Who are these people? Is their passion for the betterment of chiropractic and the improvement of patient services? Well, read it for yourselves doctors (Oct. 23, 1992, Dynamic Chiropractic), it appears to me to be the old bottom line doctors, money. Oh, certainly they will utilize (use) some of our people like Dr. Kenneth Luedtke and others, and they will hold out the promise of many, many things for individualistic DCs and the chiropractic profession.
They suggest to us that they will employ the young graduate DCs who often look desperately for a way to gain practice experience, that they will give the now practicing "young lion" room to grow, handle their marketing for them, allow them to invest in the company (the trap), make as much or more money with them and have stock too! (All this at "25 percent of services rendered?") And the old timers? Those poor buggers who have poured their life into the profession? They'll give them an offer they can't refuse, they will buy their practices that they often find so difficult to sell. "Our goal is to get about 10 percent of the profession in our relationships" says Mr. Goldsamt. With this percentage and the control of the major area clinics across the nation, it appears to me, they hope to gain control of the chiropractic marketplace.
Then Mr. Goldsamt holds out a promise to the profession. He states, "We've got to put some money back into the business" (again referring to our profession as a business). He predicts that CliniCorp will contribute back to the colleges like the "drug companies and hospital supply companies" do for medicine. How generous of him, but he does not speak of the strings that most certainly will be attached to any such proposal. His words are not couched very cleverly; he states a public company has this responsibility, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Come, come now Mr. Goldsamt, just how dumb do you think we are? Don't you think chiropractors, and the government for that matter, cannot see through such transparent verbiage? Chiropractor, watch out for this one; don't let greed cloud your vision. They hold out the promise that they will simply buy a new image for us. Just sell your soul to CliniCorp and all will be well; the entire profession will prosper. Well, this old chiropractor has been around for a while; I have heard many a huckster use this same pitch in tying to sell a "get rich" scheme. I personally thank God that my service-oriented philosophy will not allow greed to make decisions for me. Nowhere in this CliniCorp article did I read of the delivery of better chiropractic care for the public, the patients. In fact, the entire interview was devoid of patient concern and humanistic values. Money, money, money! I swear, it sounded like the sweet tune of Lucifer so often told in old biblical stories -- speaking to the greed of man -- only this time it was direct to we, the doctors.
Haven't we had "enuf" of such opportunistic hucksterism masquerading under the auspices of practice development and management programs? Isn't this the ultimate bastardization of a service profession?
William J. Mayo, one of the two Mayo brothers that founded the famous clinic in their name stated: "Commercialism in medicine never leads to true satisfaction, and to maintain our self-respect is more precious than gold."
Greed leads us to trade in our self-respect for gold. Virgil, the Roman poet, called it "the noisy strife of the hell of greed."
The sages of the ages have spoke of this truth. Dr. Albert Einstein referred to it as "the shackles of selfish desire."
Close your ears to the "noisy strife of the hell of greed," my friends, do not extend your arms to "the shackles of selfish desire." "To lose our self-respect is more precious than gold." Now is the time for professional wisdom, and as Will Durant so succinctly said, "A bit of wisdom is a joy forever."
Let us have this joy and the joy of knowing that in our lives, our goal has been and is to help our fellow mankind in the time of greatest need. We shall not trade professional integrity for gold as we have the gold that money cannot buy, self-respect and the respect of our fellow mankind. Yes, we are the doctors, the real doctors, and real doctors will not fall for this mercenary plan. We are not a "retail business," and that is exactly how Mr. Goldsamt sees us. CliniCorp will turn into Clinic Corpse, and in the decaying process I sure hope they won't take too many good chiropractors into the grave with them.
"Enuf said."
Fred H. Barge, D.C., Ph.C.
La Crosse, Wisconsin