Anti-Subluxation & Pro-Drug - Michael Simone Appointed to Colorado Board

Michael Simone DC, the former Chairman of the Board of the American Chiropractic Association and outspoken subluxation denier was recently appointed to the Colorado Board of Chiropractic by Governor Hickenlooper. According to records received through the Freedom of Information law Simone was chosen to fill the vacancy left by Chadwick Hawk DC.

Framing chiropractors who oppose scope expansion as "clinging to the chiropractic bible" Simone has been a long time subluxation denier and drug rights pusher who has attacked chiropractors who choose to focus on the analysis and correction of subluxation. Simone has a long history of pushing scope expansion having served as Chairman of the ACA Board, the ACA board of Governors, Colorado Delegate to the ACA and former Finance Chair of the ACA.

Making matters even worse for subluxation based chiropractors in Colorado, Simone is the President of the West Hartford Group.

The West Hartford Group (WHG) is a self described “think tank” whose agenda is to gain cultural authority for the profession as non-surgical primary care spine specialists with drug privileges. In order to do that, they have laid out extreme measures requiring the removal of instructors and others within the segment of the profession that put forth a vitalistic perspective and focus on vertebral subluxation.

CLICK HERE for more on WHG

An essential part of their plan to shift the profession is clearly laid out in their objectives to: “place WHG members within leadership of the machinery of the profession to promote WHG’s mission.”

He is also listed as the President of the Colorado Spine Physicians Association which, according to records, is related to the Colorado Chiropractic Society and Chiropractic Orthopedic and Spine Association.

The link to the Colorado Chiropractic Society on its Facebook page takes one to a list of erotic massage parlors.

Simone is also a Trustee of the Northern Colorado Medical Center and a Board Member of the Northern Colorado Medical Center.

According to Board records, Simone was contacted on Tuesday April 11, 2017 by Zen Mayhugh the Interim Program Director of the Colorado Board stating Simone's name was "suggested as a potential board member" to which Simone responded: "That was a nice gesture. I will fill out the application."

While the application was filled out Simone was not added to the Board at that time.

Then in September 2017, Mayhugh contacted Simone via e-mail again stating he ". . . was working to fill a seat on the board" and that Simone had been recommended by current Board member Randy Knoche DC. According to the email exchange Mayhugh requested to speak to Simone by phone.

For unknown reasons, records of the phone conversation(s) were not provided through the Freedom of Information request.

Knoche is also a member of the American Chiropractic Association and serves on the board alongside Donald S. Corenman, DC, MD who is an Orthopedic Surgeon and a DABCO, though there is nothing on his website suggesting Corenman even practices chiropractic.

April 2017 wasn't the only previous time Simone had tried to get appointed to the Board.

In March 2015 Simone applied, stating on his application:

"I could help the Governor protect the public's safety concerning the chiropractic profession."

Then in March 2016 he applied again.

This time he was recommended by James Lehman DC who is an Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences/Health Sciences, in the College of Chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport. Lehman is also an outspoken subluxation denier who has been pushing scope expansion and drug prescription rights for chiropractors for some time. Lehman also has his sights set on Colorado's scope expansion efforts.

The Dynamic Chiropractic newspaper and its publisher Don Peterson have given Lehman and those he supports, such as the Florida Chiropractic Physicians Association, a platform to promote the expansion of chiropractic scope including drug rights. Lehman wrote an article for Dynamic Chiropractic in which he made ridiculous accusations that the Colorado Chiropractic Association was promoting standards of care that conflicted with the law in the State of Colorado. Those standards merely describe the right of a chiropractor to diagnose and manage vertebral subluxation.

CLICK HERE for that story

Simone joins the Colorado Board at a tumultuous time in chiropractic. Simone and Knoche's organization, the ACA, recently re-branded itself and enacted a pledge that members must agree to abide by its standards. The first standards it adopted do not allow for the taking of radiographs to assess the biomechanical component of vertebral subluxation. Nor are post radiographs allowed to determine if any correction was made.

CLICK HERE for that story

READ MORE ABOUT SIMONE

Past ACA Chairman Michael Simone Says Chiropractors Prescribe Drugs as Part of Conservative Care

ACA Leader Simone Says We Need New Kind of Drug Prescriber

Vitalism Has Been Discredited for Decades According to ACA Leader Simone

ACA Repeats Inflated Membership Numbers at CCE Stakeholder Meeting

ACA Embraces Drugs - Establishes College of Pharmacology

ACC and ACA Reaffirm Alliance With CCE

ACA infiltrated by Anti-Subluxation Special Interest Group