Chiropractic Board Rejects Proposal

Following the public hearings earlier this year, the Board of Chiropractic Examiners in Connecticut has decided against requiring that chiropractors in the state warn of the risk of stroke from neck manipulations before administering treatment.

According to the executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, the board was presented with scientific evidence of the risk for stroke, but decided to rely on one recent Canadian study.  The study referred to, lead by chiropractors and designed by chiropractors, bucks the trend of decades of medical research that establishes the relationship between neck manipulation and injury to the arteries to the brain, leading to stroke. The board is not commenting on their decision, leaving the citizens of Connecticut -- and all others following the debate -- in the dark as to why such a ruling was made.

The ruling also leaves those who may undergo chiropractic manipulation in the future without an informed consent rule that would allow them to fairly weigh the benefits and potential risks of their treatment.

When a patient is considering undergoing any medical procedure -- including chiropractic procedures -- health care providers have a duty to inform the patient of the risks and benefits associated with the particular procedure. Since most patients are not trained in medicine, the medical care provider must communicate this information clearly and in an understandable way. Having an opportunity to weight the benefits against the risks, the patient will then be able to make an informed decision about the procedure before giving permission for the treatment to begin. With this ruling, however, chiropractic patients in Connecticut are not necessarily given all the critical information.