media releases

The article in the MJA Insight calling for the sacking of the Chiropractic Board because of inadequate regulation of their members will hopefully give the Federal Government a stimulus to act to protect the public from potentially dangerous advice and practice, said Dr Peter Davoren, president, Doctors Reform Society. For several years some (but not all) chiropractors have been advertising the ‘dangers’ of vaccination in complete disregard for the policies of the Australian Government and its Department of Health. The Chiropractic Board has failed to act to control their rogue members and the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority (AHPRA) has failed to appropriately regulate the Chiropractic Board, suggesting it doesn’t have the legal power to do so.

In addition, some chiropractors continue to claim extraordinary benefits for manipulative treatment of medical conditions such as asthma or ‘infantile colic’ without any evidence that such treatments work, with potential for disastrous consequences of such treatments.

It’s time for the Federal Government to either require AHPRA to act for the safety of patients or, if AHPRA does not currently have the necessary authority, to legislate so that it does have such authority and  can protect the public from those chiropractors who continue to promote pseudoscience and mislead the public .

“Other professional boards acting under the auspices of AHPRA use their authority to reign in questionable practitioners. The Chiropractic Board should exert their authority to protect the public or go’ said Dr Davoren.