{"id":779450,"date":"2026-07-23T07:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779450\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T07:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T07:30:07","slug":"davenport-chiropractor-surrenders-his-license-the-standard-of-care-you-should-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779450\/","title":{"rendered":"Davenport chiropractor surrenders his license: The standard of care you should expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man was paralyzed after receiving a chiropractic adjustment in 2024. The Iowa Board of Chiropractic says there was no medical history or exam performed.<\/p>\n

MOLINE, Ill. \u2014 A Davenport chiropractor surrendered his license this month after a patient he treated became paralyzed, according to the Iowa Board of Chiropractic.<\/p>\n

This happened in 2024, when a man went to Dr. L. Anthony Dietrich’s office for neck pain and tingling in his arms. Right after the adjustment, he couldn’t feel his hands and went to the ER. The Board said the man is now quadriplegic.<\/p>\n


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RELATED: Davenport chiropractor surrenders license after patient becomes paralyzed<\/a><\/p>\n

The Iowa Board of Chiropractic said Dietrich didn’t do a proper medical history or exam. A pair of long-time chiropractors in Moline said that’s a big problem.<\/p>\n

Melissa Birdsell has been a doctor of chiropractic for 15 years. Her dad, David Birdsell, has been practicing for 50 years. But neither of them has heard of someone becoming paralyzed after a chiropractic adjustment.<\/p>\n

David said it’s a red flag for an office to skimp on evaluating patients.<\/p>\n

“Not just say, ‘Hop up on the table. You come in, you got a little back pain, hop on the table,'” David said.<\/p>\n

They do a pre-consultation with new patients.<\/p>\n

“I have them fill out paperwork that tells me their history, but then I actually go through it step by step and ask them everything,” Melissa said.<\/p>\n

Then they do a thorough medical exam, including range of motion, orthopedic tests, neurological tests and X-rays if needed.<\/p>\n

“Then we have to determine whether or not they’re a chiropractic patient,” David said.<\/p>\n

Some conditions and symptoms can make adjustment dangerous.<\/p>\n

“If somebody has osteoporosis. You know, you have to be very careful with that type of case,” David said.<\/p>\n

“Say if they were in a car accident, or they had a fall, or suspecting a fracture or something where they’re having some more neurological issues,” Melissa said.<\/p>\n

And if a chiropractor goes in blind, David said that can cause injuries.<\/p>\n

The Birdsells said injuries like paralysis aren’t something you should worry about. Just make sure your chiropractor knows what they’re dealing with.<\/p>\n

“It’s my duty to do that for the patient,” Melissa said.<\/p>\n

The patient sued Dietrich in October 2024. His attorneys dismissed the lawsuit in September 2025. We don’t know if he settled out of court. Dietrich didn’t contest what happened, but he didn’t admit wrongdoing or guilt when he surrendered his license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man was paralyzed after receiving a chiropractic adjustment in 2024. The Iowa Board of Chiropractic says there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":["post-779450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}