Medical malpractice claims in chirotherapy

A total of 91 claims of malpractice in chirotherapy and their expert appraisal were evaluated by the German North Rhine expert commission between 2004 and 2017. It was possible to carry out a comparison with the period between 1976 and 2003. The frequency of claims and the rate of treatment errors were not subject to an upward trend, but there is a growing criticism that patients were provided with no or insufficient information. Malpractice claims related in particular to chirotherapy as the cause of disc herniation and vessel damage in the cervical spine (involving central side effects), as well as fractures and a worsening of the symptoms that had prompted treatment in the first place. This article presents five examples of typical malpractice claims and their appraisal. The conclusions derive from the evaluation of all 91 investigated cases in the above-mentioned period through the prism of the literature and jurisprudence, as well as taking into consideration the German Patient's Rights Act (Patientenrechtegesetz), which obliges physicians to provide their patients with adequate documentation. It can be concluded as a result that essentially all confirmed treatment errors could have been avoided by following the Bingen recommendations of 1995.