February 2006

See Also: WCA files complaint against California board consultant and California DC demonstrates perseverance under pressure

Complaint from WCA

January 4, 2006

California Board of Chiropractic Examiners
Catherine A. Hayes, Executive Director
2525 Natomas Park Drive
Suite 260
Sacramento, CA 95833‑2931

Complaint against Maggie Craw, DC, Consultant for the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners

As a resident of the state of California, and president of the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), I hereby register a complaint against Maggie Craw, DC, a consultant retained by the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners.

The WCA has received reports that the board, represented by Dr. Craw, has failed to maintain communication with doctors, ignoring their requests for information and subjecting them to lengthy periods of uncertainty and confusion. Repeated letters to the board by these doctors have gone unanswered. When letters are received, their tone lacks even the basic professional courtesy or respect.

Among the most blatant of the cases brought to our attention was that of Donald Harte, DC, a licensed doctor of chiropractic who has documented his interaction with the board over a 17‑month period. During this time, he wrote numerous letters to the board requesting information about the board's investigation into his advertising. His letters continually asked for a clarification as to how, specifically, his advertising violated state law but the board failed to respond with even the most cursory information. He received a response only after his Councilman intervened on his behalf, and even then the information did not directly answer his questions.

In addition, Dr. Craw has ‑‑ through ignorance or deliberate malice ‑‑ disseminated false and libelous information about the WCA.

In her letter to Dr. Harte, Dr. Craw stated that the World Chiropractic Alliance was "a group not recognized by any chiropractic college, licensing board accrediting body, state chiropractic organization or national chiropractic organization.

As most chiropractors are aware, the WCA, founded in 1989, is one of the major world‑wide chiropractic organizations, with members in more than a dozen nations including the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, England, Italy, Israel, Peru, Malta, Norway, Japan, and many others. It is the only chiropractic membership organization recognized as a Non‑Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United National Public Information Office, and it maintains an ongoing relationship with the World Health Organization as well as other global health associations.

Further, its board members serve or have served on the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the US Veterans Affairs Chiropractic Advisory Committee, the Department of Defense Chiropractic Health Benefit Advisory Committee, the NCCAM's National Advisory Council on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the NGO Health Committee, as well as numerous other boards, commissions and committees.

The WCA is also a founding member, with the International Chiropractors Association and Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations, of the Chiropractic Coalition, and co‑sponsors the annual Legislative Day event at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The event is held in conjunction with the WCA's annual International Summit, which attracts a wide range of well‑known and highly respected chiropractic leaders, including chiropractic college presidents and officials from other organizations.

Press releases from, and stories about, the World Chiropractic Alliance have appeared in nearly all chiropractic publications, as well as in the mainstream media.

Therefore, for Dr. Craw to state, in an official board correspondence, that the WCA is "not recognized" or to suggest that it is not a valid or legitimate organization is either a clear indication of her lack of knowledge concerning chiropractic affairs or, more likely, of her deeply ingrained bias against the WCA and the subluxation‑based chiropractors it represents.

I am therefore requesting that the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners immediately censure Dr. Craw for her obviously unprofessional and destructive actions, and completely and permanently terminate its affiliation with her.

The World Chiropractic Alliance will embark on a fact‑finding mission to ascertain how many other doctors have been subjected to the type of treatment afforded Dr. Harte, or received erroneous and potentially libelous information concerning the World Chiropractic Alliance. The results of that investigation ‑‑ and your response to this complaint ‑‑ will be published in a future issue of The Chiropractic Journal.

I look forward to your timely response to this official and formal complaint.

Yours truly,

Terry A. Rondberg, DC, President

cc: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger