Dr. Douglas R. Briggs is the senior associate at First State Health and Wellness in Wilmington, Del. A graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, he has been a regular contributor to this publication since 2005, writing on the topic of "Things I Have Learned." Dr. Briggs has earned diplomate certification through the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture and is also credentialed as a diplomate in pain management through the American Academy of Pain Management. He has written and contributed to several articles and books on the topics of chiropractic, acupuncture, and natural healing, including the chapter on chiropractic and acupuncture in the legal nursing text Medical Legal Aspects of Medical Records.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
