The Advocate -- October 2002
by Dr. Matthew McCoy, Chair ‚ WCA Chiropractic Advocacy Council
www.worldchiropracticalliance.org

But it¼s just my family.

It started simply and innocently enough. The chiropractor was answering a 
complaint made about an ad he had placed in the local paper - an ad some 
other chiropractor didn¼t like and figured he¼d lodge a complaint.
The respondent (that¼s what you¼re called when they¼re investigating you) 
actually handled all the preliminary investigation quite well, but then it came to 
an interview he agreed to have in his office with a couple of the board members 
and an investigator. It was in this interview that things got out of hand. Through 
a series of carefully worded questions the board investigator got the 
chiropractor to reveal that he provided chiropractic care to his own family 
including his wife and two children.
I cringed as I heard the chiropractor proudly proclaim on tape that of course he 
adjusted his wife and kids and that in fact he did so on a weekly basis and had 
been doing so for years. I didn¼t cringe because he was adjusting his wife and 
kids, I cringed because I knew the next question that was going to be asked by 
the investigator: "Can we see copies of their records?"
The silence on the tape was deafening and seemed to last an hour. But I would 
have preferred the silence continue rather than hear the chiropractor¼s 
response: "I don¼t keep records on them, they¼re just my family." Now the whole 
advertising complaint takes a backseat to much more serious issues.
There are numerous other stories just like this that I could tell about 
chiropractors who got nailed because they didn¼t keep records on family, 
friends or staff. There¼s the one about the wife who worked in the office, things 
went sour, she asked for a divorce but couldn¼t get any money that way so filed 
a malpractice suit. Not having any records on his wife besides some old x-rays 
didn¼t help him. Or how about another spousal situation where there¼s an ugly 
separation and the wife filed a sexual misconduct complaint with the board ‚ 
again no records beyond the x-rays.
Then there are all the staff issues: You fired someone for underperformance 
but they feel they were a hard worker. Suddenly they have some serious, 
disabling problem that you caused by all those adjustments you forced them to 
get. And no records beyond the x-rays. Pray even harder if you were billing their 
insurance company for the services.
You must keep records on all your patients - period. All states discuss what 
they require in terms of record keeping and it is in your best interest to make 
sure you are aware of what they want. Of course you could think, "that will never 
happen to me" just like the above "respondents" and "defendants" probably 
thought.
If I can ever be of help with a complaint, malpractice issue or other problem 
please do not hesitate to contact me. 
advocate@worldchiropracticalliance.org
Dr. Matthew McCoy, Chair ‚ WCA Council on Chiropractic Advocacy
    Copyright, The World Chiropractic Alliance. All rights reserved