Anti-vaccine chiropractors 51

[Originally published as Anti-vaccine chiropractors redux 1]

Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.

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If I earned an income from a mere whiff of the promise that the saliva of arrogance, ignorance, and hubris which drools from the side of the mouth of anti-vaccination activists – who are also health care practitioners – will flow inevitably into the public sphere, ensuring that down-river there will be a bucketload of good, old-fashioned footbullet; then, I could probably afford more things than I can at the moment. It doesn’t matter that some health care practitioners should know when to stop talking about things they don’t understand. The flow is inevitable. They can’t help themselves.

Today, my friend Annette pointed me towards a thread on the Channel 9 Facebook page. It is a story serving as a public health warning regarding a potentially serious Measles outbreak:

Ch 9 measles public health warning January 3 2013Annette had noticed one of the commenters on there, and his attitude, and some trigger-words, and her Spidey Senses tingled. She followed his profile and, well, what do you know, the guy is a chiropractor. Here are his comments on the Channel 9 page. They are confusing, given the comment set up used by some Facebook pages, where one cannot work out who is replying to whom, and when. But, you get the general feel of the anti-vaccination hubris welling at his lips, ready to roll:

Davidson 23 Ch 9 thread argue with foolsDavidson 24 Ch 9 thread disease drop cannot be attributed to vaccineDavidson 25 Ch 9 thread pharma shill gambitDavidson 26 Ch 9 thread brainwashed sheepDavidson 21 Ch 9 threadDavidson 22 Ch 9 threadSo, we had a further look. Yes, Koe Davidson is indeed a chiropractor who makes money from his customers at  Peak Potential Health and Wellness, in Melbourne. As is expected Davidson is a member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia. Now, he would possibly, usually, get away with his inaccurate, arrogant, ignorant public comments on the Channel 9 page. He probably shouldn’t, but, he would. He doesn’t out himself as a chiropractor. But – and this is where I want the Chiropractic Board of Australia to show they are there for a reason, that being regulation, the reason they were formed – given the misinformation which exists on his publicly available Facebook pages, Davidson should be dragged over, under, through, and back over the coals.

This post will consist of a lot of screenshots. As with my series on Anti-vaccine chiropractors I won’t be offering debunkings for each example of demonstrable anti-vaccination misinformation published by Davidson. The screenshots of the anti-vaccinationism are there as proof that the anti-vaccination misinformation exists on his pages. Then, it’s up to the CBA to do some dragging. It’s time for examples to be made.

The first screenshot I want to show you is one I would like you to keep at the forefront of your mind as you view the following anti-vaccination rubbish. I want you to remember that this little person who is here not of their own free will, but, that of their parent; a parent who is captive to Davidson’s anti-vaccinationism should it enter any conversation; a parent who has been led to believe that there are good clinical reasons to have her 4 week old baby in a chiropractor’s business (there aren’t); a parent who has been led to believe that Davidson’s talk of subluxations is based in reality:

Davidson 8 adjusting 4 week old babyOn Davidson’s Facebook profile I came across the first burning red flag of what was to come. Here is the Meryl Dorey petition, based on a lie; a revolting piece of misinformation also shared by other chiropractors:

Davidson 1 Dorey's killed by vaccines petitionMoving on to his own professional page, Dr Koe Davidson – Chiropractor – a page classified under “doctor” – Davidson proves he does not understand anything about relative risk, or numeracy, or the Pertussis vaccine, or the waning immunity of the  adult population, inferring that the Pertussis vaccine should not be trusted (this is a clear breach in itself):

Davidson 4 Fb page Pertussis still trust vaccinesHere is the “safety-pin/subluxations/dis-ease” meme which is loved by straight chiropractors since DD Palmer cracked his first mark. I should make it quite clear: the General Chiropractic Council (GCC), and the Chiropractic and Osteopathic College of Australasia (COCA) – COCA are the evidence-based guys – have declared the vertebral subluxation complex is a “historical concept” which is “not supported by any clinical research evidence”. Yet a great, big, fat swathe of CAA chiropractors base their business model on correcting these subluxations, including on babies (just like above) and children. If you go to a chiropractor and you see this image, run:

Davidson 5 subluxations safety pinHere Davidson asserts that vaccines cause autism. And he attempts to get that misattributed Schopenhauer quote in there, but gets it wrong as well:

Davidson 6 MMR and Thimerosal cause autismDavidson cites that high impact journal, The Liberty Beacon, to get another thing arse-about:

Davidson 7 chicken pox Liberty BeaconDid I mention he said this on the Channel 9 page? I didn’t?

Davidson 30 Ch 9 peer reviewed researchMore of the vaccines-cause-autism lie, because Davidson does good research:

Davidson 9 vaccines cause autism memeThere’s nothing like a Strawmanning lie about vaccine ingredients to start the day for the CBA, right?

Davidson 10 flu vaccine scary ingredients including mercuryAnother anti-vaccine meme made by people who hate history books:

Davidson 11 sue the drug companiesProving that he does, in fact, look at peer-reviewed literature, showing that the HPV vaccine something something, Davidson presents the work of anti-vaccinationists Tomljenovic and Shaw in meme form. The reality is that the HPV vaccine is one of the safest, most effective vaccines ever:

Davidson 12 Tomljenovic Shaw HPVHere is the real deal from Tomljenovic and Shaw, showing that Gardasil and other “vaccines are not effective” (really, where’s AHPRA?):

Davidson 13 vaccines Gardasil not effective Tomljenovic Shaw paperHOLA! DOCTORED! Although, in Davidson’s defence, the CAA and the Australian Spinal Research Foundation also promoted this anti-vaccine advertorial:

Davidson 15 DoctoredOne of the biggest frauds in western medicine is the flu shot with a 98% fail rate and loaded with neurotoxins.

I can’t add anything to that. Only to call for AHPRA:

Davidson 16 flu shot 98% fail rate loded with neurotoxinsHOLA!

Davidson 17 Doctored trailerI imagine Mr Davidson providing a scholarly interview, stating “there’s nothing which says balanced and sane like a health care practitioner posting an anti-vaccine meme featuring the skull and crossbones”:

Davidson 18 skull and crossbones Vactruth memeDavidson raises the bar for AHPRA with the vaccines didn’t save us gambit. Take note, Chiropractic Board of Australia. Mr Davidson, chiropractor, exclaims:

Vaccines are not the answer people..!

Davidson 19 vaccines are not the answerThis is a multi-post of bollocks which includes the German homeopath. Remember earlier where Davidson said “peer-review”, or words to that effect? Really. The German homeopath:

Davidson 20 multi post including German homeopathI really had to leave out some posts so I could have a look at his main business page. It is nowhere near as bad. It’s still bad, but, either he has cleaned it up, or, he just never went full mental jacket on that page, knowing it would scare off the customers. Here are some posts from there.

HOLA!

Davidson 27 Peak DoctoredThere can never be enough German homeopath for the discerning reader of peer-reviewed literature. That’s what I always say:

Davidson 28 Peak German homeopeath flu vaccine mersury lieAnd here’s the money shot. The testimonials. Banned by the CBA. That doesn’t stop Davidson and his coworker, naturopath Renee Trost, from providing testimonials to themselves. And here I was thinking anti-vaccination zealot Meryl Dorey had a grand set of testicles:

Davidson 2 testimonials including self

This is what the Chiropractic Board of Australia has to say about the use of testimonials:

Guidelines for advertising of regulated health services

5 What is unacceptable advertising?

This section is intended to provide a clear indication of the
type of advertising of services that the boards consider to
be unacceptable. Where examples are provided, they are
intended to assist practitioners and other persons who
advertise regulated health services to comply with the
advertising provisions of the National Law. They are not
intended to be exhaustive.

To comply with s. 133 of the National Law and these
guidelines, advertising of services must not:

(d) use testimonials or purported testimonials

There is one more post I wanted to explore. I’m only guessing, but, this must be something to do with the bundles of static or energy which get blocked due to subluxations, or something like that:

Davidson 29 Peak static blockage in spine stopping bundles of energyWhat say you, orthopaedic surgeon, Mr John Cunningham?

_________________________________________

About reasonable hank

I'm reasonable, mostly.
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0 Responses to Anti-vaccine chiropractors 51

  1. Stephen says:

    Thank you for taking the time and effort to lay out the iniquities of yet another quack who promotes an entire swag of non science. Sympathy in advance for the almost inevitable tsunami of vitriol you will receive in return.

    Best wishes
    Stephen

  2. Josh says:

    Good job exposing the crazy whack-jobs and their fear mongering, Hank! Let’s hope he’s soon to be cut off. Koe, you are not a doctor.

  3. SM says:

    After my first letter to AHPRA last year re anti-vax quacks, I was encouraged to see a policy statement soon follow. After my second letter last year re quacks sneaking into hospital, unauthorized, to treat inpatients as well as the disciplinary action that AHPRA intended to take against these quacks as well as those publishing anti-CBA policy statements on social media ( esp anti-vax), I am still waiting on an acceptable reply – a formal policy has yet to be formulated. My advice is that everyone write to AHPRA to maintain the pressure. A formal complaint also needs to be made against this Keo quack, and ideally every other quack exposed by Hank where the documentary evidence is irrefutable

  4. KS says:

    If you look at the number of automobiles rates of infection also decreased as number of automobiles increased, so automobiles saved humanity.

    Actually they are very partially right in that improved sanitation and infection control did reduce infection rates. Unfortunately what was happening was the proportion of people in the community with immunity from previous infection was falling. So eventually there was going to be a huge reservoir of potential infected and there was going to be an epidemic. If they had graphs going further back in time it is likely theta it would show that the high levels at the start were actually the peaks from epidemics in the early 20th century.

    We now know pretty much what happens because of the groups that refuse vaccination and what happens when they get a single infection and it becomes an epidemic.

    • If you have a close look at the graphs used by anti-vaccinationists you’ll note that they use mortality rates rather than notification rates. It’s not like we got better at keeping people alive as the 20th Century progressed. They know that this is a fraudulent tactic, but, they don’t care. For others watching, who have not heard of this tactic, this is a really good post on this deceitful anti-vaccine argument:
      http://vaccinateyourchildren.wordpress.com/graphs-and-data/

      • Sue says:

        It’s notable that they never post graphs of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (HiB) disease incidence, since it has all but disappeared in Australian children since mass vaccination began in the 1980’s. Any difference in community nutrition and sanitation since the ’80’s? Nope, it;s just the vax.

  5. Angus says:

    Claims his account was hacked now…

  6. Legal Team for Dr Koe Davidson says:

    For the information of the owners, administrators, publisher and public commentators of reasonablehank.com.
    The chiropractor involved had his facebook account hacked at some point of the New Year 2013/2014, and has had someone pose as him using his facebook account regarding the Channel 9 conversation on Measles.
    Since raised to his attention, facebook security settings and passwords have been reset. And all known/referenced offensive material has been removed.
    The chiropractor involved had no idea of the conversation until notified today
    The chiropractor may have previously held private views on vaccination, but as mandated by the CRB communique on the 8th Aug 2013 (http://goo.gl/q9GBdn) he has, and remains 100% compliant with this edict. Any further commentary by the public or by the owner, publishers or administrators of this web page will be seen as slander, and appropriate legal action will be brought upon those responsible.

    • I can’t find you online Mr Strickland. Please direct me to your website, place of business.

      • SM says:

        Agreed Hank, we need the lawyers’ details.

        Chiros are now realising that even though they may be rabid anti-vaxers in the deepest darkest corners of their vacant quack brains, they can no longer communicate that belief to the public in any way, shape or form.

        • This chiro cracks me up says:

          The lawyers account was hacked maybe?

          He didn’t really mean to say fair use reporting on completely verifiable truths is slander.

          Also I am sure if Koe doesn’t hold the views expressed above he would be completely willing to say so on his professional page.

          How many lawyers does it take to make a legal team now? Maybe it is homeopathic lawyering?

          • This chiro cracks me up says:

            Getting libel and slander confused.

            Much like chiropractors getting subluxation and muscular spasm confused?

        • the King of England and the defense team for the Green Bay packers says:

          I’m Brian and so is my wife

    • Andy says:

      I’m not a lawyer but I think a web page would be libel, not slander. And all future commentary can surely not be deemed to be defamatory since such commentary may include a heartfelt apology or detailed correction and retraction. But like I said, I’m not a lawyer so maybe, in real life, just like on Facecebook, even polite and supportive commentary can be treated as an infraction.

    • Dan Buzzard says:

      Would Koe Davidson be willing to sign a Statutory Declaration confirming that his accounts were hacked? With hacking being such a common excuse amongst miscreants we need a little more to go on than a blog comment.

    • Nilbeliever says:

      Sorry, there seems to be some confusion from the “legal team”. If there is any defamatory material, wouldn’t any cause of action be against the alleged hacker (the originator), not against merely discussing what is/was publicly displayed on the social media feed purporting to be the chiro’s? See: http://m.minterellison.com/publications/the-challenge-of-anonymous-users-of-social-networking-sites-pu201209/

      “Depending on the nature of the comments that the impersonator publishes, causes of action such as defamation, passing off, breach of trademark, misleading or deceptive conduct, injurious falsehood, or breach of section 474.17 of the Criminal Code may be available.”

      As an aside, the chiro’s twitter account also appears to have been completely taken down. Was this also “hacked”, by chance?

  7. Stephen says:

    Hank,

    Readers of your blog are in a difficult position. Someone(s) apparently called “…Legal Team for Dr Koe Davidson” just wrote “Any further commentary by the public … will be seen as slander…” and yet I can’t find any lawyer or lawyers in Australia called ” “Legal Team for Dr Koe Davidson”. How are the public supposed to contact them for any clarifications?

  8. Amy says:

    I don’t understand- he claims his page was hijacked in the last 36 hours, yet the testimonials and the anti-vax shares are months/years old? What on earth could have happened? Perhaps someone hijacks his page on a regular basis?

    • Andy says:

      It’s a strange troll who hacks the page of an alleged anti-vaxxer then pretends to be an anti-vaxxer, making the owner of the page look like an anti-vaxxer by posting the same sort of anti-vax messages the page owner used to post before being told not to post anti-vax messages.

      But, then again, the internet is full of strange people so this isn’t really that surprising. Still, I suspect this sort of hacking is a serious offence and I hope the matter has been reported to the authorities by Dr Davidson’s (chiro.) legal team so AHPRA and the CBA/CRB can properly investigate the incident and the real culprit can be outed and brought to justice.

  9. Sue says:

    So, let’s see if I understand. The post claiming to be ”Legal Team for Dr (sic) Koe Davidson” is alleging that some unknown person assumed the identity of Koe Davidson and posted anti-vaccination comments on a thread about measles on the Nine News site? What conceivable motivation would this alleged ”hacker” (impersonator) have to do that?

    And how would this impersonation on that thread explain all those months-old anti-vax posts going back to May and June?

    Legal team? I think a team of detectives may be required. Is Poirot free?

    • Andy says:

      No, but Clouseau might be all that’s needed.

    • Annette says:

      Yes Sue,
      Even funnier the “hacker” didn’t like a few comments directed to him once it was discovered that the “profile” was indeed a Chiro. So what did the “hacker” do ( bearing in mind the real Koe was on the phone or asleep at this stage apparently ) he blocked a few us on the Channel 9 site.
      Why would a “hacker” bother!

  10. Dr Coe’s account was allegedly hacked, so any further comment on his longstanding anti vaxx marketing propaganda is ‘slander’?

    Pull the other one, duckie.

  11. When you tweeted about this, I had assumed you had received a letter. Now I see what you have is a cease and desist letter as a blog comment, I am 99.9% certain this is merely a dodgy scare tactic from either Mr Davidson’s sock puppet or some friend of his. Lawyers will always use snail mail at the the very least. Tell them to blow it out their arse and if that’s a problem, perhaps one of Mr Davidson’s manipulations will straighten their bowels out…

  12. Hey ‘Legal Team for (not a medical) Dr Koe Davison’:
    Nice try, but you seriously need to learn to speak legal speak. It’s a tad different to what you hear in the TV shows. A legal definitions dictionary wouldn’t go astray, either.
    And seriously? Hacked? Is that the best one can come up with?

    Keep rattling the chiro cage, Hank. These so called health professionals need to realise that registration come with responsibilities and obligations. It’s no longer open slather like it was before chiros were a registered health profession and they are accountable. Now, to convince AHPRA of that…

  13. Ken McLeod says:

    In all my 65 years, the post from ‘Legal Team for Dr Koe Davidson’ was the most stupid attempt at a legal threat I have ever seen. There are so many holes in it that I couldn’t stop laughing.

    So, just in case it was made by a real lawyer acting for (not-a-doctor) Koe Davidson, let me make an offer. You, Mr or Ms ‘Legal Team for Dr Koe Davidson’, are welcome to write and post a real solicitor’s letter to Reasonable Hank to my Post Office box and I will pass it on. Until I receive the solicitor’s letter to Reasonable Hank, I shall regard the post above as mind-boggingly stupid, and worthy of the contempt it has created in the community, and the most transparent attempt at quashing criticism of a real crank ever.

    PO Box 51
    Moruya NSW 2537

  14. Christine Bayne says:

    Hank, keep that IP address the ‘legal threat’ was sent from. I have a feeling AHPRA will like to know 😉
    Mr (not-a-doctor) Davidson: dude, you are hilarious. I’d respect you taking a stand for what you believe in (whether that belief is right or wrong) but the absurd and ridiculous “I was hacked!” routine is what I’d expect from a child…. “dolly did it!” And you didn’t even get the dates right; you have antivax posts going back to 2011. Dude, put away your keyboard 🙂

  15. Andy says:

    “Professional” FB page gone? Or me and FB not agreeing on how the internet should work?

    • No, it went this morning, after I asked for the third time that Davidson provide the place of business and contact details of the mysterious Steve Strickland Lawyer, who sent the legal threat.

  16. @advodiaboli says:

    Thanks again Hank.

    No wonder he’s posturing about having legal representation apropos a “hacked” Facebook account.

    His claim of 81% pertussis notifications having been up to date with pertussis vaccines is wonderfully selective and seems purposefully ignorant. He cites an American study which includes:

    “The rate of positive tests was low for ages zero to six, and increased in preadolescents, peaking at age 12. Vaccination rates of PCR positive preadolescents were approximately equal to that of controls. Vaccine Effectiveness was 41%, 24%, 79%, for ages 2-7, 8-12, 13-18, respectively.”

    The reasons we see high notification in vaccinated populations is because vaccination rates (in Australia) are relatively high. The vaccine isn’t a magic shield, but does ensure a.) less infection with b.) much less potential for harm.

    He happens to goad readers with: “Still trust vaccines?” The same paper he’s linked to offers in “Conclusions”:

    “Our data suggests that the current schedule of acellular pertussis vaccine doses is insufficient to prevent outbreaks of pertussis. We noted a markedly increased rate of disease from age 8 through 12, proportionate to the interval since the last scheduled vaccine. Stable rates of testing ruled out selection bias. The possibility of earlier or more numerous booster doses of acellular pertussis vaccine either as part of routine immunization or for outbreak control should be entertained.”

    Aha. “…proportionate to the interval since the last scheduled vaccine”.
    “The possibility of earlier or more numerous booster doses of acellular pertussis vaccine either as part of routine immunization or for outbreak control should be entertained.”

    In short the paper is a firm endorsement for the pertussis vaccine.

    The problem – ironically – is that parents of unvaccinated USA children are four times more likely than those of vaccinated kids to send them to a chiropractor.

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X11019293

    http://wp.me/p1BW0J-1f9

  17. Stephen says:

    Nice piece of bullsh*t-untangling Mr Devil’s Adv.

    Cheers

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