letters 12/31/2002

[December 31st, 2002] THROWN OUT AT HOME
Did you find any clues in Vera's trash ["Rubbish!," WW, Dec. 24, 2002] as to how she is going to pay for this new baseball park? Do she and the Sports Authority really believe Portlanders can escape the extortion tactics of major-league owners?

The economics of professional sports no longer pencils out for private investors. PGE Park is an obvious case in point.

One guess as to who is going to pay for an empty Expos stadium.

Steve Baker
Northeast 71st Avenue

SPINAL FLAP
The sexually titillating content of your article about chiropractors ["Can't Touch This," Nov. 27, 2002] belies the real issue: the resistance of some chiropractors to practice according to commonly accepted standards of accountability incumbent upon all health-care providers. Rather than being abnormally fixated on sexual predators, the chiropractic board's actions are justifiable, even when judged only by the facts cited in the article. At least six cases of sexual misconduct were cited, although the board is criticized for overreacting in only one.

It is unfortunate that the author did not devote more than this one sentence to the crux of the problem: The Oregon Doctors of Chiropractic "believes the Board's efforts to regulate the profession" with evidence-based guidelines "will hamper its vast potential to heal people with new techniques like the vaginal adjustment." In other words, some chiropractors want the freedom to practice any way they choose without oversight or accountability, thus they attempt to stalemate the chiropractic board. Claiming that the board is too quick to label complaints as sexual misconduct is a red herring, diverting attention from such serious concerns as fraud and clinical incompetence.

Patients want to know that a therapy has been proven safe and that it actually does what it is purported to do. That is what is meant by the term "evidence-based." Chiropractors who practice according to an anything-goes philosophy jeopardize the public's safety and trust. The board needs more resources, not only to pursue complaints of sexual misconduct but to investigate these other important problems.

J. Michael Burke, D.C.
Tigard