When Asked to Give an Adjustment, Sometimes You Have to Say Yes
Dear Editor:
"When Asked to Give an Adjustment, Sometimes You Have to Say No" appeared in your Oct. 21, 2009 issue, authored by James Edwards, DC. A pull quote that accompanied the article said, "If you are not licensed in the state or country in which you are visiting, do not subject yourself to criminal prosecution, licensing board discipline and financial damage by performing adjustments."
It's a good thing D. D. Palmer didn't practice that admonition. If he had, none of us would be chiropractors, B. J. wouldn't have opened the Palmer Chiropractic College and none of our earlier practitioners would have eventually passed laws that licensed members of our beloved profession.
I've attended many technique seminars presented by chiropractors who weren't licensed in the state where the seminar was held. I've adjusted relatives, friends, world-famous athletes, legislators, movie stars, heads of giant corporations, astronaut family members, etc., when requested to render professional services. I've traveled to foreign countries with the Christian Chiropractic Association (CCA) 11 times and rendered free services to hundreds of patients daily. The CCA has sent hundreds of chiropractors all over the world to treat hundreds of thousands of patients without ever having a lawsuit or an arrest. In fact, some of these trips have resulted in creating opportunities for chiropractors to legally practice in various countries.
My son, Dr. Mark Hagen, is in Kenya adjusting 400-600 patients each day as I write this article. He's traveling with the future president of Kenya. It's amazing how many patients you can see each day when you don't have to kill a tree to fill out the paperwork. One adjustment is better than no adjustment. He called his wife today and told her that a patient came to him on crutches and left without them. He traveled to an NFL game several years ago to adjust a punter who was in a slump. The punter averaged 57 yards per kick that day.
On several of the missionary trips that I've made through the CCA, we've worked in hospitals. Many of our patients were medical doctors who had no prejudices against chiropractors. I've lectured at the medical facility in Odessa that treated the Russian Olympic athletes that dominated the Olympics for 40 years. On two occasions I've adjusted people on airplanes and prevented emergency landings and rebooking of 400 passengers on different flights. (You may recall an article that appeared in DC years ago titled, "Chiropractic at 35,000 Feet." On nine occasions, I've sneaked into hospitals to adjust patients who weren't expected to go home alive. They all did. I might add that this was before they installed monitors.
In my experience, foreigners respond a lot better than Americans. They walk to work. Grow organic produce in their gardens. Catch fish out of the ocean and don't watch TV seven hours a day while seated on overstuffed furniture. They've also haven't heard all of the medical propaganda against chiropractors. When you show them a spinal segment and explain how the nerves emit from the spine and control all body functions, either directly or indirectly, it makes sense to them.
My willingness to adjust people anytime and anywhere has encouraged four generations (21) family members to become chiropractors. After 57 years of practice and caring for over 50,000 patients, I hope to continue adjusting sick people until the day I die.
Bruce Hagen Sr., DC
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Show Them the Success Stories
Dear Editor:
Can you think of a better replacement for the Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research [see "End of an Era: FCER Decides on Self-Liquidation" in the Oct. 7 issue] than being bombarded with lists of patients with good results from chiropractic? Such lists would show the insurance companies and other "non-believers" who, what, where and how much - aren't they all about numbers? How could they turn down success at a reasonable cost? Especially with field data supporting the above.
If the health insurance people aren't impressed with positive field data, we'd all better start looking for jobs. And by the way, if we were allowed to write zillions of prescriptions, would I even be writing this?
Tom Hendrickson, DC
Pleasant Unity, Pa.
Dynamic Chiropractic encourages letters to the editor to discuss any issue relevant to the profession, including response to articles that appeared in a previous issue of the publication. All letters should be e-mailed to editorial@mpamedia.com with "Letter to the Editor" in the subject field. Submission represents acknowledgement that your letter may appear in a future issue of DC, but does not guarantee publication. We receive considerable correspondence and endeavor to publish as many perspectives as possible
