Just In Case You Don’t Believe Me
SOURCE: Texas Medicine Journal 2011 (Apr 1); 107 (4): 20-26
For those of you who want limited prescription rights, and believe that Organized Medicine wishes you well, please review this abstract from an Editorial in the Texas Medicine Journal.
Medicine Under Attack
The Texas Medical Association is fending off attacks on the practice of medicine by nonphysician practitioners who want to expand their scope of practice and diagnose and treat patients without going to medical school. Most recently, TMA went to court to protect patients, filing another lawsuit against the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
That, my friend, is the sound of war drums beating.
Did you notice their (not so) subtle counter-attack? Not only do they want to deny you the right to prescribe, they also question your ability (and right) to diagnose. And the AMA is happy to fund State Associations who’d like to cause this kind of mischief.
But.. isn’t that a “normal reaction” against those who want to poach on their scope of practice? Wouldn’t you do the same thing, if YOU were in their shoes?
You may also want to read previous articles on this topic:
AMA’s “Contain and Eliminate” Tactics Are Alive and Well
Colorado had a “sneak attack” from the PT’s on the Acupuncturist recently. THey were able to get practice rights to do dry-needling of trigger points, with only 12 hrs of training…very similar to the deep Chinese acup techniques. By the time the acup group learned about it, it had been passed into PT’s scope of practice.
—WE NEED TO BE VERY ALERT AND PAY ATTENTION TO UPCOMING CHANGES: EVERYONE IS HUNGRY RIGHT NOW—-
Do Chiropractors have the approval to give trigger point injections in KY?
Since most patients, especially in this economy, come to chiropractors for pain relief, it makes some sense to let us do some limited prescribing of pain meds just to get patients in the door — and then get them off the pain meds. However, it also opens the door for some docs to specialize in pain meds, which would be a terrible drag on the profession. I’d like to see more discussion of the pros and cons of this issue.
I agree. It does need to be discussed in an open and unemotional way. I’m not a fan of drugs, but I’m not a fan of avoiding the resolution of an issue because it is uncomfortable to talk about either (tempers seem to flare, feelings get hurt). I can see the value in what Dr. Fiske is saying. We’ve all had a patient with a hot disc or allodynia that had to be sent to their PCP for pain meds. It would be easier to just write them a script ourselves rather than o through the hassle of getting a patient in terrible pain back into their car and sending them to yet another appointment. That being said, easier is a problem. It would be so much easier to write scripts for patients that are in pain, but is that what’s best for them? I think one of the reasons we dig deeper and solve the problems that others have missed is because we don’t have the pharmaceutical crutch to lean on. Your thoughts?
When I was a young intern, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet an “Old Timer” who told me the story of when he was a young Chiropractor. He was arrested 16 times for “Practicing medicine without a license”. After his 3rd arrest, he moved his practice to the town square right across the street from the Sheriff’s Office. Then, when every new warrant came in, the Sheriff would open his window, whistle and send his Deputy to carry the Doc’s table across to the unlocked jail cell so that he could continue to practice while awaiting trial.
At 60, I am one of the “Old
Timers”. Be bold! Stand up for the truth! Heal.
The Texas Medical Board is taking a giant risk by bringing this type of action against the Chiropractic profession. The AMA said they were trying to “protect” the public when they set about to “eliminate Chiropractic”. The Federal judge that ruled against them had her decision upheld on appeal. If the TMB looses on appeal, they would be rendered powerless in any upcoming trials. This is known in law as “making Bad Law”.
Whatever the pain meds do, homeopathy can as well. There is no need to prescribe when homeopathy is available to DCs.