Jim,
I can appreciate the fact that you have a lot on your plate but I still don't understand why your obvious bias against chiropractic services is preventing you from doing a story because this isn't about what you believe, it's about veterans being systematically denied the kind of care that works best for them across the nation. That means 10's of thousands of veterans are being denied benefits that works best for them due to the VA not wanting to spend the money on something they too hold a strong bias against.
It's well know many of the doctors at the VA were trained in the "old school" methods of practicing medicine and either don't believe chiropractic services has any value for that reason and or their egos can't handle the fact that chiropractic and acupuncture care can work just as well and maybe even better for some people than traditional medicine. During the time frame when the VA Commission got together to figure out the best way to implement chiropractic care into the VA system many on the board voiced their strong concern regarding the fact that many in the VA would have "significant biases against chiropractic care." I sense that from you as well but that's ok.
You should have the right to access to the kind of care that works best for you and that's all I am asking the VA do for me is to give me access to the kind of care that helps me live with far less pain than I do without it so that I don't have to take more narcotics than absolutely necessary. From my perspective I believe each pill I put in my body, especially the narcotic kind, is a piece of poison that in the long run will eventually have to be increased over time as my body adapts forcing me to take more and more until it eventually damages so many organs in my body that it kills me.
Please try to see it from my side and realize that whatever you have on your plate may be genuinely important to you, but this chiropractic issue is affecting tens of thousands of veterans across the country and the current VA policy is causing enormous pain and suffering. That sir is the real story here, not whether or not you think chiropractic care is real medicine or not. That's what I meant when I asked you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need help from someone like you that has a far larger audience than one individual veteran could ever have access to.
Reply:
Your message is one of the many reasons I don't promote chiropractic care, holistic medicine, acupuncture, macrobiotics, aromatherapy or any of the hundreds of other alternative care treatments that come and go like most other fads.
Like most of the promotions of such things, your email is full of emotion but contains no evidence at all. You see, credibility always counts and alternative care fans have little enough of that.
You tell me that there are "tens of thousands of veterans across the country" who are negatively impacted by VA policy regarding chiropractic care. I don't believe that's true. I challenge you to reveal your source that you used to come up with that figure.
Your statement that "I believe each pill I put in my body...is a piece of poison that,,,eventually damages so many organs in my body that it kills me." What we think of as modern medicine with its antibiotics, advanced surgical techniques, scientifically validated therapies and so on has been improving human life on this planet for decades. In every advanced country (and even in 3rd world countries) humans live longer, healthier and more productive lives because of those pills.
Finally, I agree that "You should have the right to access to the kind of care that works best for you". I believe that as an individual you are allowed to choose any healing route that seems to be therapeutic for you so long as I don't have to pay for your whims. The VA health care budget is limited as are all budgets, public or private, around the world.
As in any situation where funds have limits, the money available should be used to provide the greatest good to the most people. To follow your suggestion to provide unlimited access to a therapy that most people have serious questions about makes for a very poor use of available resources. Ultimately, the money would come by cutting another resource...like cancer treatments or eye surgery.
I didn't agree with VA offering even limited access to alternative medicine therapy. I would eliminate such things today if I were given the choice. If you believe that it works for you, by all means use it...at your expense.