As Dr. Kaibel accepted the ACA's highest honor, she related to the audience a conversation she'd had earlier in the day with a female chiropractic student.
"What's it like to be a woman in the chiropractic profession?" the student had inquired.
At the podium with award in hand, Dr. Kaibel told the audience she now had a reply for the student: "Come on in, the water's fine."
On April 1st of this year, Dr. Kaibel was notified by White House officials that she had been selected to the Health Professional Review Group, a multidisciplinary health panel delegated to review the Clinton administration's health care reform package before it is presented to Congress (see "Task Force's Health Professional Review Group Includes Chiropractic" in the May 7, 1993 issue).
Dr. Kaibel, a practitioner from San Bernardino, has risen to these influential heights by being active in national, state, and regional chiropractic circles. She is the ACA's Southern California Delegate; director of the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations for two terms; served as first vice president and president of the California Chiropractic Assoc., and was its 1986-87 "Doctor of the Year"; president of the Riverside County Chiropractic Society; appointed by former Calif. Governors Brown and Deukmejian to the Medical Quality Review Committee and served six years as its chairperson; appointed by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi to the Fraud and Abuse Subcommittee of the Workers' Comp. Task Force; appointed by the Calif. Board of Chiropractic Examiners as Commissioner on Examination in physical therapy; and has received state appointments as both a Independent Medical Examiner, and a Qualified Medical Examiner ... (whew).
On the academic scene, Dr. Kaibel is a graduate of Cleveland Chiropractic College Los Angeles, and has served on the postgraduate faculty of the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and Pasadena College of Chiropractic (now called the Southern California College of Chiropractic).
ACA Bestows Humanitarian Awards
"Humanitarian of the Year" awards went to Susan Getzendanner and David Chapman-Smith, Esq.
The name Susan Getzendanner evokes memories of a difficult period in chiropractic history, yet as the presiding judge in Wilk et al., vs the AMA et al., her judicial opinion gave chiropractic its greatest legal victory.
On August 27, 1987, after an eight week trial in U.S. District Court, Judge Getzendanner wrote a 101-page opinion concluding that the AMA had engaged in "lawless" behavior in instituting a nationwide boycott of doctors of chiropractic by declaring it to be unethical for MDs to associate professionally with DCs.
On Sept. 25, 1987, Judge Getzendanner issued a permanent injunction order against the AMA, directing the AMA to publish the injunction order in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Jan. 1, 1988), and to send a copy to each AMA member and employee.
While the AMA appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the appeals court affirmed her decision on February 7, 1990. In November of 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court refused the AMA's motion to review the case.
On receiving her award from the ACA, Susan Getzendanner said: "There's no doubt in my mind that what you do is appropriate, it's beneficial and it works."
Judge Getzendanner was the first female federal judge in Illinois (appointed by President Carter in 1980), and litigated other major cases, including a political spying case against the FBI, and corruption trials of judges and lawyers in Cook County.
Susan Getzendanner no longer dons the judicial robe, but is in private practice with a Chicago law firm, litigating a wide range of cases.
David Chapman-Smith, editor/publisher of The Chiropractic Report, and secretary general of the World Federation of Chiropractic, is a chiropractic attorney and consultant in Toronto, Canada.
He has authored extensive legislative, legal, and scientific briefs on chiropractic, and relates this knowledge in a compelling manner as a frequent speaker wherever chiropractors gather.
His credentials also include counsel and editor of the Mercy Guidelines, member of the board of advisors of the American Back Society, and postgraduate member of the Palmer faculty.
"This award from the ACA I prize," said Chapman-Smith, adding humbly, "I certainly get more from your profession than I give to it."
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