Joined: Mar 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 3,411 Location: USA
Discount Program For the Life Univ Loan Defense « Thread Started on May 4, 2006, 11:49am »
AN OPEN LETTER TO LIFE UNIVERSITY CHIROPRACTIC ALUMNI
Dear Life University College of Chiropractic alumnus,
I have previously written that I am preparing a defense of student loans for Life graduates. I am posting this letter to summarize how the defense works and give individuals an opportunity to get a large discount when it becomes available by participating in a program which may increase the chances of success while addressing the underlying problem.
It is well known that Life University violated Council on Chiropractic accreditation requirements and that this led to their loss of accreditation in 2001. After researching the matter extensively I have located written statements by Life University's founder Sidney Earle Williams DC (Sid E. Williams) and CCE report team findings from litigation between the CCE and Life University which reveal that this was done intentionally by Life's administartion to achieve a political goal.
The violations involved a scheme where Life University advertised to prospective students that they would be taught legitimate differential diagnosis, a series of algorithims which serve to identify the true cause of a patient’s complaint by ruling possibilities in or out with appropriate diagnostic testing. Traditionally straight chiropractors such as Sid Williams and his Dynamic Essentials practice management firm were opposed to the use of differential diagnosis because it prevented chiropractors from following their unproven belief that chiropractic manipulations (called adjustments) could potentially help any disease thereby limiting the number of patients that could be treated. In differential diagnosis if disorder was identified then a chiropractor had a duty to refer the patient to a medical doctor for treatment in most cases.
Because Life University was accredited under guidelines from the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), the teaching of differential diagnosis was required and non-negotiable. Life University initially appeared to teach the subject in an abbreviated manner where it was not integrated into the clinical experience but students had enough knowledge to pass their board exams.
Around 1992 the situation changed. A CCE report from their lawsuit against Life University reveals that CCE discovered that Life was not teaching the subject at all. Instead of the real subject and despite representations in admissions materials that it was being taught, Life replaced the material with a boilerplate system where students merely learned to qualify every patient using unvalidated chiropractic diagnostic procedures known to have high false positive rates and merely screened them for a few red flags for contraindications to manipulation and a few urgent presentations. To their credit, CCE requested that Life correct the situation but Life was non-responsive to the request and CCE’s lack of enforcement and policy of not disclosing school violations allowed the problems to continue until CCE finally revoked their accreditation in 2001.
The reason for Life’s non-responsiveness was because the omission of proper diagnosis was an intentional ploy by Sid Williams to shift the balance of power in favor of straight chiropractors by graduating large numbers of chiropractors who were trained to overutilize care. Because Williams owned a practice management and several side businesses, this created a ready market of clients for his seminars and products.
To date, CCE has admitted in private correspondence with the U.S. Department of Education that these problems are real and claims that they have been addressed through the accreditation process. However, CCE accreditation guidelines make no provisions to correct past mistakes. CCE has not complied with a U.S. Department of Education request to provide information proving that the problems have really been corrected. Further, CCE has not made any public statements alerting consumers and state licensing boards that the affected graduates are unqualified to practice and a serious threat to the health and safety of patients throughout the United States. In fact, it is clear that correction at Life University is impossible because one of the violations is that students are not permitted to order the required diagnostic tests necessary to make a differential diagnosis. Officials from the State Medical Board of Georgia have stated that it is illegal for a chiropractor to order these tests and therefore Life can not meet the accreditation requirement and should not be accredited. Also disturbing is the election of Life University's President Guy F. Riekeman to the CCE Board of Directors.
This failure of the CCE to comply with the requirements for accreditation agencies is going to be discussed at a public hearing this June 6, 2006 and may result in their loss of recognition by the U.S. Department of Education.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?
The affected alumni were not trained to diagnose accurately, order excessive x-rays, delay necessary medical treatment and are commiting malpractice in many states. While some outdated state laws, legal judgments and medical board opinions support chiropractic analysis for "subluxations" as a scope of practice, the practice is always unsafe and leads to poor outcomes in patient care. This scope of practice has no future. By not identifying which problems can legitimately be helped by treatment, individuals practicing this way commit insurance abuse through overutilization. A serious effect of this overutilization is that it puts patients at risk for adverse effects such as joint sprains and strokes from unnecessary manipulation. In order to avoid harming patients all chiropractors who do not how to perform a differential diagnosis must surrender their licenses and stop practicing immediately. Failure to do this puts graduates at risk for individual charges of malpractice and insurance abuse while allowing chiropractic leaders to make them scapegoats for their own institutional problems.
Joined: Mar 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 3,411 Location: USA
Page 2-TERMS AND CONDITIONS « Reply #1 on May 7, 2006, 6:57pm »
WHAT IS THE BASIS OF THE DEFENSE?
The basis of this defense can be found in the federal code of regulations 34 CFR part 685.206(c) which states:
Quote:
(c) Borrower defenses.
(1) In any proceeding to collect on a Direct Loan, the borrower may assert as a defense against repayment, any act or omission of the school attended by the student that would give rise to a cause of action against the school under applicable State law. These proceedings include, but are not limited to, the following:
(i) Tax refund offset proceedings under 34 CFR 30.33. (ii) Wage garnishment proceedings under section 488A of the Act. (iii) Salary offset proceedings for Federal employees under 34 CFR part 31. (iv) Credit bureau reporting proceedings under 31 U.S.C. 3711(f).
(2) If the borrower's defense against repayment is successful, the Secretary notifies the borrower that the borrower is relieved of the obligation to repay all or part of the loan and associated costs and fees that the borrower would otherwise be obligated to pay. The Secretary affords the borrower such further relief as the Secretary determines is appropriate under the circumstances. Further relief may include, but is not limited to, the following:
(i) Reimbursing the borrower for amounts paid toward the loan voluntarily or through enforced collection.
(ii) Determining that the borrower is not in default on the loan and is eligible to receive assistance under title IV of the Act.
(iii) Updating reports to credit bureaus to which the Secretary previously made adverse credit reports with regard to the borrower's Direct Loan.
(3) The Secretary may initiate an appropriate proceeding to require the school whose act or omission resulted in the borrower's successful defense against repayment of a Direct Loan to pay to the Secretary the amount of the loan to which the defense applies. However, the Secretary does not initiate such a proceeding after the period for the retention of records described in Sec. 685.309(c) unless the school received actual notice of the claim during that period.
In the case of Life University, the state law violations are breach of contract for not providing the differential diagnosis instuction and lack of properly qualified faculty, potential fraud and false advertising. Because you can not practice as a chiropractor with this training you may be entitled to claim a large amount of damages that could completely eliminate your student loans.
ELIGIBILITY
You must have Direct student loans. You must have had the same violations as mentioned above.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR DEFENSE
The defense is in the process of being finalized and should be available by September of 2006 after the Department of Education makes a final decision whether or not they will forgive the affected loans. If the defense is successful, It will be offered for sale to affected alumni for $2,000 per copy.
A DISCOUNT IS AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME
For a limited time I will be offering up to five $1,000 discount coupons for the upcoming defense as a reward for participating in a project that may improve the chances of this defense being successful. On Tuesday June 6, 2006 the U.S. Department of Education will be holding a hearing to discuss whether or not the open violations of the CCE merit its loss of recognition as an accrediting agency. Past graduates of Life University who were affected by the above mentioned problems are needed to testify at the hearing to help officials understand how damaging the CCE's past actions and inactions have been to graduates, patients and the public at large. It is hoped that DOE will not renew CCE's recognition because of the severity of the violations.
As a reward for their participation, the five best speakers as judged by myself will be given a $1,000 credit toward the upcoming defense. The credit has no cash value and may only be used for this purpose.
HOW DO I PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCOUNT PROGRAM?
Simply follow these steps:
Send a $35 payment to me using Paypal (https://www.paypal.com/) at aljbotnick@yahoo.com to participate. You will be emailed a copy of the germane CCE accreditation complaint against Life University. Provide your name, address, birth date, date of graduation and a valid email address for identification purposes. Study the complaint thoroughly to verify that the problems affected you. If you were damaged by any of the problems in the report, write a summary of at least 1,000 words describing the effects on your life from a personal perspective. Also discuss the negative effects of these violations on patient safety and society as a whole. Possible discussion topics include: misdiagnosis liability, unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation, avoidance of necessary medical care due to unrealistic expectations for chiropractic care, spreading false health care information to patients, delayed referrals, overutilization, insurance fraud liability and causing patient strokes due to unnecessary neck manipulation. Suggested sources of information for the summary include: your own experiences, the accreditation complaint, evidence found in the Life University section on Chirotalk.proboards3.com, the internet (www.chirobase.org and other skeptical sites) and news articles. Sign and fax your summary to me at (815) 642-4773. Well written, persuasive statements will win invitations to attend the one day meeting and directions. The top five most persuasive individuals who attend the meeting and read their essay before the panel as judged by myself from the official transcripts will receive a $1,000 credit towards the student loan defense. The meeting will be held in Arlington, Virginia on June 6, 2006. Please email me at aljbotnick@yahoo.com if you can attend the meeting and claim the credit. All claims will be verified against the official transcript of the hearing.
Please email any questions to me at aljbotnick@yahoo.com.
Best regards, Allen Botnick DC Life University College of Chiropractic Magna Cum Laude, 1996.
LEGAL NOTICES
Please distribute freely to all interested Life University alumni.
Student loan credit vouchers have no cash value and may only be used for payment of student loan defenses. The outcome of student loan defenses is not guaranteed. I reserve the right to modify these TERMS AND CONDITIONS as necessary. See this thread for any updates.
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