Despite years of struggle by legitimately trained doctors of chiropractic, Taiwan remains without a legalized chiropractic profession. Two major stumbling blocks: a powerful medical lobby and the proliferation of inadequately trained "pseudo-chiropractors." The Taiwan Department of Health does not recognize chiropractic as a distinct healing profession and recently contended that spinal manipulation could only be performed by trained medical doctors - in spite of the fact that chiropractic is recognized internationally by, among others, the World Health Organization.
Making matters even worse is Tso-Liang (Julian) Wang, MD. According to the Taiwan Chiropractic Doctors' Society (TCDS), Dr. Wang originally was impressed by chiropractic's effectiveness and high rates of patient satisfaction, so much so that the TCDS recommended that he attend Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, on the campus of Southern California University of Health Sciences. Dr. Wang received a gratis scholarship from the university, with the explicit understanding, according to the TCDS and SCUHS President Reed Phillips, DC, PhD, that Dr. Wang could use his position as a DC and MD to help promote the value and legitimacy of the chiropractic profession in Taiwan.
However, according to the TCDS, after receiving his free chiropractic education, Dr. Wang returned to Taiwan and began offering "scam" chiropractic technique courses to medical doctors and physiotherapists while lauding himself as the only doctor of chiropractic in the country. He also established the Taiwan Chiropractic Medical Association, which was approved by the Department of Health. By all accounts, it appears Dr. Wang is intent on teaching chiropractic as part of medical curricula and cementing the impression that only MDs can practice chiropractic in Taiwan. Previous efforts by Dr. Phillips and Mr. David Chapman-Smith, secretary general of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC), including a site visit to Taiwan, had not curtailed the misinformation spread by Dr. Wang.
In response to these developments, reported to the WFC at its Biennial Congress in Portugal this May, Dr. Rand Baird, chair of the WFC Public Health Committee, proposed that an "open-letter/open-e-mail," exposing Dr. Wang and documenting the truth about chiropractic in Taiwan and elsewhere, could possibly be a more effective tactic. Dr. Phillips agreed, sought additional input from stakeholders, and sent the following letter to Dr. Wang and other concerned parties, including the TCDS, the Taiwan Department of Health, the World Federation of Chiropractic, the Taiwan Medical Association and the Taiwan press, on Aug. 2, 2007:
Dear Dr. Julian Wang,
It has come to my attention and is well-documented that you have made untrue and misleading and self-serving statements to various groups in Taiwan about the art, science and practice of the independent profession of Chiropractic. Among these are your statements that chiropractic should only be practiced and could only be practiced safely by holders of the M.D. degree.
This is simply not true, as you well know. We have deep respect of the M.D. degree but it is not pertinent to the practice of chiropractic which in fact requires a D.C. degree only in order to be practiced safely and effectively as an independent health care discipline and profession. A medical education culminating in an M.D. degree is the sole proper credential to practice medicine; a chiropractic education culminating in a D.C. degree is the sole proper credential to practice chiropractic.
You were given a free presidential scholarship to attend Southern California University of Health Sciences to obtain your Doctor of Chiropractic degree. The intent behind the scholarship was to provide you a thorough understanding of chiropractic so you could help your medical colleagues appreciate the technical and academic expertise required to practice chiropractic safely and effectively. It was also our understanding that based on the financial support you received, you would return to Taiwan not only to practice chiropractic but to be an advocate for the advancement of chiropractic as an independent profession in your country. It is a given that we provided you with the necessary qualifications and experience so you as an MD could also practice chiropractic safely and effectively.
However, the statements you have made about chiropractic and the chiropractic profession are in direct contradiction to the education you received. No other holder of both the M.D. and the D.C. degrees has expressed any statements similar to yours. There is no scientific basis, no expert opinion basis, no literature basis, and no evidence basis for your statements; in fact you know the opposite to be true. In addition, your public statements are in conflict with the WHO Guidelines on Basic Training and Safety in Chiropractic.
You have used the skills and training (you) gained through this scholarship to further your own economic position by providing sham courses on chiropractic technique without providing the necessary full education required to become a competent doctor of chiropractic. By doing this you have placed your fellow citizens at risk for your own personal gain. Personally profiting by teaching technique segments excerpted from a chiropractic education without teaching the entire chiropractic curriculum leading to a legitimate D.C. degree in an accredited or approved program is improper and violates chiropractic ethics and healthcare professional educational standards.
I call on you, and all those influenced by you, to recognize the D.C. degree from a Council of Chiropractic Education approved college program as the only necessary credential, and the only fully acceptable credential, to qualify practitioners to practice chiropractic. The Taiwanese government and public have been misled by your incorrect statements and I call on you to retract them now.
Sincerely,
Reed B. Phillips, DC, PhD
President
Southern California University of Health Sciences
Note: Dr. Wang is not the only individual apparently bent on exacting monetary and other gain at the expense of legitimate international chiropractic. As reported in the Aug. 13, 2007 issue of DC, Dr. Tedd Koren has been reprimanded by the World Federation of Chiropractic for teaching chiropractic technique seminars to lay practitioners in Germany. For more information, please visit www.chiroweb.com/koren.
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