UK Chiropractors and osteopaths are not doctors yet many give the impression that they are

I’m sure that many of you will have come across the tragic case of John Lawler who died as a result of chiropractic treatment. The case has received much media attention during the inquest that took place in November 2019. In this post I’d like to focus on one particular point: Mr Lawler thought that he was receiving treatment from a doctor. Chiropractors are not doctors.

The chiropractor in question was Arleen Scholten. According to the article linked above, “The chiropractor, who earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree at Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Canada, conceded that, under British rules, she should not be styled as ‘Dr’ but as ‘Mrs’.” In the UK, chiropractors and osteopaths are not doctors (unless they also happen to have a medical degree – the vast majority don’t) and should not give the impression that they are. How did Mr Lawler end up thinking that he was being treated by a doctor? Because that’s exactly how she marketed herself! Here is her website from September 2017 which clearly states “Dr. Arleen Scholten welcomes you”. The website was subsequently changed in October 2017 to read “Arleen Scholten D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic) Welcomes You.” It’s not clear why this change was made but it may have happened in response to the investigation of this case that was undertaken by the General Chiropractic Council during 2017.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case and it is not unusual for UK chiropractors and osteopaths to give the impression either that they are doctors or are equivalent to doctors. In some cases this is done by directly referring to themselves as “Dr” as Arleen Scholten did. In other cases they draw parallels between their own training and that of a medical doctor. See this osteopathy practice website as an example where they say (emphasis mine) “To qualify an osteopath must study for four to five years for an undergraduate degree. This is similar to a medical degree, with more emphasis on anatomy and musculoskeletal medicine”. A detailed comparison will have to wait for a future blog post but suffice it to say that the training that osteopaths and chiropractors receive is in no way comparable to that undertaken by doctors. I also don’t think that most members of the public would realise that a chiropractor who refers to themselves as “Dr” but then qualifies it with “Doctor of Chiropractic” means that they aren’t actually a medical doctor. There are many examples of this such as is done on this large chiropractic clinic website. It is not reasonable to expect members of the public to unpick these sorts of subtle indications and to be fully confident they know the type of practitioner they are seeing. There is a need for much greater clarity and explicit statements to make it clear that chiropractors and osteopaths are not doctors.

In the interest of the health and safety of the general public, I believe that the chiropractic and osteopathy regulators (General Chiropractic Council (GCC) and General Osteopathic Council (GOsC)) need to take steps to put a stop to these misleading claims and to ensure that the public are completely clear that chiropractors and osteopaths are not doctors. I’d suggest the following actions:

1. Provide clear guidance to all chiropractors and osteopaths that they should not in any way suggest that they are a doctor or that their training is equivalent to that of a doctor. This should cover all advertising materials and also what is said to patients before, during and after appointments.
2. Apply sanctions to any chiropractor or osteopath who fails to comply with the above guidance.
3. Undertake a media campaign targeted at the general public to ensure that they understand that chiropractors and osteopaths are not doctors.

If these actions had been undertaken before now then Mr Lawler may have gone to his GP instead of a chiropractor and his tragic death may not have occurred. I only hope that lessons will be learned here and the regulators will take actions to reduce the risk of similar incidents in future.