When Don Petersen, the publisher of Dynamic Chiropractic goes after the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) and the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) at the same time you know that even the higher ups in the Chiropractic Cartel have reached a limit.
In recent issues of Petersen's newspaper rag used to promote the status quo in chiropractic for decades, Petersen reports on the dirty laundry and the dirty little secrets of these organizations that exist on government backed student loan dollars even when there is really no need for their very existence.
The stories include one on how the FCLB, its Immediate Past President Karlos Boghosian DC and current President Carol Winkler DC are being sued for racial discrimination in US District Court in Colorado and the other is on whether or not the NBCE is "robbing students".
Boghosian is the newly elected president of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners - the throne every Chiropractic Cartel leader longs for.
CLICK HERE for a copy of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit lays out the methods used by the FCLB to sideline Vanterpool and is a replay of the now familiar tactics used by Cartel members to gain and maintain their power. Tactics that have made the news many times in the past.
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And while the story of discrimination told through the lawsuit is upsetting enough, the other upsetting news revealed in the lawsuit cuts to the heart of the unbridled control and monopoly power that these two "non-profit" organizations actually hold within chiropractic.
The relationship between the FCLB and NBCE is based on power, money and control. Chiropractors who wish to be "leaders" within the profession vie for prestigious positions on both of these organizations with individuals bouncing back and forth between them for years on end. Patience and the willingness to do the bidding of the Cartel eventually results in a seat at the big table where the big bucks and the big decisions are made.
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But never has the sordid and supposedly unwritten rules of ascension and entitlement within the Cartel been so publicly displayed and openly admitted as it has been in this legal proceeding.
Vanterpool's suit lays out the questionable legal relationships between state chiropractic regulatory boards, the FCLB and NBCE. It amounts to an admission of the good ole' boys network that runs the chiropractic profession and has done so for decades using federally backed student loan money.
The companion story in Dynamic Chiropractic on the NBCE puts the proverbial final nail in the proverbial coffin.
Vanterpool's lawsuit connects the dots for anyone willing to read it.
Defendant Karlos Boghosian is past president of FCLB and at-large director of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Of note - Boghosian is also a sitting member of the Connecticut Board of Chiropractic.
Then, through the incestuous relationships created between the state boards, FCLB and NBCE, these Active Market Players, with the blessing of their comrades on the state boards, then work through the FCLB and NBCE to create and implement policies that affect the entire chiropractic profession. These policies are at times at odds with the way certain factions within chiropractic actually practice and are used to get them in line with the direction of the Cartel.
CLICK HERE for an example related to x-rays
CLICK HERE for an example related to the Pandemic
Vanterpool's lawsuit goes on to state:
- Defendant Carol Winkler is the president of FCLB and an appointee on the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
- Dr. Vanterpool was a Vice President and member of the FCLB.
- Vanterpool alleges that the FCLB interfered with the District of Columbias' Board of Chiropractic’s selection of delegates and alternate delegates to the FCLB.
- Vanterpool claims she has served as a member of FCLB since 2011, an officer since 2016 holding many elected positions, including District III Alternate Director, District III Director, Treasurer and Vice President. Washington, D.C. is located within the FCLB's District III.
In her suit, Vanterpool points out that she serves as:
"Board Chairperson and Chiropractic Member of the Washington, D.C. Board of Chiropractic ('DC BOC'), which is a part of FCLB."
Read that again - "which is part of the FCLB". Meaning the DC Board of Chiropractic is "part of the FCLB".
This means that a governmental licensing board controlled by the administrative state is "part of" the non-profit, non government corporation of the FCLB which receives the bulk of its funding from the NBCE.
Let that sink in.
In her suit, Vanterpool claims that "under her leadership", the District of Columbia Board of Chiropractic ". . . has won several awards and made several positive contributions to FCLB, including the creation of the Chiropractic Board Legal Advisers Committee, which allows those advising regulatory agencies the opportunity to discuss and share best practices."
Remember - these are ACTIVE MARKET PLAYERS deciding how you are going to practice without ever asking you.
Vanterpool reveals in her suit that:
"As an officer of FCLB, Dr. Vanterpool also had an automatic appointment to the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (“NBCE”)."
This "automatic appointment" is a key piece in understanding how the Chiropractic Cartel operates.
The suit alleges that when Vanterpool intended to be a candidate for President of the FCLB the FCLB suspended her for six months.
The suit claims that this suspension ". . . is also in spite of her more than 11-year tenure with FCLB and her outstanding contributions to the FCLB, NBCE, and District of Columbia Board of Chiropractic."
Once again in plain language she is outlining the relationships between these organizations, state boards and the control they exercise over the profession.
If that's not enough, Vanterpool points it out again stating:
"Dr. Vanterpool has never violated any FCLB or NBCE policies." Why would she even mention the NBCE in her lawsuit against the FCLB?
Vanterpool goes a few steps further in her discrimination suit pointing out alleged misconduct on the part of other FCLB and NBCE members and how the FCLB and NBCE are intertwined:
"For example, several FCLB members witnessed former President Ferrel Grossman make several disrespectful comments regarding the FCLB President in violation of Policies & Procedures Manual § 2.13. Despite this misconduct, neither the FCLB nor the NBCE sanctioned Dr. Grossman. Instead, FCLB leadership, including its Dr. Winker defended Dr. Grossman’s misconduct."
Another example of the FCLB and state board relationships is laid out in Vanterpool's suit:
"In addition, FCLB member Cynthia Tays was sanctioned by the Texas Department of Insurance for fraud. Although she was fined $2,000 for billing a patient for an examination that was never performed, the FCLB merely suspended Dr. Tays for three months whereby she missed two meetings. Dr. Tays was still permitted to attend the annual meeting and her discipline never escalated beyond the state level."
Vanterpool describes the relationship between the FCLB and NBCE further:
"She is not allowed to acknowledge her role as Vice President of FCLB or Director of NBCE. In addition, she may not participate in any FCLB activities or as an appointee of the NBCE meetings, and a result, she has lost available reimbursements for attendance at these meetings."
Two separate corporations bound by mutual goals and run by the same people who bounce from one board to another all the while making policy for the entire profession.
In addition to other demands, Vanterpool is demanding that the:
"FCLB permit Dr. Vanterpool to continue in her role and duties as Vice President of FCLB and Director of NBCE, including access to all privileges associated with those role, including attendance at future FCLB’s annual meetings."
And she is seeking monetary damages in an amount in excess of $150,000.
Why is anyone "serving" on the non-profit boards of the FCLB and NBCE being paid anything at all is the real question that should be asked.
This question is asked by Dynamic Chiropractic in the title of their article on the NBCE:
"Is the NBCE Robbing Students?"
In the article, DC points out the 2008 confidential agreement between the FCLB and the NBCE where the NBCE enjoys the full and exclusive support of the FCLB to:
"support and promote the use of the NBCE's examinations by chiropractic regulatory bodies in the United States."
In exchange, the NBCE gives the FCLB a cut of what it gets from taxpayer backed student loan money used when students take their mandated tests.
This monopolistic arrangement exists because in order to get licensed in nearly every state in the country a student must graduate from a school accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) and must pass the exams created and administered by the NBCE - which are also required by the CCE to be monitored, publicly reported on and the scores on those exams used as measures of success in chiropractic programs.
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So what will happen as a result of this latest fiasco involving the FCLB and the NBCE?
Most likely - nothing.
Nothing will happen until the elders of this profession step up and put a stop to the use of future chiropractors (students) as piggy banks by the Chiropractic Cartel to fund their self interests and keep the profession under the thumb of a Cartel that enjoys a monopoly on the educational, licensing, testing and regulatory aspects of the entire profession.
