In Defining the Chiropractic Standard Of Care, chiropractic expert witness Richard K. Skala, D.C., writes:
When the Supreme Court of the United States was considering the issue of pornography, Justice Stewart became a greater part of our legal lexicon when he responded in regards to defining pornography saying, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it…..” Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964).
Hopefully, the question of what constitutes a breach of the Chiropractic Standard of Care can be better defined. However, one must consider that the chiropractic profession contains a wide range of variability in terms of philosophical adaptation on the part of the individual chiropractic physician as well as a wide range of legal definitions from state to state in so far as what the scope of chiropractic practice is. This article will not address the 50 state variability, but suffice it to say the various scope of practice regulations range from the very limited (Michigan) to California, long known as a state with a broad scope (which is now undergoing a regulatory challenge with the forced importation of the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners into the California Department of Consumer Affairs – which is attempting to limit the scope of practice of the chiropractic physician in California to a 1923 standard!) and most recently in states such as New Mexico. where the more recent “advanced practice” regulations allow limited prescription and injections as a part of the scope of chiropractic practice.