Lawsuit claims getting acupuncture at a chiropractor is a public health threat

Lawsuit claims getting acupuncture

at a chiropractor is a public health threat

The Texas Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine filed the suit Feb. 5 in the 201st State District Court in Travis County against the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners and its executive director, Yvette Yarbrough.

As explained in the plaintiff's petition, the Texas Occupations Code governs the practice of both chiropractic medicine and acupuncture, spelling out regulations for the two fields in different chapters: Chapter 201 for chiropractic and Chapter 205 for acupuncture.

Whether these regulations allow chiropractors to practice acupuncture has been a question debated in the Legislature and courtroom since the early 1990s, the petition stated.

In 2005, in response to a legislative requirement, the chiropractic board adopted rules clarifying which activities are included in chiropractic practice. The rules authorized chiropractors to perform procedures involving needles, including acupuncture and needle electromyography (a technique for studying electrical activity of muscles).

In response to a challenge from the Texas Medical Association, a district court invalidated several of the chiropractic board's rules allowing needle use, and the Austin Court of Appeals upheld the district court's judgment, according to the petition. The chiropractic board repealed rules related to needle electromyography but didn't change the rule allowing needles for acupuncture.

What it boils down to, the petition states, is the chiropractic board has defined incision in a way that allows chiropractors to use needles in procedures besides diagnostic blood draws, which is in direct disagreement with Chapter 201 on chiropractic practice.

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