Ex-CAA president Simon Floreani sneaked into hospital to adjust spinal patient

In June and July 2000, chiropractor Simon Floreani sneaked into a [edit: we believe it to be The Austin Hospital Melbourne] hospital, in Victoria, to adjust a severe spinal injury patient.

Floreani, who is best known on this blog – along with his wife Jennifer Barham Floreani – for his anti-vaccination activism – for which he had previously been sanctioned by the Chiropractic Board of Australia – was president of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia until 2011. The Floreanis are/were also  members of the disgraced anti-vaccination pressure group, the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network.

Another CAA president-elect, Helen Alevaki, lost her (successful) bid for the CAA presidency in 2015, due to sneaking into hospitals. Six other chiropractors were also sanctioned by the Chiropractic Board of Australia.

Floreani is described by a friend and former colleague –  on February 26 2015 – sneaking into the hospital, “under the guise of Josh’s snowboard coach…adjusting Josh (not near the injury) within 7 days of his accident, as soon as he was out of the ICU”:

I want to give a shout out to our friend, and chiropractor Simon Floreani, Vitality Group – H’s PlaceVitality and his life partner Jenny…Josh and I had worked with Simon and Jenny from 1998, they helped Josh recover from the various injuries he collected through his passion for action sports, but nothing prepared any of us for the accident on the 25th June 2000.
Simon and Jenny stepped up, gave us hope where no hope was given by Josh’s medical team. Simon under the guise of Josh’s snowboard coach was adjusting Josh (not near the injury) within 7 days of his accident, as soon as he was out of the ICU – Our goal in those early days was the keep the energy flowing through Josh’s body, together we learned so much about the importance of energy flow, maintaining chi, aligning chakras…the power of meditation/ visualization… In those crazy early days, Simon was mentored through some of the early visionary work by my friend, a physic healer who we call Paula, she would meditate, be given answers, we would meet Simon for coffee, she tell Simon her message,and Simon would say why not???
Yesterday I had my regular adjustment with Simon, over lunch we reflected on our amazing journey, we know that what we stumbled on nearly 15 years ago the medical profession are still to work out…We learned categorically the power of the body to heal itself with the correct support, diet, attitude. Simon and Jenny are “family” to us, they have both showed their dedication to their profession and to their patients…We love you both all that you do – and I know that the work Simon and Josh have done together is groundbreaking in healing and vision… and yet again I say, thank God we didn’t listen to Josh Wood‘s doctors…Doctors have no idea about healing they are excellent at mending!

Floreani 36 June July 2000 sneaking into hospital to adjust spinal patient

Floreani’s friend also states that Floreani drew the curtains to practice his adjustment on the spinal patient:

…from the first week Simon was behind closed curtains ensuring Josh’s body was at least in alignment

Floreani 37 June July 2000 sneaking into hospital to adjust

In another post, on December 8 2015, Floreani’s ex-colleague repeated her earlier claims that Floreani had sneaked into a hospital room:

Josh had been under our chiropractor Simon Floreani for 2 years before his accident, it made sense that he be involved in Josh’s recovery. We brought Simon into Josh’s room, Simon worked on Josh for hours every week, (not adjusting anywhere near the injury)..

Floreani 38 sneaking into hospital 2

New Zealand College of Chiropractic lecturer, Sheridan Kay, also approved of Floreani’s breaches,in the comments:

Hats off to Simon Floreani for his commitment and belief in the power of the body to heal.

Floreani 39 sneaking into hospital 2 Sheridan Kay

Given the recent Chiropractic Board of Australia press release regarding the misbehaviour and unprofessional conduct of many chiropractors, it will be interesting to see what happens with serial offender, Floreani. This is yet another embarrassment for Australian chiropractic, caused by one of its leading lights.

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Update

This 2014 post shows again that Floreani was assuming a fake identity to sneak into The Austin Hospital to adjust a spinal  patient:

Floreani 41 Warrior Momz May 6 2014 snowbaord coach sneaked in to hospital

This 2011 post includes even more damning evidence of Floreani’s activities. This blog post was published in April 2011, meaning Floreani would have been the president of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia at the time of publication:

Smugglers ward

From the time of arrival at the hospital, prior to the operation that restructured Josh’s neck, an unlikely crack team of therapists were smuggled in daily. They assumed the identities of team coach, (aka chiropractor Simon Floreani), Simon’s assistant (aka friend of Josh), “sister in law” (aka Zara – spiritual guide and masseuse) and Kay’s “sister” (aka spiritual healer).

And now for something completely different

Today I am going to focus on how chiropractor Simon Floreani contributed to Josh’s healing and his impressions of what happened.

“Josh was my first experience of a significant spinal cord injury. Chiropractors are usually not allowed in spinal units because they think we will do something silly like manipulate a broken spine. Of course there is no way we would we do that.

“Chiropractors generally see people who can walk into our practice and explain what’s going on. It was quite an experience to have Kay sobbing at my clinic saying my child has broken his neck and has been told he will never walk again and you were the first person I could think of to help.

“A chiropractor takes a holistic view and where possible works to remove blockages to enable the body to have the best chance of healing.

“In this case I needed to understand how much of Josh’s spinal cord was still alive and determine how to enhance that and reduce the shock and trauma so it didn’t continue to shut down. With that in mind I employed mechanisms to keep the brain aware of its environment in a way that would not overwhelm it.

“Generally, when people are immobilised they are not touched because the body is so vulnerable. The peripheral nervous system – fingers and toes, were the place to begin because they occupy a lot of real estate on the surface of the brain. Although they were a long way away from the injury they gave a lot of nourishment and attention to the brain in a low amplitude way. I suggested that anyone visiting work on massaging Josh’s hands and feet.

“One left field experience was receiving guidance from a psychic. She described procedures to me and when they made sense from a functional neurology perspective, I would apply them. She would explain things such as where the brain was blocked, how it was blocked, what we could do to unblock it. This involved moving joints in certain directions that fired neurological pathways.

“Often I would think, goodness, I would never have thought of that. It was all practiced within safe realms based on my clinical knowledge and experience, and it worked.

“There is plenty of literature around now that shows that the brain does not waste real estate; that it can reprogram itself and change. Medicine takes the attitude that we should accept the worse and everything else is a bonus. It is a crisis management focus that provides acute care medicine, where the goal is to keep the person alive and stabilise the injury. What we should be saying is expect the best and we will do our best to remove all the blocks in between.

“In Josh’s case I think that his brain has re-routed itself. Rationally speaking, someone with 5% spinal cord function who can walk sounds ridiculous. It is ostensibly tethered. There would only be a tiny wisp of electricity flowing through the area, yet from a clinical perspective Josh now has about 95% function.

“The fact that Josh walks, rides a motor bike, snowboards and drives a car, all of which are highly coordinated functions, would not be plausible unless his body had re-routed the neurology.

“One of the most extraordinary things for me in this process was to see the power of belief, passion and vision of Kay and Josh. They set their own parameters regardless of any other authority and that became their truth. Their determination has been inspirational.

“This challenged my perceptions and the way I pursue my chiropractic practice and indeed my daily life. I have more faith now in the fact that the body can heal itself. So often we impose our beliefs and limitations regarding how we see the world.

“Once you remove the limitations miracles can happen. Your passion and vision will determine the outcomes; not tests and procedures or comparisons to others. What you believe and conceive is what you will achieve.

“Medicine could learn from understanding the capacity of the body rather than trying to control it. It needs to recognise that the body does the healing and we are the servants of that body,” says Simon.

Floreani 40 smugglers ward post

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11 Responses to Ex-CAA president Simon Floreani sneaked into hospital to adjust spinal patient

  1. Craig Payne says:

    That should be more than enough for the Chiropractic Board to de-register him. Time for the Board to step up and show they are serious in light of all the noise they have been making lately.

  2. GiJoel says:

    Sadly I think they’ll just tut-tut him, and give him a stern warning.

  3. Lisa C says:

    The most disturbing thing…everything is from the perspective of the patient’s mother. There is no mention of whether or not the patient was conscious, lucid and able to give or withhold informed consent to this insanity. I pray he was. If not…is there a case for this idiot to be tried for assault?

  4. Craig Payne says:

    Has any one actually referred this to the Chiropractic Board? Has a complaint been made?

  5. Hels says:

    Interesting that no credit is given to the reconstructive surgery or the hours of occupational therapy the hospital would have been providing. No. It was all the sneaky chiro’s work that led to the miraculous recovery.

  6. Pingback: Anti-vaccine chiropractors 70 – Paul Calladine | reasonable hank

  7. Shaz says:

    So he had incomplete paralysis. That’s great luck for him, nothing to do with the chiro. With serious spinal injuries, there is no way of knowing if there will be any recovery for months – at least. Many people with paralysis do regain some function over time, but many don’t. Every injury is different. Recovery is often attributed to whatever treatment was being used, but it’s pure pot luck. I know a quadriplegic who can walk (with a stick) and drive an automatic car. I knew another who regained enough upper limb function to use a manual wheelchair and drive with hand controls.

    Also, it’s likely the hospital would have provided extensive rehab, not just washed their hands of him as soon as he was recovered from the surgery.

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