After losing control in the mid-1800's when state licensure laws were abolished for a time, they used money and political influence to reestablish licensure and scope of practice laws. Once they could control those, they had the legal power of the state behind them and could enforce their control of the system and their de facto control of our profession. The AMA, pharmaceutical houses, and physical therapists are all very politically active and spend a lot of money trying to influence legislation at the federal and state levels and have been very effective. But I am not saying that this means just giving money to the state and national associations. We cannot abrogate personal responsibility for the health of our profession.
Lawsuits are also very effective in achieving parity.
Dr. Wilk's suit demonstrated this. If DCs start teaching MDs to manipulate, and if we keep allowing MDs and physical therapists to configure our scope of practice, we will never become a major party in the politics of health care, but we may be forced out of the race altogether. Let's quit being an also-ran. All Rights Reserved, Dynamic Chiropractic, 2001.