There's a lot going on in our profession, our world, and our lives right now. Maybe that's why it's gotten harder to stay focused, to concentrate on what's really important and not get diverted by side issues.

This may be understandable, but lately, I've been talking with doctors who seem to be missing the point when it comes to certain issues in the profession. They just don't "get it."

Take for instance the big scandal in California, where several D.C.s were allegedly allowing their offices to be used for prostitution rings.

In case you missed it (although how could you?), it seems that police in Anaheim and L.A. raided some 23 chiropractic clinics alleged to be fronts for prostitution.

Eleven D.C.s have already had their licenses revoked by the state chiropractic board, and 20 more are being investigated.

The scandal is horrendous enough, but some doctors (and even some in the press) are trying to say it's because, in the words of the L.A. Times, "Times are tough for California's 12,500 active chiropractors. HMOs have slashed their reimbursements and reduced the number of chiropractors included in their health plans."

As though being faced with a reduction of practice income just naturally turns doctors of chiropractic into pimps and criminals!

Is the managed care situation in California bad? Yes it is. We've reported this before in The Chiropractic Journal (read the January 2000 issue of The Chiropractic Journal for one such report). In 1999, The International Chiropractors Association of California called for a state investigation of what it considered the worst offender -- a managed care company known as American Specialty Health Plans (ASHP).

One doctor e-mailed me recently and called ASHP a "virulent cancer." That may be, but then he said the prostitution scandal is the "legacy of ASHP."

I know very well the horrendous practices doctors have accused ASHP of, and I'm sure they have had a devastating affect on the profession in California, just as similar practices by other managed care programs are decimating chiropractic in other states.

But trying to pin this travesty on ASHP is stretching the argument beyond all credibility. And, it's missing the point -- which is that turning your office into a haven for prostitutes and organized crime elements is morally, ethically and professionally wrong. No excuses. No justifications. It's wrong. Period.

When doctors have financial problems, they need to look for solutions. No one can tell me the only solution is to go into business with criminals. If you can't find a way to make a living under an oppressive managed care system, go the cash practice route. You'll free yourself from servitude to third party payors and regain your self-esteem.

I know dozens of very successful D.C.s in California. All of them practice under the same conditions as the rest of the state, yet they're not debasing their profession (and themselves) by conducting illegal activities from their office, or allowing others to do so.

And the excuse "I didn't know!" doesn't wash, either. One of the doctors arrested in the California clean up actually claimed he didn't realize the female masseuses working in the clinic he was supervising -- women with names like "Rosey" and "Kinky" -- were offering something other than standard massage therapy.

The bottom line is that California has about 12,500 D.C.s. Some complain that's too many, but there are 34 million people in the state (it's 40% more densely populated than Europe) and the U.S. Census Bureau says the state will have nearly 54 million people by 2025.

Thirty four million people and 12,500 doctors. That means 2,720 potential patients for each doctor. And that number is growing daily. A D.C. should be able to make a living with those numbers working in his or her favor.

Of course, there's another point we shouldn't miss in all this mess. Twenty-three clinics have been raided. Probably no more than 35 doctors will end up involved in any way with the prostitution rings. That works out to less than three tenths-of-one percent of the state's doctors of chiropractic.

The vast majority of California D.C.s -- like chiropractors everywhere -- are working hard to help people live healthy, subluxation-free lives. They're doing it despite ASHP and the flawed managed care system, despite high bills and college loans, despite the pressures of a faltering economy.