Washington DC Lawyer Applauds Medical Group’s Decision to Exclude Cervical Chiropractic Manipulative Treatment from Coverage

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Washington, DC lawyer Michael A. Abelson

The chiropractic industry is reluctant to admit that neck adjustments may play a role in strokes, leading to paralysis and/or death

Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 25, 2010

Attorney Michael A. Abelson, a long-time advocate for victims of stroke, says a major medical provider's decision to stop coverage of cervical manipulation treatments underscores that neck adjustments have no real medical benefit while exposing the public to a catastrophic health risk.

“As we have been saying all along, there is no medical benefit to a chiropractic neck manipulation, while at the same time studies suggest there is a risk that the chiropractic adjustment may cause a dangerous, life-threatening stroke," says Abelson of The Abelson Law Firm in Washington, DC. He has a website devoted to the issue of chiropractic strokes.

Kaiser Permanente Mid Atlantic States and Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group recently revised its Chiropractic Manipulation Medical Coverage Policy to exclude cervical Chiropractic Manipulative Treatment (CMT), according to an article on Chiroeco.com, an online chiropractic community. Kaiser's revised policy states there is a "paucity of data" supporting the benefits of a neck manipulation procedure and a "real potential for catastrophic adverse events," according to the article.

While the Kaiser policy does not mention stroke as one of the adverse events, two studies, one at Stanford and another in the journal Neurologist, suggested a link between cervical spinal manipulation and stroke, according to a 2008 New York Times health article. One other study disagrees with those findings, the newspaper reported.

In response to the medical group’s coverage change, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) released a statement saying that its organization has contacted Kaiser and relayed its concern over the change, according to the Chiroeco.com article. The ACA will encourage Kaiser to reverse this new restriction, the article stated.

Abelson says that Kaiser Permanente's new policy is welcomed. Too many otherwise healthy people are harmed by upper cervical chiropractic neck manipulations, Abelson says.

"The chiropractic industry is reluctant to admit that neck adjustments may play a role in strokes, leading to paralysis and/or death" Abelson says. "The chiropractors themselves are not being adequately advised by their own lead organizations, including but not limited to the American Chiropractic Association and the International Chiropractic Association, that neck manipulations may have caused their clients to suffer catastrophic injuries.”

“We now have a reputable medical organization, Kaiser, which has acknowledged that there is a real potential for a catastrophic event caused by an upper neck manipulation, and that the risk outweighs the benefit,“ says Abelson.

“A stroke can occur within hours, days or weeks of a neck adjustment,” Abelson says. "Any type of upper neck adjustment can entail the risk of a brain stem stroke because of the proximity of the vertebral and carotid arteries."

About the Abelson Law Firm

Attorney Michael A. Abelson of the Abelson Law Firm was named Lawyer of the Year by the Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, DC and has been listed in “The Cream of the Legal Establishment” by Washingtonian magazine. Mr. Abelson has more than 35 years of legal experience. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a sustaining member of the American Association for Justice.

The Abelson Law Firm, based in Washington, DC, accepts chiropractic malpractice cases from around the country. For more information, call 888-797-4242 or 202-331-0600, or visit chiropracticstrokevictims.com.

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