Dr. Reaver remembers a time between 1928 and 1943 when he was arrested eight times, and the subsequent four jail terms between 1943 and 1949 -- for adjusting patients.
The 71st annual meeting of the International Chiropractors Association, held May 16-18 in Burlingame, California, just south of San Francisco, saw the ICA Board of Directors unanimously select Dr. Herbert Ross Reaver as their "1997 Chiropractor of the Year."
Dr. Reaver, 91, still in active practice after 69 years, was the ICA vice president when B.J. Palmer was its president. A graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, Dr. Reaver's right to practice chiropractic was severely tested in Ohio, despite that state's 1915 licensure of chiropractic. From 1928 to 1943 he was arrested eight times for "practicing medicine" without a license, paying fines each time before returning to his practice.
In 1943 when he was arrested for a ninth time, he refused to pay the fine and went to jail. He subsequently served three more jail terms, the last one for six months in 1949. Still, Dr. Reaver refused to stop giving patients adjustments. His courage and defiance earned him the unwanted distinction of being the most arrested chiropractor for practicing his profession, and the affectionate moniker, "Jailbird Reaver."
Disheartened by the continual harassment by the Ohio authorities, Dr. Reaver and his wife, Millie, moved to St. Petersburg, Florida.
In the subtropical climes of the sunshine state, he established a thriving practice, which included many of the professional baseball players who came south for Spring training.
Thomas Wolfe said "you can't go home again," but in 1972 Dr. Reaver left his successful practice in Florida to return to practice in Ohio: perhaps to exorcise the demons of the 1940s. No longer the target of harassment, Dr. Reaver practices on his own terms these days.
James Harrison, the general legal counsel of the ICA for the past five decades, characterizes Dr. Reaver as a man of values and principles. "He stood his ground, regardless of the price he would personally pay, and by this example we have all been given a standard by which our own courage and commitment can be measured."
Although he had just received the ICA's highest honor, the sentiment was that a one-time recognition simply was not enough. In a joint motion made by Life University President Dr. Sid Williams and Life West President Dr. Gerard Clum, an amendment was made to the ICA's bylaws to establish an annual "Herbert Ross Reaver Lifetime Achievement Award."
Award or no award, Dr. Reaver's legacy will live on. An article he wrote many years ago for The Chiropractor perhaps sums it up best: "We must not retreat a single inch from our stand on behalf of health freedom, so that together we may all enjoy the abundance of health which chiropractic can provide."
Policy Statements on Drugs, Surgery, "Specialties" and Animal Adjusting
PIX: Fred Barge, DC: "ICA took this action (that diplomate programs are not chiropractic specialties) because more and more state boards of chiropractic examiners are taking disciplinary steps against DCs who advertise themselves ... to imply they are specialists
The ICA Board of Directors has adopted several new policy statements that will be published in the new edition (4th) of the ICA's Code of Ethics and Policy Handbook. The policy statements were presented to the ICA Board by the committee on definitions and policies, chaired by Dr. Fred H. Barge, former ICA president.
The ICA felt compelled to assert that they consider the "therapeutic use of drugs and surgery to be the practice of medicine." This addition was made to clarify to the profession and the public the ICA's "drugless" stand, and to remind those who feel that drugs should be incorporated into the core of chiropractic services that chiropractic is a separate and distinct art, philosophy and practice, while medicine is another profession altogether.
The board also adopted a comprehensive statement regarding the use of x-rays, which specifically notes that full spine x-rays can be (and often are) vital to the chiropractor studying patient problems.
"Questionable Qualifier Terms"
While encouraging chiropractic postgraduate education and chiropractic diplomate programs, the ICA holds that "diplomate programs are not chiropractic specialties. Qualifier terms used in conjunction with the title chiropractor or the term chiropractic that imply specialization or skill in another health care field is inappropriate. Such usage also serves to obfuscate the public's perception of chiropractic and is not in the profession's best interest."
Dr. Barge stated that the ICA took this action "because more and more state boards of chiropractic examiners are taking disciplinary steps against DCs who advertise themselves in such a way as to imply they are specialists, when they should just state the actual qualifications or credentials they hold."
"DCs have every right to state that they hold a diplomate or are certified in such-and-such an area and name the certifying group," Dr. Barge continued. "We encourage this. This does not mean that these credentials should be used to describe oneself as a chiropractic neurologist, pediatrician, orthopedist, etc. With chiropractic's critics and competitors looking closely at chiropractic's claims, it is important that we are accurate about our credentials."
On Animal Adjusting
The ICA Board noted that animal adjusting in many situations can be "an effective and humane service." The experiences of many are testament to those beneficial results, or as D.D. Palmer stated: "Chiropractic care applies to all vertebrata." The ICA Board stated that "chiropractic adjustment of subluxations in animals applies to their ills in the same manner as in humans," and recommended "that such services should be provided by chiropractors in accordance with existing state regulations."
Editor's note: The ICA's new and revised policy statements will be included in the 4th edition of the ICA's Code of Ethics and Policy Handbook, which will be mailed free to all ICA members and available upon request to all interested parties.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
