August 2006

'Stroke victim' ad runs in Washington Post

First the billboard ... then the buses ... now, print ads!

It wasn't a large ad but it got plenty of notice, printed in The Washington Post, which has a circulation of more than five million.

In large, bold, capital letters were the words: "INJURED BY A CHIROPRACTOR?" Underneath was the phone number and e‑mail of a group called the "Chirostroke Victim's Awareness Group."

The ad's headline was identical to the one used on the billboard and bus ad in Connecticut, although the phone number was different and there was no reference to the URL www.neck911usa.com.

"So far, we're seeing just the tip of the iceberg," noted Terry A. Rondberg, DC, president of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), in an e‑mail alert sent to thousands of DCs last month. He said it was clear that this is a carefully planned and well‑funded campaign with two major goals:

1. Erode the public's confidence in chiropractic and scare people away from chiropractors

2. Drum up business for lawyers and "consultants" who want to file million‑dollar lawsuits against DCs

"If it isn't stopped, it may very well succeed on both counts," Dr. Rondberg warned.

The numbers bear him out. If just three percent of the five million Washington Post readers are influenced by the ad in that paper, chiropractors in the Washington/east Maryland area could have 150,000 fewer potential patients. If each reader tells just four others at home or work, that means more than half a million fewer people willing to go to a chiropractor ‑‑ just because of this one small ad! It's possible that as many as 10% of these are already chiropractic patients ... but not for long!

There is a realistic concern that this type of ad is going to spread to other parts of the country and even around the world. Already there's another "stroke victims" website on the Internet, this one operating out of the United Kingdom (www.chirovictims.org.uk). Before long, the Internet will be flooded with their anti‑chiropractic message reaching millions more on a daily basis.

The WCA has already begun to fight these attacks.

Its first step was to blanket the media ‑‑ including the Internet ‑‑ with information about the safety of chiropractic and the wildly inaccurate claims by these "stroke victims" groups.

A Google search of the words "chiropractic stroke" produced 661 "hits" almost all of which were negative reports about the alleged dangers of chiropractic. The only positive reference on the first page of "hits" was a report from the World Chiropractic Alliance explaining the safety of chiropractic.

The WCA also retained the only lawyer in America who's defeated arch‑chiropractic enemy Stephen Barrett and his "Quackbusters" group in court five times! In covering his legal battles, even Dynamic Chiropractic praised Negrete, stating that he's "extremely active in his pursuit against Dr. Barrett."

Negrete has embarked on an aggressive counterattack aimed at stopping these anti‑chiropractic groups from using lies and misinformation to slander our profession. On behalf of the WCA, he reviews each anti‑chiropractic attack and determines the best legal strategy to pursue and will file lawsuits when necessary to ensure that the profession isn't harmed by false allegations and misleading innuendo.

The response from the profession has been heartening, with many doctors around the country pledging their financial support to fight for chiropractic's reputation.

"When the ACA asked for money to sue Medicare, the profession came through and donated more than a million dollars," Rondberg noted. "I realize many doctors were discouraged because the lawsuit was a failure and there was no accounting of how the money was spent. I was concerned, at first, that the bad experience with the ACA defense fund might have made them too cynical to want to donate again to any chiropractic effort. But they apparently realize that this isn't a case of crying wolf. This is a real threat that could hurt them in their own practices."

Doctors wishing to join the effort can make a monetary contribution or pledge to the WCA's Chiropractic Anti‑Defamation Fund to help finance the legal battles that are sure to come. Every penny collected by the Fund will be spent fighting anti‑chiropractic actions and entities ‑‑ first, the Bridgeport buses and then on to groups like Quackbusters.

The WCA is still looking for more dedicated DCs who'll pledge $1,200 (payable as a one‑time contribution, or $100 a month). "This is our core 'Special Forces Unit'," Rondberg explained. "These are the elite of our profession, the ones we can count on to fight for chiropractic."

To support the WCA Special Forces Unit make a contribution using the secure online form at https://www.wcamedia.com/gateway/index2.asp.