Once upon a time there was only one reason why I did not take auto accident cases involving only chiropractic treatment.  That reason was mainly based on my former days on the defense side where the most fun I ever had with cross-examining witnesses was with chiropractors.  There is just simply too much baggage a chiropractor brings into the case for it not to decrease the value of your case.

But now I have a second, more serious reason to reject chiro-only auto accident cases  – chiropractic malpractice.  I simply refuse to associate myself with this type of case.  Instead, I have recently begun accepting chiropractic malpractice cases, which fits in line with my purpose and values in protecting my clients not only from insurance companies, but now also from chiropractors who are simply trying to run a mill for auto accident victims and hurting them in the process.  Fortunately, I spent a lot of time studying chiropractic medicine and issues when I was on the defense side of the law so that I could destroy their opinions and treatments at trial.  Much of what I learned is now being used to help my malpractice clients.

You don’t hear about it in the news nearly as much as you do with medical malpractice, but that does not mean it is not there lurking under the public consciousness.  Using various chiropractic associations‘ own materials as reference, the leading causes for malpractice claims are:

• failure to diagnose;
• failure to refer;
• disc herniation; and
• strokes.

As a former chiropractor notes, chiropractors are inadequately trained in diagnosis and are trained to only see everything in terms of spinal adjustments.  He further notes chiropractors are not taught as skilled medical diagnosticians and are usually barred from using the diagnostic tests medical doctors do  Because patients are conditioned to think of chiropractors as doctors, they tend to rely on a chiropractor’s diagnosis and silence on referral as sound medical advice.  This simply is not always the case according the this former chiropractor.

The last two items on the list above can best be described as damage from chiropractic manipulation.  There are reports surfacing that indicate spinal manipulation may cause herniated discs and nerve damage.  Unfortunately, this is extremely difficult for an attorney to investigate and reach a final conclusion unless the patient happens to have a set of MRI’s from prior to seeking chiropractor care.  I have several cases right now where we are investigating whether chiropractic malpractice is to blame for disc injuries.

The scariest of all injuries that is surfacing is the last one, the stroke.  It seems that neck manipulations can either tear the vertebral artery or release a blod clot into the brain.  You can see all the documented journals and literature on the injury here.

If you think you have been the victim of chiropractic malpractice in Georgia, please feel free to vist Brauns Law, PC to learn more about me and how I practice law.