Chiropractic Injury Lawyer Blog

Here is a lesson learned the hard way that while chiropractors may be professionals they are not trained medically the way your physician is. In June an Australian chiropractor made statements in court that while performing neck manipulation on a patient, the man suffered a fatal heart attack. While there is no allegation that the neck manipulation caused the heart attack, the chiropractors complete lack of recognition that his “patient” had suffered a heart attack while on the table seems alarming at best.

The chiropractor, Dr. Mario Forte, only noticed that James Gordon Halloran had no pulse after calling 000 (Australia’s version of 911) and being instructed to attempt CPR. Forte, who is blind, said that shaking and convulsions by Halloran (presumably the heart attack he was suffering from) seemed only like seizures. Why this “medical professional” would not respond in some way to his patient’s seizures while getting neck manipulation is bizarre in the firsts place. Apparently Forte was not concerned that whatever he was doing to Mr. Halloran was not causing the seizures and didn’t even seem inclined to stop manipulating his neck to determine what was causing the seizures.

One has to wonder if Forte had stopped the manipulation when he sensed the seizures, of if he had even asked Mr. Halloran what was wrong, whether anything might have been done to save his life. Moreover, it appears that Halloran came to Forte complaining of headaches, vertigo, and visual problems. Instead of manipulating Mr. Halloran’s neck when he presented with these symptoms, Forte should have referred Mr. Halloran to medical professional who could have diagnosed that he was having a heart attack and might have saved his life. To read more about this tragic story, visit http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25714309-2682,00.html.

Remember, chiropractors are not doctors and are not a sufficient substitute for true medical care. Heart attack like symptoms should always be treated by a trip to the emergency room and not on a chiropractor’s table. For more information about injuries due to the negligence of chiropractors, please talk with one of the chiropractic injury attorneys at Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC.

If you have had a stroke at anytime after seeing a chiropractor, you should research and consider whether the stroke was the fault of the chiropractor’s treatment. Did your chiropractor warn you that the neck manipulation you were undergoing could cause a stroke?

For more information on the rights of person’s injured by chiropractors, including persons who suffered a stroke at anytime in the near future after seeing a chiropractor, email attorney, Brent T. Ackerson.

From a former chiropractor:

"I have been doing a vascular surgery rotation for the past month, which is part of my postgraduate medical education. During my chiropractic training, when the subject of manipulation-induced stroke was brought up, we were reassured that "millions of chiropractic adjustments are made each year and only a few incidents of stroke have been reported following neck manipulation." I recently found that two of the patients on my vascular service that suffered a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) had undergone neck manipulation by a chiropractor, one the day that symptoms had begun and the other four days afterward. If indeed the incidence of stroke is rare, one M.D. would see a case of manipulation-induced CVA about every 10 years. But I believe I have seen two in the past month! I therefore urge my medical colleagues to question their patients regarding recent visits to a chiropractor/neck manipulation when confronted with patients that present with the neurologic symptoms of stroke. I also urge potential chiropractic patients to not allow their necks to be manipulated in any way. The risk-to-benefit ratio is much too high to warrant such a procedure."

—Rob Alexander, M.D.

Cited from: a reader’s comment to: Chiropractic's Dirty Secret: Neck Manipulation and Strokes by: Stephen Barrett, M.D.

The best kept secret of the Chiropractor industry is that there is a serious risk of stroke and other injuries associated with certain chiropractic adjustments. While these injuries aren't widely known, there have been a few jury trials across the country on these sorts of injuries. For instance, in 2008, a woman in Kane County, Illinois, received a jury verdict of $2.8 million after suffering a stroke, which caused permanent damage on the left side of her brain.

According to the Sept. 9, 2008, Chicago Law Bulletin, the jury heard evidence that the woman had migraine headaches and was referred to a chiropractor. Under the chiropractor's standard of care in Illinois at the time, the chiropractor was supposed to determine whether he was in the best position to treat the patient's injury or should send the patient somewhere else. The chiropractor performed adjustments to the plaintiff's neck and she ultimately suffered a stroke due to blockage in her vertebral and carotid arteries. She had two surgeries to treat the stroke.

The jury found the chiropractor liable for the plaintiff's injuries, along with the referring doctor, and awarded $1.5 million in pain and suffering, $500,000 for permanent disfigurement, her medical expenses and other damages.

If you would like to speak with an experienced attorney about a chiropractic injury or the legal rights of the injured, please call Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC at 1-866-587-0002, or email Jasper.

Here is an interesting article about vertebral artery dissection , its causes and the risk factors.

It is a shame that chiropractors continue to do the neck or cervical manipulations despite the clear evidence that the force of turning the neck from side-to-side forcefully can result in a stroke to the chiropractic patient. These stroke have a tendency to cause permanent impairment to someone who visited a chiropractor in search of pain relief. Instead, they leave much worse than they were.

We are starting to see a very disturbing trend of individuals who are having strokes after visiting the chiropractor. This happens after the chiropractor engages in cervical manipulations and severs the vertebral artery. Sometimes the patients have the stroke right there on the table but many times it takes days or even weeks for the stroke to occur.

Numerous medical doctors have said that chiropractors should not be engaging in cervical manipulations because of the risk of severing the artery. There is even a web site that attempts to make chiropractic stroke victims aware of this risk. For some reason, this particular maneuver tends to effect younger women more often than other groups.

A consumer health outlet reports that in 2002 a jury entered a verdict for a Terry Smith, a 42 year-old plumber's helper. The jury agreed with Mr. Smith's evidence that chiropractic manipulations to his neck resulted in a stroke. They awarded $700,000 to Mr. Smith in his lawsuit against the chiropractor for injuries and problems including severe headaches, difficulty walking and difficulty swallowing that has led to the required use of a stomach feeding tube and the inability to work.

The jury listened to evidence that established the stroke occurred when the chiropractor caused dissection and blockage of both vertebral arteries leading to the brain. Mr. Smith's medical expert testified that the stroke was caused by the chiropractic manipulations and not something else because both arteries were involved at the same time and at essentially the same level in the neck.

We've started this new blog to get the word out about an issue we think is currently underreported on and essentially unknown about by the general public. We aim to change that. For more information on this subject matter, feel free to contact Will Nefzger at the following link: e-mail Will. You can also find out more information about me and my firm by clicking on the Website link at the top of this page and going to my bio page.

Americans make some 250 million visits to a chiropractor each year, and 105 million of those appointments include neck manipulations, according to the American Chiropractic Association.

Spinal manipulation or adjustment is a manual treatment where a vertebral joint is passively moved between the normal range of motion and the limits of its normal integrity, though a universally accepted definition does not seem to exist. It is occasionally used by osteopaths, physiotherapists and physicians, and it is the hallmark treatment of chiropractors. Practically all chiropractors use spinal manipulation regularly to treat low back and other musculoskeletal pain. It often involves a high velocity thrust, a technique in which the joints are adjusted rapidly, often accompanied by popping sounds. This results in transient stretching of joint capsules which, according to chiropractic belief, resets the position of the spinal cord and nerves, allowing the nervous system to function optimally and improving the body's biomechanical efficiency.

Many researchers have voiced doubt about the safety of spinal manipulation—especially manipulation of the cervical spine (above the shoulders). Of particular concern is stroke after upper spinal manipulation.

A 2003 study in the journal Neurology confirmed the connection between cervical manipulation and stroke. In the study, patients with strokes caused by torn arteries were nearly five times more likely to have had a recent neck adjustment than those with strokes caused by something else, indicating that recently seeing a chiropractor is an independent risk factor for stroke. This connection has been confirmed in follow up studies, such as a 2007 study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, which identified adverse effects of spinal manipulation in published cases and found that the patients identified were mostly young healthy individuals treated for benign, self-limiting conditions such as neck pain or headache; dissection of the vertebral arteries was the most common problem; other complications included dural tear, oedema, nerve injury, disc herniation, haematoma and bone fracture. In the majority of cases, spinal manipulation was deemed to be the probable cause of the adverse effect.

If you would like to speak with an experienced attorney about a chiropractic injury or the legal rights of the injured, contact injury attorney Shawn Cantley toll-free at (866) 587-0002 or click this link: email_shawn.

Vertebral Artery Dissection (VAD) is a tear that develops in the verebral artery and often leads to a stroke. It is the most common cause of stroke in the young. Vertebral artery dissections are usually caused by trauma to the neck, although researchers believe they can rarely occur spontaneously. Vertebral Artery Dissection is often caused by chiropractic manipulation of the spine.

There are four pathways that control blood flow to the brain—the left vertebral artery and right vertebral artery and the left and right carotid arteries. These arteries travel through the neck, and the vertebral arteries travel through the transverse process of each of the cervical vertebrae. Abrupt twisting of the neck can damage the inner layer of these arteries and create a blood clot. If the blood clot travels upward along with the flow of blood, it can cut off blood flow to part of the brain. This is the very definition of a stroke, which often results in permanent brain damage.

If you or a loved one has suffered a chiropractic injury, including stroke following a neck adjustment, one of the experienced chiropractic injury attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones is available anytime to discuss the legal issues with you. To contact the author of this post, injury attorney Shawn Cantley, call toll-free (866) 587-0002 or click this link: email_shawn.

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? If so, you've probably had a cervical adjustment -- when the chiropractor adjusts your neck. Did the chiropractor tell you before he or she adjusted your neck that a known risk of a cervical spine adjustment is the potential to crush or tear an artery to your brain causing a stroke?

Unfortunately, this is not an entirely uncommon potential risk associated with manipulation (chiropractors prefer the term "adjustment") of the cervical spine. Even more unfortunate is the fact that most chiropractors do not want patients and potential patients to know this, lest it hurt business.

Consequently, most chiropractors don't inform their patients of the risk of stroke before they perform a cervical adjustment on the patient. In medical and legal terms, the cervical adjustment is done without informed consent.

People who have suffered a stroke as a result of a cervical adjustment for which they were not advised of the risk of stroke beforehand may have a claim against the chiropractor who did the adjustment, and they should contact a lawyer with experience handling chiropractic stroke cases.

The injury attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC represent victims of chiropractic stroke injuries. To contact the author of this post, injury attorney Shawn Cantley, call toll-free (866) 587-0002 or click this link: email_shawn.