The sole accrediting agency for U.S. chiropractic institutions, the Council on Chiropractic Education, recently admitted to the U.S. Department of Education that thousands of chiropractors were granted degrees from accredited programs that did not meet the minimum requirements for practice; raising patient safety concerns throughout the nation.

In a vaguely worded open letter dated November 8, 2002, the agency stated that between 1995 and 2002 its own Board of Directors had been influenced by outside agencies and that the presidents of an undisclosed number of chiropractic programs influenced its accreditation decisions.

A complaint submitted to the U.S. Department of Education by Allen Botnick DC, a 1996 honors graduate from Life University, documents extensive corruption and abusive practices in the program he attended. The complaint uncovers an unethical program designed to mislead students into accepting insurance fraud and that jeopardized patient safety by utilizing false diagnosis. Dr. Botnick’s complaint included documentation of two students and one faculty member who died as a result of following the program. Graduates of this program alone make up 20% of all practicing chiropractors.

The accreditor initially stonewalled Dr. Botnick’s complaint for eight months but finally confirmed its accuracy after the U.S. Department of Education found they were violating requirements for accreditation by not responding. However so far the accreditor has made no public admission of the problems. Because of the lack of action by the agency, state boards have failed to remove unqualified chiropractors from practice. In fact one board, the Georgia Board of Chiropractic Examiners-comprised mainly of Life University graduates, shelved a request to investigate the matter.