Judge Says AMA Tried to ‘Destroy’ Chiropractors

The American Medical Assn. led an effort to destroy the chiropractic profession by depriving its practitioners of association with medical doctors and by calling them names, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Susan Getzendanner described the conspiracy as “systematic, long-term wrongdoing and the long-term intent to destroy a licensed profession” in ruling late Thursday on a 1976 antitrust lawsuit.

Getzendanner’s decision said the nation’s largest physicians’ group spearheaded a physicians’ boycott.

In addition to “labeling all chiropractors unscientific cultists and depriving chiropractors of association with medical physicians, injury to reputation was assured by the AMA’s name-calling practice,” she said.

Conspiracy Accusation

The lawsuit, filed by four chiropractors, accused the AMA, four AMA officials and 10 additional medical groups of conspiring to prevent chiropractors from practicing in the United States. Getzendanner held that the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Radiology had participated in the conspiracy.

She scheduled a Sept. 4 meeting of the parties involved in the lawsuit to determine a remedy. The suit sought no monetary damages but challenged the defendants’ refusal to acknowledge chiropractors’ professional abilities.

Kirk Johnson, AMA general counsel, said: “To me, the decision is wrong because we have had a policy . . . that it is not unethical to associate with a chiropractor if you believe that it is in the patient’s best interest.”