FEATURE STORY/ YOU'VE BEEN SERVED
T
he Canadian Chiropractic
Protective Association was
founded after the main liability
insurance provider for Canadian
chiropractors withdrew coverage from
all of its chiropractic clients essentially
overnight. Dr. Bob Haig, CEO of the
Ontario Chiropractic Association, was
a member of the CCA’s insurance
committee. His blood pressure still rises
when he remembers the day that call
came. “It changed everything,” he said.
“Suddenly every chiropractor in Canada
was at risk.”
The CCA got to work and changed that
challenge into an opportunity. This was
one of the most visionary decisions
made in Canadian chiropractic history.
Led by Dr. Paul Carey, the CCA founded
the CCPA in 1986. The objective
was to ensure that the chiropractic
profession would never be in such
a precarious position again. The
CCPA’s founding principle is to protect
chiropractors and their profession and
over the subsequent 30 years, they have
become the envy of many health care
professions.
Today the service the CCPA provides
goes beyond lawsuits. It now provides
legal counsel to members facing
regulatory board actions as well. They
also have a robust and expanding risk
management program for members.
This includes the development of
continuing education on a range of
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topics, the eye-opening Ouch File
and ongoing efforts to ensure that
chiropractors are using best possible
practices in their clinics. The recent
update to the CCPA Informed Consent
form is an example.
In 1986, inaugural CCPA dues were
about $1,000 for $500,000 in
protection. Today the CCPA offers $5
million in protection for about $1,500.
And it gets better. We have all seen
what happens to insurance rates from
profit-seeking companies when a claim
is made. When a CCPA member makes a
claim, the only long-term repercussions
are a forfeiture of their claims’ free
credit and an increase on their total
dues invoice by roughly $100.
O
nce the statement of claim is
filed, the CCPA sets to work
preparing a response. The
chiropractors involved typically write a
statement of their own. The objective
in this exercise is to document their
recollection of the events leading up to
and including the incident in question.
It is not uncommon for this document
to begin when the chiropractor first
encountered the patient, which means
that some of these statements can be
very long.
The process of writing a statement is
challenging for two reasons. First, the
statement is meant to be factual. It is
hard for human beings to fight the urge
to lash out by questioning the integrity
of the patient and their account of
events. Writing a proper, factual account
in response to a statement of claim feels
a bit like being asked to explain Robert’s
Rules of Order to a charging bear. The
bear is neither interested in civility nor
decorum.
The second reason is even harder to
navigate. Anxiety about a case can
take on a life of its own as a statement
is written. Invariably the questions
arise: Did I miss something? Was I too
aggressive? Why did I choose that
intervention? These questions can easily
escape the confines of a legal case and
infiltrate your entire practice.
One chiropractor began wondering if
he should stop using ART altogether
simply because the patient in the claim
against him had been treated with that
modality. This may seem like a surprising
overreaction, but the emotional and
professional impact of a lawsuit should
not be underestimated. Even confident
and experienced chiropractors may
begin second guessing their entire
approach to care simply because of a
claim.
Once the statement is complete, the
process enters a long, quiet phase.
The CCPA works in the background to
prepare the full response to the case.
Legal wrangling is underway. Expert
witnesses are being sought out and