As Joe points out, being a chiropractor is just a bit physically demanding. My father came home from the office pretty exhausted most of the time. One of the chiropractors I went to after my father passed away had to have an operation on both hands for carpal tunnel problems resulting from his work, massaging and adjusting spines all day long. He spent at least half an hour with each patient, frequently more (much longer with a new patient), so you figure out how many patients he could take in a business day. He was charging $40.00 per adjustment (not per vertebra—per whole spine) and he had an office to pay for, plus a receptionist. Chiropractors don't get rich.

On the other hand, on February 13th, 2000 I fell and broke my left leg pretty severely (this was the second time; the first was almost exactly ten years before that). I wound up in Swedish Hospital in Seattle for about four weeks, first recovering from having a titanium rod and four screws put into my left femur, then for intensive rehabilitation. The surgery cost my insurance company $24,000. The rehab, I don't know for sure, but four weeks in a hospital ain't cheap! With few exceptions, the doctors, nurses, physical therapists, orderlies, and such were a crew of real of saints and angels. But the rehabilitation physician (not the surgeon) who was in charge of my case was rude and insulting. She came to the hospital only a couple days a week, and then for only part of a day, and she spent most of her time filling out forms to send to the insurance companies of her patients. Her rehabilitation program for me was something out of the textbook and something I could have figured out for myself, and, indeed, any good physical therapist (who were salaried employees of the hospital, by the way) could have handled my case as well as she did. During the four weeks I was in the hospital, she dropped into my room a total of five times. She stayed for no more that two or three minutes, didn't listen to anything I had to say, and was always brusque, as if I were a petty annoyance she had to deal with. Your average buzzard has a better bed-side manner that she did. And a couple of times she was downright insulting. At one point I was on the verge of a pressure sore, spotted by one of the nurses, and the doctor tried to convince me that I had it before I came to the hospital, which I hadn't. The nurse, thank God, called in a dermatologist who manage to get it stopped before it went too far. And the doctor chewed the nurse out for not going through her, which she had tried to do, but got ignored.

Now, I don't remember the fee she charged for telling the physical therapist what she already knew (I know it was several thousand dollars), but I did find the item on the insurance papers for the five two-to-three minute visits: $110.00 each. Just what the hell did she do to earn that kind of money?

No. If you're looking for the Royal Road to Riches, Chiropractic ain't it.

Don Firth