that was allegedly caused by "chiropractic manipulation". No proof or scientific connection was offered other than the irresponsible speculation of the author of the study. The credentials of the person performing the manipulation were not discussed either. It should be noted here that research concerning chiropractic has historically been distorted by the medical media.

An article in the May, 1995 issue of Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reports that numerous medical authors have misrepresented the facts when reporting on the incidence of injury related to chiropractic care. Going as far back as 1934, researchers found 78 cases of stroke occurring after "chiropractic manipulation" (none of the cases involved children). In 36% (28) of the cases, the "chiropractic" care that caused injury was not even performed by a chiropractor yet the research author irresponsibly chose to report them as examples of chiropractic care anyway.

Perhaps some other examples of damage that can occur from medical care can put this into perspective.

So, by way of commentary, since 1966 we have one case of damage to a child from chiropractic care that is questionable at best. Research tells us that adults have twice the chance that they'll be struck by lightning than hurt from an adjustment . The risk is even smaller for children, so small that figuring the odds is virtually impossible.

MDs GO ON STRIKE, DEATH RATE DROPS

The June 10, 2000 issue of the British Medical Journal reports that on March 9, 2000, doctors in the Israel Medical Association began sanctions to reduce their contact with patients (in other words, a strike) in order to protest a new four-year wage contract for doctors. Since going on strike, the death rate in Israel has dropped considerably according to a survey of Israeli burial societies.

"The number of funerals we have performed has fallen drastically," said Hananya Shahor, director of Jerusalem's Kehilat Yerushalayim burial society. "This month, there were only 93 funerals compared with 153 in May 1999, 133 in the same months in 1998, and 139 in May 1997."

Meir Adler, who manages the Shamgar Funeral Parlour says, "There definitely is a connection between the doctors' sanctions and fewer deaths. We saw the same thing in 1983 (when the doctors applied sanctions for four and a half months)".

There is one town in Israel where the death rate has remained constant, the town of Netanya. Netanya has only one hospital and the doctors there signed a no-strike clause with their contract. The doctors in Netanya have not participated in the country-wide sanctions.

A similar situation also occurred in the United States. According to Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., in his book Confessions of a Medical Heretic, (1979) in Los Angeles County, California in 1976 the doctors went on a work slowdown to protest soaring malpractice insurance premiums.

There was an 18% drop in the death rate.

When the strike ended, the death rate went back to where it had been before the strike.

In retrospect, that may not have been the best argument they could have made about high malpractice insurance rates.

DIABETES DRUG WITHDRAWN FROM MARKET

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested that the diabetes drug troglitazone, sold under the brand name Rezulin, be withdrawn from the market. The drug has been linked to 63 deaths and 90 confirmed cases of liver failure since entering the market in mid-1997.

Public Citizen, a Washington, DC consumer advocacy group has urged the FDA to conduct a criminal investigation of the maker of Rezulin, Warner-Lambert. Public Citizen says that the company failed to notify the FDA within the 15 day limit required by law when studies showed the drug resulted in liver toxicity. The group says that Warner-Lambert did not inform the FDA of the studies until after the drug was approved for sale.

Rezulin generated Warner-Lambert revenues of $625 million in 1997 and $748 million in 1998.

FDA SAYS FLU DRUG DANGEROUS, TELLS MAKER TO STRENGTHEN WARNINGS

Reuters news service reports that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has told the maker of the flu drug Relenza to strengthen warning labels on the drug after receiving reports of patient hospitalization and possibly deaths that could be linked to it.

Last year, the British government ruled that Relenza should not be reimbursed on the state-run National Health Service because there are doubts about its benefits and high costs.

As a result of the FDA's findings, Glaxo has written to doctors warning them that the drug may have contributed to breathing problems in patients with respiratory problems as well as to a decline in respiratory function in patients without a history of airway disease.

Glaxo hopes to offer new information to show that Relenza is valuable to "older" flu sufferers.

We hope that would not be those older patients who suffer from a decline in respiratory function without a history of airway disease.

Copyright 2000 In Touch P.O. Box 2353 Peachtree City, GA 30269