The M.D.s last week dropped another blockbuster on their old enemies, the chiropractors. Rallying to defeat a bill in the legislature which would license chiropractors to practice in the State of New York, the New York Medical Society issued a pamphlet containing this report by a Queens County medical examiner of a case in 1942.
“The wife stated that the afternoon before his death he complained of headache. She said to him, ‘I want you to come to our family physician.’ He said, ‘No, I am not sick. I have just a headache. I think what I need is a chiropractic adjustment.’ The chiropractor put him on a table and gave him an adjustment. This adjustment took a long time and he twisted and turned and then she suddenly heard something snap, and the patient was suddenly relieved of all his pain, just quiet and nice and comfortable, and the chiropractor said, ‘I will have to have some help in carrying this man to his bed, because he is utterly relaxed now. . . .’ Neighbors were called in and carried him to bed.
“The chiropractor stood there and told the next door neighbor, whom he knew, ‘I think you better tell them to call a physician, and call me later in the night and let me know.’
“The patient apparently never came out of that comfortable state. The following morning they took him to the hospital and he died the following day. I found by autopsy he had a broken neck. . . .”
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