Investigative Report: Remade board treads gently

In this two-part report, we take a closer look at the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners.

Stocked with a roster of the governor's appointees, the new state Board of Chiropractic Examiners has been slower to yank licenses and quicker to soften previous sanctions.

Among the four chiropractors reinstated this year by the board that oversees California's 15,000 chiropractors was a man who repaid $150,000 to insurance companies he defrauded and another who an earlier board determined had tried to seduce a female patient.

The new board granted another chiropractor probation instead of revoking his license after he was convicted of insurance fraud and forced to repay $114,742.

The shift toward more leniency happened this year, when a longtime friend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, chiropractor Richard Tyler, took over as board chairman and was joined by three other gubernatorial appointees, two of them chiropractors.

Within weeks, the newly configured board dismissed the executive director, considered too harsh on chiropractors. Key members of the enforcement staff left, one citing a hostile board. Amid the mounting controversy, the board's $3 million budget was slashed in half when Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that tied the full budget to a ballot measure diluting board autonomy.

As a result, the board says it no longer has the resources to pursue as many disciplinary cases against chiropractors. But The Bee found that the new board tended toward leniency long before the October budget cut.

In the past nine months, the board:

• Reinstated licenses of four chiropractors, an action taken seven times in the previous five years.

• Agreed to end probation early for four chiropractors, lifting sanctions such as psychological counseling and billing practice audits. It took the previous board five years to reach that total.

• Took away chiropractors' licenses at a rate of one a month, less than half the average rate of this discipline during the prior nine years, the period covered by legislative reviews of the board.

• Opted for probation over taking away a chiropractor's license in about three-quarters of the disciplinary cases; in the previous nine years, probation was granted in less than half of the cases.

• Stopped sending cease-and-desist letters to chiropractors found to be engaging in illegal practices. The board sent 46 cease-and-desist letters in 2005 and 32 in 2006.

On Friday, a Schwarzenegger spokesman acknowledged problems, without being specific.

"The administration recognizes that some well-intentioned mistakes have been made by the board," said spokesman Aaron McLear. "But they have been working to get their affairs in order."

He mentioned the hiring of a new executive director, attempts to restore full funding and recent legal work with the Department of Consumer Affairs.

"We feel the board has made necessary changes and is back on track to fulfill their charge of protecting consumers," McLear added.

Tyler, appointed to the board in 2004, has been a friend of Schwarzenegger's for years. In fact, he picked up the then-bodybuilder at the airport when he arrived in the United States in 1968.

He and other board members say they still intend to crack down on chiropractors who endanger or bamboozle the public.

Tyler said in an interview Friday that the board merely wanted to rein in the excesses of an anti-chiropractic staff. He pointed out that board members only rule on cases that first have been vetted by staff and an administrative law judge.

"It's not like we're some evil cabal of people trying to put things over," he said.

In addition to Tyler, the current board includes chiropractors Frederick Lerner, Hugh Lubkin and former bodybuilder Francesco Columbu, and public members James Conran and retired judge James Duvaras. One seat remains open.

Lubkin, appointed in March, challenged any characterization of the board as lenient, saying that is "completely inconsistent with my perspective of what's happened."

About the writer:

• Call John Hill, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5543.