The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "chiropractor" ...
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Crash Course
A popular Florida referral service company had been attracting customers injured in car accidents. The company had been exploiting Florida's "no-fault" auto insurance law to mislead it's customers into giving money to a network of chiropractors and lawyers that pocketed their money.
Tags: fraud; scam; auto insurance; lawyer fraud
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At fault: Inside the culture of auto insurance fraud
This investigation reveals how auto insurance fraud has pushed premiums for Massachusetts drivers to among the highest in the nation. The series "connected the dots of an epidemic of fraud," from "frequent flyer" accident victims who pretend to suffer injuries in order to collect claims, to staged accidents in which people are recruited to file fraudulent claims, to lawyers and chiropractors who pay "runners" to solicit accident cases and victims of fake claims, to the criminal justice system and insurance companies that have failed to tackle the problem.
Tags: auto insurance fraud; car insurance; bodily injury claims; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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State lets private info go for a fee
Gretchen Wenner decided to follow up on a tip from a California resident who thought it was strange that, when she filed to appeal her worker's compensation case, she received a direct mailing from a chiropractor who seemed to know her injuries. Wenner uncovers that some California bureaucrats were collecting medical information and sold the data illegally to chiropractors and others so they could drum up business.
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Slippery Sidewalk Syndrome
Action News discovered and exposed a suspicious string of lawsuits. Attorney Richard Farber has been bringing slip and fall suits against hundreds of homeowners in Philadelphia. The suspicious element here is his clients' backgrounds. More than half of his clients have criminal histories and almost all of them claim to live in the same 10-block area in Frankford. None of the alleged victims fell in their immediate neighborhood but in another section of town, miles away and many have fallen more than once. In almost every case, there were no witnesses and most of the clients went to the same chiropractor's office for treatment. The attorney refuses to comment. This type of fraud serves as one of the reasons homeowners' insurance in the "City of Brotherly Love" is expensive when compared to other cities in the country.
Tags: TAPE; sidewalk; lawsuit; fraud; syndrome; slip; fall; chiropractor; attorney; lawyer; victim; homeowner; Richard Farber; Philadelphia; Frankford; criminal history; witness; property owner; insurance; claim
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Doctors in Debt
Dallas Business Journal examines the federal government's "troubled efforts to collect on $168.8 million in student loans remaining from the defunct Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program. About 1,700 chiropractors, dentists and other former medical students have found their starting salaries too low to repay their student debts, the story reveals. The Journal's analysis of the government data about the debtors shows "discrepancies in payment records, departures from agency rules and confusion among those running the system." The defaulted doctors' debts could cost some of them their licenses, Patrick reports.
Tags: doctors; licensing boards; bankruptcy; college financial aid; U.S. Department of Health and Human Service; Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL); Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners; Texas State Board of Dental Examiners
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Crashing For Cash
A Sun-Sentinel series explores the dimensions of auto-insurance fraud in Florida. The investigation finds that "phony crash rings ... operate throughout the state." The stories showcase the main players and their scenarios, and concludes that "even when they are caught, most avoid prison time." A key finding is also that "chiropractors and medical clinics that specialize in traffic accident injuries routinely have paid cash for new patients...and have submitted phony or padded billings to auto insurers. " Lawyers and testing brokers are also exposed as participants in the vicious circle. The reporters reveal that the state officials in charge are reluctant to handle the problem. For example, "Florida's Division of Insurance Fraud ... actually closes more than 90 percent of its investigations without an arrest," and "the state's Board of Chiropractic Medicine routinely permits chiropractors convicted of insurance fraud to continue practicing..."
Tags: auto insurance; traffic accidents; claims; chiropractors; pain clinics; corruption; crime; Florida's Division of Insurance Fraud; doctors; diskette included
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The Injury Industry
WSMV discovered a secretive industry of telemarketers, private investigators, runners and chiropractors who all benefited by contacting people who had been in automobile accidents and getting them to come in for a "free exam." The investigation found the only people solicited were people who had been hit by drivers with insurance. WSMV documented how one company portrayed itself to accident victims as a "service organization" whose purpose was to "help accident victims" yet in reality they were a for-profit company earning a bounty for each patient who kept his chiropractic appointment. The practice of soliciting accident victims is against the law, yet Tennessee had never disciplined a single chiropractor for soliciting.
Tags: Health care; Insurance; TAPE
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Bones of Contention
Chiropractors make up this country's third largest medical profession (after physicians and dentists) and are licensed to practice without supervision or referral from medical doctors in every state. Health magazine looks at the growth of this profession and compares it to other specialists. (July/August 1993)
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No title (id: 12328)
Consumer Reports takes a close look at chiropractors and how physicians are concerned that many may miss signs of illness that require medical care or may treat serious conditions with manipulation alone. Also looks at chiropractic pediatric care. (June 1994)
Tags: Alternative medicine Adjustments Subluxation Kinesiology Supplements 8 pgs.
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Handle with Care
Handle with care is an examination of the growing business of chiropractic care for children. ABC investigated claims in books and in the literature made available to patients. With the help of two young families and their toddlers, ABC used a hidden camera to review seemingly outrageous claims made by many pediatric chiropractors.
Tags: None