Guidelines of conduct in forensic practice

As the profession of chiropractic grows in stature within our society, the morality of each chiropractor's conduct will be increasingly examined and scrutinized by the public, the media, the government and the profession itself. Immoral conduct occurs not by just a few unscrupulous individuals, but by a host of apparently good, successful professionals who lead what appear to be exemplary private lives. Recent increasing examples of professional and corporate moral decay as reported by chiropractic state boards, in print media, etc., should spur chiropractic colleges to make determined efforts to reemphasize ethics as part of the core curriculum. Ethical judgments depend upon both the decision making process itself and the experience, intelligence and integrity of the decision maker. The College on Forensic Sciences (CFS), a subsidiary of the American Chiropractic Association's (ACA's) Council on Chiropractic Orthopedics (CCO), developed a guideline of conduct to assist forensic examiners in making decisions in their every day subspecialty practice. Guidelines provide guideposts that can be helpful in assisting forensic examiners in evaluating the circumstances they are encountering and providing possible approaches that may be taken in addressing the ethical issues involved.