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Medical Monopoly Threatens Korean Health

By On · Add Comment · In American Medical Association (AMA), chiropractic, chiropractic adjustment, health care, Korean Chiropractic Association, Korean Medical Association (KMA), Oriental Medical Doctors' Association (OMDA)
If you want to get a sense of what’s really wrong in health care today, look no further than the Republic of Korea (South Korea).  South Korea is currently a microcosm of the western world with regard to its health care policies, prejudices and oppressions.  Take the current persecution of chiropractic doctors and other health professionals not recognized by Korean law.According to Dynamic Chiropractic:

A World Federation Chiropractic (WFC) press release dated June 30, 2011, the federation notes that the Korean Chiropractic Association, which once boasted upwards of 60 members, “is currently reduced to 17 members because of the hostile environment to chiropractic practice in Korea.” According to the release, the two medical associations have been reporting chiropractors to the police for years and show no signs of letting up.

Sources in South Korea report that the Korean Medical Association (KMA) and Oriental Medical Doctors’ Association (OMDA) are taking measures to rid the country of chiropractic and other alternative disciplines.  The associations are filing formal complaints against doctors of chiropractic and their clinics, and like in the U.S. decades ago, chiropractors are being jailed simply for practicing in accordance with their chosen profession.  Current KCA president, Dr. Taeg Su Choi, has been prosecuted five times since 2003.

Dr. Taeg Su Choi

Chiropractic came to Korea in the early 1990s, when Dr. Yong Serb Song, returned to his homeland from Palmer College of Chiropractic.  The founder and first president of the KCA, Dr. Song was convicted three times, while his son and daughter, fellow Palmer graduates Dr. Joonn-Han (Steven) Song and Su-Hie (Katrina) Song, have also faced prosecution.

Some convicted chiropractors, including Dr. Katrina Song, have appealed to the Constitutional Court, the WFC discloses.  Their argument has been that Koreans have a constitutional right to choose and receive natural forms of health care that relieve pain and suffering, and that chiropractors have a constitutional right to offer those services.  Freakin’ amen and hallelujah!

This type of professional persecution is nothing new to American chiropractors, as many of our ancestors were jailed for providing the–gasp!—chiropractic adjustment.  Is anybody else amazed at how powerful a professional organization–like the AMA and KMA–can actually be?  I mean when otherwise upstanding citizens looking to help their fellow man by relieving pain and suffering are jailed, while medical mistakes that actually kill people, and pharmaceutical atrocities (like cooking books, manipulating data, putting out product that hasn’t been approved) are turned the blind-eye, something’s got to be seriously wrong.  Just incredible.

Chiropractors can help their Korean chiropractic brothers and sisters by donating to the KCA here.  Anyone else wishing to help can get more information and also donate here.  Let’s not let another country go the way of the U.S. with a medical monopolization of health care.  Let the people have freedom of choice.

Big Pharma’s Successful Indoctrination

By On · Add Comment · In American Medical Association (AMA), Big Pharma, Harvard Medical School, medical students, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceutical marketing

Ha ha ha…nothing like the naivety of youth.  Take medical students for example–they actually think they cannot be influenced by gifts or trips provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers.  Silly little doctors-to-be; it’s like one of my teachers in chiropractic college said, “You think you know exactly what you’ll do until you have trouble paying the rent, your daughter needs braces, and college for your son is right around the corner.”  Ha ha ha…exactly.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed published studies that included a total of 9,850 students at 76 medical schools in the United States. The investigators found that most of the students had some type of interaction with drug companies and that this contact increased during the clinical years, with up to 90% of clinical students receiving some form of marketing materials from drug makers.

Among the students queried, most believed there was no ethical problem in accepting gifts from drug companies. Their justifications included financial hardship or pointing out that most other medical students accepted such gifts.

Nearly two-thirds of the medical students claimed that drug company promotions, gifts or interactions with sales representatives did not affect their impartiality regarding drug makers and their products.

Yeah, everyone thinks they are above such influence.  I personally think commercials are useless against my steel will, but who’s the fool?  Bottom line: Drug companies wouldn’t waste their time and money on aggressive marketing if it didn’t work.  And going after medical students is a strong step toward successful indoctrination.  Heck, if it works for Coke and Pepsi with the pre-schoolers, why not for Big Pharma and the med-schoolers?

The drug companies have even begun to target their marketing efforts to individual doctors.  They can buy biographical data from the American Medical Association (AMA) and analyze individual doctors personal and prescribing habits.  They can learn which drugs doctors lean toward, and they can even find out a doctor’s taste in dining, hobbies and travel.  Imagine an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii, from your friendly neighborhood pharmaceutical company.  And you think you wouldn’t buckle…now who’s the fool?

Listen, marketing influences consumers…even doctors.  No matter how much a doctor thinks, as a scientist, he is above basic marketing techniques, truth is he is influenced like the rest of us.  One study showed that doctors’ prescribing rates doubled and tripled for certain drugs following an all-expenses paid trip.  But that was just coincidence.

Get smart, med students–you will be influenced by pharmaceutical marketing.  It’s not a problem as long it’s in the best interest of the patient, the public health and the person paying the bills.  Until your profession lays down some regulations limiting contact between med students and pharmaceutical sales reps, you’ll just have to humble yourself to the power of marketing…and keep mind of your post-contact habits.

Home-birth or Not

By On · Add Comment · In American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Medical Association (AMA), childbirth, home births, midwife
There’s a new trend sweeping the nation, and that’s home births–Au natural. Many women are opting for a more relaxed, less sterile experience and home births are it. Home births are typically aided by a midwife, a practitioner that provides pre- and postnatal care as well as attending the birth itself. Aside from their skills in labor and delivery, midwives are trained in recognizing and dealing with any deviations from the norm. For the most part, they are hired to assist in low-risk pregnancies and childbirth.

Today’s costly medically-assisted deliveries, where non-cesarean births can run as much as $20K ($35K+ for a C-section), a cheaper alternative is sorely needed. This is especially true for women who don’t want the accompanying drugs; and at a fraction of the cost (approximately $3,000), midwife-assisted home birth might just be the perfect option.

Great–let’s recognize and certify midwives, and even better, let’s make home births reimbursable. Not so fast, Campos–home birthing and midwifery have some pretty powerful opponents, specifically the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The arguments against home births are questions of safety and training. The AMA and ACOG just don’t respect the current level of training of midwives, and they stress that the absolute safest way to have a baby is through the monitoring and observation of a hospital staff, period.

Hmmm….you know, this debate isn’t about safety or training at all–it’s about control. Not control of people, but of an industry. It’s the same old same with the AMA. They want complete authority over all matters health. If it ain’t supervised by Big Papa, it ain’t hapnin’. Sorry. Any healthcare professionals practicing “on the fringe” of the mainstream deal with this reality on a daily basis; but is it based on truth?

Home birth or hospital birth is a choice. Obviously higher risk pregnancies should be managed where the pros who deal with that stuff operate. However, lower risk pregnacies in relatively healthy women can be experienced joyfully in the comfort of one’s home. Hey, I’m no hippy–my wife and I had our girls at Cedars Sinai (she liked the cocktails way too much to pass up that option). But it was simply a choice–not better, not worse–just how we wanted to do it. Looking back, we could have easily done it at home with a midwife. Frankly, my wife did all the work. The nurse watched. I napped. And the OB walked in like a rock star for the last half hour, yelled “push”, and pulled the baby out–something a midwife could have done just as well, only cheaper.

Our hospital birth was cool; I enjoyed the experience. My wife got her fix, and we got to eat hospital food. And we had good insurance so we didn’t end up paying that much. But for people who don’t have great insurance; or for those who want a more serene birth (ours wasn’t rough, mind you–I got to watch lots of ESPN and presidential debate highlights, while Erika was a pack of Pall Malls short of a party), a home birth is a nice option.

West Hollywood Chiropractor Reaches out to Prop. 8 Protestors

By On · Add Comment · In American Medical Association (AMA), ban, California, chiropractic, civil rights, gay community, Mormon Temple, No on 8, Proposition 8, same-sex marriage, West Hollywood, Wilk vs. the AMA
More than 1,000 people turned up for a rally against California’s ban on same-sex marriages in West Hollywood over the last several nights. Although the protests were relatively peaceful on Wednesday night–the night after the election–about 500 people broke off of the main group and tried to break a police line, with one protester jumping on a police car. According to police sources, several people were arrested.Thursday night, however, was a different story. The protest at the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood turned ugly when protesters clashed with church members. Fists flew and one man’s nose was bloodied by an angry commuter. More than 2,000 marchers descended on the Mormon temple Thursday, calling for “No on 8!”

I can sympathize with the gay community as the chiropractic profession has seen its fair share of discrimination, too. In the 1960s the American Medical Association (AMA) created their Committee on Quackery whose sole purpose was to eliminate the profession of chiropractic. The AMA spent millions of dollars trying to discredit and destroy the chiropractic profession. Although the Committee was eventually uncovered, and the AMA ordered to cease their discriminatory tactics (Wilk vs. the AMA), the negative image of chiropractic perpetuated by organized medicine still lingers today. This is what the gay community is going through now, and will likely continue to struggle against for several more years…maybe decades.

This is a shame, as discrimination is hurtful to everyone, the discriminated against and society. Would society be improved by civil rights justice? Hell yeah! Just as society has been bettered by health care’s opening up to chiropractic–and ultimately all alternative health modalities (acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, vitamin therapy, yoga therapy, and so forth).

So I say to all people protesting in West Hollywood (NO ON PROP. 8), this chiropractor is with you–my profession has been there, I understand. Get adjusted and keep fighting the good fight.

*More Prop. 8 protest information: There will be another rally at the Sunset Junction on Saturday night, and on Sunday at The St. John’s Episcopal Church at Figueroa and Adams (514 W Adams Blvd (EAST of Figueroa), 10:30am, on Sunday, November 9th, 2008).

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.