Symptom Nine: The Responsibility Shift…

By Dr. Tony Palermo

Question – who owns your health?
Answer – You do

Question – who owns my health?
Answer – I do

Question – who owns your practice members' health?
Answer – They do

There’s a lot of lip service being offered in our profession about the practice member’s role in their health care. Sure, for years the general public has incorrectly assumed that their health was their responsibility and that their sickness was the doctor’s responsibility.

Many chiropractors have done a great job of shifting the responsibility for health and sickness to the appropriate party – namely – to the practice member. There remains however a vast number of doctors who have incorrectly placed and taken responsibility.

Here’s what I mean. In individual practices there are doctors who assume incorrectly that they are responsible for the practice members’ health and dis-ease. That’s an untrue assumption and therefore the illogical assumption leads to disastrous results for both the doctor as well as the practice member.

Here’s the contradiction that I’ve observed time and time again. A chiropractor assumes responsibility for the practice member’s health. And yet in many cases – that same chiropractor assumes no responsibility in the direction of our profession.

On the one hand, they incorrectly assume responsibility. On the other hand, they incorrectly assume no responsibility. And ultimately they are stressing over things that they cannot control and they relinquish responsibility for the things that they CAN control.

Here’s the reality: A practice member presents to your office with a challenge. That challenge may or may not be causing symptomatology. The challenge is NOT their pain. That’s a symptom – it’s not the challenge.

The challenge that a chiropractor seeks within his or her practice member is compromise to the nervous system, the result of a vertebral subluxation. The role of the chiropractor then is to inform the practice member of that compromise and to outline a plan of care that will provide a solution for the correction of the vertebral subluxation. THAT’S IT.

Whether or not the practice member chooses to accept your solution is both their right as well as their responsibility. Choosing not to commit to care is NOT the responsibility of the chiropractor.

Locate subluxation --> inform practice member of findings --> outline care plan --> adjust subluxations --> post check for correction

That’s the role and the model for the Doctor of Chiropractic. You are responsible for the location, the sharing of information, the creation of a care plan and the adjustments to subluxated areas. PERIOD.

Okay – again, time for some tough love here. If you want to disagree with that logic and that philosophy – that’s perfectly okay. You CAN disagree – but you CANNOT call yourself a chiropractor.

Both DD and BJ Palmer were very specific about the role and the function of the chiropractor in society. The detection and the correction of vertebral subluxation for the primary purpose of allowing the innate intelligence of the body to organize and orchestrate health and healing – THAT’S the role of the DC.

Now if you want to disagree with that – again, you’re perfectly free to do so. However if you want to disagree with that premise and that philosophy, get out of our profession. Go create your own.

Chiropractic is NOT the diagnosing, the drugging or the disease naming profession. That’s the role of medicine.

Now here’s where I find one of the greatest contradictions in our profession. In theory many, if not most chiropractors will agree with the philosophy, the science and the art of chiropractic. You’ll note that I said “in theory.”

And then those same doctors who work with spines all day long suddenly appear spineless when it comes to the promotion and the protection of that same philosophy, science and art.

Doctor – you are fully responsible for the success or the demise of this profession. If you choose to take responsibility for the promotion and the protection of our profession then roll your sleeves up and get in the mix. You’ll decide, you’ll take action AND you’ll take responsibility for the success of our future.

On the other side of the field are the benchwarmers. You know who they are. They’re sitting on the sidelines assuming responsibility for things that are not in their sphere of influence while idly hoping, wishing and praying that someone else will do the work of protecting and promoting our professional rights.

They couldn’t be more incorrect in that shift of responsibility. Perhaps the “they” that I’ve just described is YOU. Your voice matters. Your thoughts matter. Doctor – you matter. You ARE responsible for the future of chiropractic including its definition, its scope and its future success.

You cannot cower and hide. You cannot sit idly by and watch. In the states, every single year the opportunity to have a direct voice in our Federal Government is made available to you. Do you know when this occurs? Do you know where this event occurs?
It’s time to correct the Responsibility Shift. I’m sharing with you the information right now. I fully expect each of you to take immediate action and move from benchwarmer to starting lineup.

Every single year Dr. Terry Rondberg, the World Chiropractic Alliance, its Board of Governors and the dedicated doctors of our profession just like YOU converge in Washington, DC for the WCA Summit.

Last year I was privileged to be a part of the team of passionate and dedicated doctors of chiropractic who made more than one hundred appointments with our respective Senators and Representatives. Next year, we’ll triple the number of meetings with legislators.

One of the most profound and far-reaching things you can do for our profession -- and our world -- is to win friends and allies in the United States Congress.

Thursday, April 29, 2004 is the next WCA Legislative Day. We meet for one hour that morning and you will be instructed on how to converse with, meet with and interact with your Senators and Representatives.

This opportunity is available to every doctor, student, chiropractic assistant and supporter of chiropractic. In other words – this opportunity is available to YOU. No, you don’t HAVE to be a member of the WCA to participate. You do have to care.

From my personal experience, one of the most proud moments of my career was when I left my meeting in Senator Arlen Specter’s office. I want you to share in that experience this year.

The WCA will be hosting similar Summits in the UK, Australia and Germany in 2004. I urge you to go to www.worldchiropracticalliance.org NOW and immediately register for the 2004 WCA Summit. I’ll be there both as a speaker as well as a part of the team that will be meeting once again with my senator and congressmen.

Doctor – the responsibility is yours. The decision is yours. Let me end this portion by using the same line of questions that I offered you when I began. It’s phrased just a bit differently…

Question – who owns your profession?
Answer – You do

Question – who owns my profession?
Answer – I do

Question – who owns the future of the chiropractic profession?
Answer – WE do

You now have a choice. Years from now when you look back on the role that you played and the responsibility that you held in our profession will you say that you made excuses or made a difference?

I choose to make a difference. Are you with me?