Medicine, Monopolies, and Malice: How the Medical Establishment Tried to Destroy Chiropractic...

by Chester A. Wilk, D.C.

Outstanding description of David vs. the AMA Goliath March 27, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Pittsburgh, PA
There have been segments in our society that have enormous power and will stop at nothing to gain control. This book is a chilling description of an out of control medical system that assumed that they had all knowledge concerning healthcare. The real fight was about nothing other than penetration into their sacred economic turf. Chiropractic was almost destroyed if it wasn't for the absolute courage of several dedicated chiropractic physicians and an attorney who fought against all odds to prove that organized medicine used a campaign of misinformation and slander to attempt to destroy the chiropractic profession. Fortunately, many today have accepted chiropractic based on merit and effectiveness as a healing art. Many medical doctors today have accepted chiropractic based on scientific evidence and studies published in many of their journals concerning chiropractic's efficacy. This is an absolute must read!!!!

Excellent, Accurate, and Informative October 17, 1998
Reviewer: A reader from Newmarket, Ontario
This book really tells it like it is! It also shows how medicine has tried to cover up, ignore, or distort chiropractic because it cannot control it. This book demonstrates the fear, most likely financially motivated, that some in the medical profession have against chiropractic. Although the tide is definitely changing in chiropractic's favor! Today, many medical practitioners (including my own medical doctor) are recommending chiropractic care for conditions they have had little success with in the past (such as back and joint conditions). Medicine may feel threatened by chiropractic science and its benefits - especially the older and less-informed "dinosaurs" who should embrace chiropractic care rather than fear it through their own ignorance and "mis-information". Chiropractic has repeatedly shown through scientific study that a more effective, cheaper, and SAFER method exists for treating ailments such as: neck, back, & joint pain, and many other musculo-skeletal conditions. Although unfortunate accidents can happen in any profession - as exemplified in a quote by Ralph Nater that stated over 150,000 people per year are, "killed every year in the US by drugs & surgury", chiropractic care is still much safer than medicine and/or osteopathy. This book reaffirms medicine's attempt to use fear propoganda to further its own means - without regard to the patient's well-being or safety. It does this by distorting the facts and using isolated examples to discourage chiropractic utilization. Since medicine does not have chiropractors in their "back pocket" (like it does osteopaths and physiotherapists), they engage in fear-mongering as an attempt to monopolize health care. Hopefully, this book will help to expose those who have distorted the facts, and improve healthcare for the rest of us.

Great Book for the Chiropractic Profession March 9, 1998
Reviewer: Rushrn@aol.com from Chicago
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the David and Goliath nature of this fight. Being a nurse Practitioner and a the brother of 2 chiropractors it never ceases to amaze me how arrogant MD's and the medical profession can be! I really get a kick out of doctors who under the guise of the public 's health an well-being rank on chiropractic. If it were as dangerous as portrayed in "Chiropractic: a victim's perspective", then why do chiropractors pay a fraction of what MD's pay in malpractice insurance? As we all know money talks.

Reviewer: A reader
A very good book that describes the fight chiropractors had the make in order to keep their profession from being buried by the AMA. I hadn't realized that MDs and chiropractors used to
work in harmony until chiropractors started taking away patients from the medical doctors because they were so effective. It is unfortunate that the AMA took a stance against chiropractic
and forced its members to prevent associating with chiropractors. It seems that the tide has turned, since chiropractors are now more popular than MDs.

Reviewer: A reader
While the naysayers (meaning MDs) do not like chiropractors, it seems that it's not because of science or philosophy, it's because of money. This book tells an interesting story of how the chiropractic profession started, and how it grew into an empire that made the AMA run scared. Their only ultimatum was to try and destroy chiropractic. However, as this books point out, that didn't happen because chiropractic has done the job in most cases, and many people have stopped going to their medical doctors and are now going to chiropractors. As can be witnessed today, and you'll see this in the book, many MDs are still against chiropractic, even though they know nothing about the philosophy. This book details the entire story of the fight to keep chiropractic accessible to everyone, despite the fight from the other side.

Reviewer: A reader
Dr. Wilk attempts to describe what the chiropractic profession has had to endure. As he points out, chiropractors have succeeded in gaining the trust of patients. The effectiveness of chiropractic can be supported by insurance reimbursement. This is what the AMA and MDs have feared. The argument was never about effectiveness, as Dr. Wilk has said, it was about money. MDs restricted access to chiropractors (by not referring patients) mainly to protect their own pocketbooks, though chiropractic has indulged themselves in making claims of health improvement that is best addressed by allopathic physicians. Randall McHale, Jr., Ph.D.