"I am NOT pro-drug," says NUHS President
A recent edition of the National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) Outreach newsletter included an editorial by Dr.James Winterstein, president of NUHS, on his stance on drugs in chiropractic.
The Foundation reported on Dr. Winterstein's keynote address at the 2011 FCLB Conference, which included attacks on the subluxation, chiropractic adjustments, and even the importance of the nervous system in body function.
In this latest column, Winterstein laments over the plethora of "anti-Winterstein” rhetoric coming from those who lay clam to the terms 'straight' and 'principled'.” He claims that portions of his lecture were recorded and published on YouTube by the ICA without his knowledge and approval - failing to recognize that his words were shared as a featured speaker, not during a confidential meeting. Despite claims of unprofessionalism, Winterstein includes a link to the video clip and subsequent public comments in his article.
Winterstein told the FCLB audience in May 2011 that he supports prescriptive rights for chiropractors because "the public thinks ‘real doctors’ have prescription rights,” and that taking a 'conservative approach' in prescribing lesser quantity of pharmaceuticals to our patients is "what they [patients] don't even know they need yet." Two months later, he now says he is not "pro-drug." Yet his opinion that "a well-educated chiropractic physician CAN practice primary care but that this ability would be improved if he/she had access to a limited formulary," seems to contradict that statement.
"I see that our graduates have a more and more difficult time making a living because the third party payers continue to cut reimbursement to them. One way to increase reimbursement ethically is for the DC to have a broader scope...," says Winterstein; in effect, admitting the obvious fact that financial gain is an ultimate motivation for seeking prescriptive rights.
He also alludes that testimony by Drs. Gerald Clum and Guy Riekeman at the last New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for a bill to expand the formulary available to Advanced Practice Chiropractic Physicians interfered with and limited the opportunities for this small group of chiropractors in New Mexico.
Winterstein closes with the thought that in order for the chiropractic profession to survive, we cannot continue "wearing the blinders of old time dogma."
Click HERE to Read More on Winterstein's "Subluxation Must Go"
Click HERE to Read Winterstein's "I am NOT Pro-Drug"
