California Needs the Chiropractor Consumer Protection Act--Now More Than Ever

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Deborah Snow

On October 11, 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Senate Bill SB 801, the Chiropractor Consumer Protection act. His signature would not have made this bill California law but would have merely placed its provisions on the June 2008 ballot to give the people of California the chance to decide if this reform of the Chiropractic Board meets their approval. The need for Board reform is more than obvious.

The California Board of Chiropractic Examiners has been the subject of media and legislative scrutiny since a board meeting on March 1, 2007 disintegrated to the point that law enforcement had to be called to try to restore order. During this meeting Richard Tyler D. C., the board’s chairman and close friend of the Governor, illegally fired the executive director, put himself in charge in a dual role as chairman and director, then evicted the state appointed deputy attorney and attempted to put a pro chiropractic attorney in her place.

Shortly after these events were made public Senator Ridley-Thomas, chief of the committee regulating business and professions, conducted legislative hearings to investigate the reported misconduct by the Board members. As stated on the Senator’s website “Under Mr. Tyler’s leadership, the Board violated open meeting laws, approved a highly questionable chiropractic method, known as manipulation under anesthesia and interfered in ongoing criminal proceedings regarding this matter. The Board had also inappropriately tried to fire staff and eject legal counsel from the Attorney General’s office when their unlawful procedures were questioned.”

At the legislative hearing on March 28, 2007 Richard Tyler made an attempt at contrition acknowledging “critical mistakes and errors of judgment were made during the March 1st 2007 meeting, and I take responsibility for those failings.” This demeanor was not at all in effect, however, when I attended the latest Chiropractic Board meeting on October 25, 2007 (the first meeting since the Governor’s veto of SB801) and he started the meeting with the statement “We’ve broken no laws, we’ve made needed staff changes, and I’m very proud of what we’ve done.”