Family speaks out about controversial medical procedure

Published: 2009-03-26 10:13:02
Author: By Bob LaMendola | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

He's 33, a father to three, a bit heavy, with diabetes and sore legs. And now he lies unresponsive in a hospital, his brain damaged in a controversial outpatient procedure that critics say is often done needlessly and billed excessively.

Lauderdale Lakessecurity-firm manager Dale Whyte had a cardiac arrest during "manipulation under anesthesia," his family and records say, a procedure in which doctors and chiropractors sedate patients and vigorously flex the body to treat pain and stiffness.

Supporters of MUA say most patients improve dramatically. But many medical officials say some practitioners and surgery centers view it as a profit center, performing it far too often and at times on high-risk patients, and billing insurers as much as $50,000 for an hour of therapy over three days.

While no one tracks MUA deaths and complications, medical groups have linked the procedure to strokes and to damage in blood vessels, the spine and nerves in some patients. Critics also say MUA has been done on patients with obesity, high blood pressure and other conditions that raise their risk for heart attacks and bad reactions to anesthesia.

"It's absolutely unconscionable. They are doing it on almost anyone. It has really just become a method of billing for income," said Charles A. Bender, former president of the New Jersey chiropractic board and a critic of MUA.

At least four dozen outpatient centers in South Florida and 145 in the state perform MUA, and the number is growing. Some appeal for patients by putting them up in hotels and sending chauffeurs to pick them up for the procedure.

Even the leading supporter of MUA, Robert C. Gordon, a former Miramar chiropractor who travels the nation teaching the procedure, estimated that 20 percent to 40 percent of cases are unnecessary, overbilled or done wrong.

"There are a lot of people out there abusing this procedure," Gordon said. "Those of us who do this right are terribly, terribly upset with this. They make it hard for the rest of us."

Full story here.