"Nothing of Scientific Value" - International Expert Debunks Stroke

Consortium Chief¼s Claims About Link Between Stroke and Neck 
Adjustment



  Toronto, November 18, 2002 ‚ A leading world expert on 
scientific

methodology and research, Dr. David Sackett, an officer of the 
Order of

Canada and member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, today 
described Dr.

John Norris, former Chair of the Canadian Stroke Consortium, as

"incompetent" in scientific research and "irresponsible" with 
regard to the

Consortium¼s work attributing strokes to neck adjustment.



  Dr. Sackett led the jury at the Lana Lewis inquest through a 
primer on the

criteria for conducting sound medical research and concluded that 
the

Consortium¼s study couldn¼t tell the jury anything about the 
relationship

between neck adjustment and stroke. Dr. Sackett pointed out that 
Dr. Norris

had publicly misrepresented the study and that it was not a 
prospective

study as Norris had claimed, but a series of cases which Dr. 
Sackett

explained are highly prone to bias and "can¼t begin to address 
causation".



  Under examination by counsel Tim Danson, Dr. Sackett testified 
that Dr.

Norris¼ description of the Consortium study as simultaneously 
retrospective

and prospective was "scientifically nonsensical."



  When asked if he considered Dr. Norris to be an expert in 
conducting

research on causation, Dr. Sackett responded, "He¼s incompetent as 
a

scientist in the study of causation."



  Regarding Dr. Norris¼ use of a news conference to announce a 
lawsuit

against the chiropractic profession as the occasion to publicly 
release very

preliminary findings from the Consortium study, Dr. Sackett 
indicated that

such behaviour "represented scientific irresponsibility." He also 
testified

that Dr. Norris had "no science to back the statements" he made in 
the media

putting the incidence of stroke related to neck adjustment far 
higher than

any other research has found.



  "He is making claims for which he has no scientific value...he is 
wasting

your time," said Dr. Sackett of Dr. Norris¼ statements. "I think he 
has

contributed nothing of scientific value...he has caused enormous 
confusion,"

said Dr. Sackett.



  When asked how he would evaluate Dr. Norris¼ use of newspaper 
reports as

the foundation for his opinion that Ms. Lewis¼ stroke was related 
her neck

adjustment, Dr. Sackett testified, "It flunks."