In the middle to late 19th century, physicians were not well respected. Many people did not trust physicians or their medications, placing them in the realm of mysticism and quackery.
Scientists, however, were very trusted. Scientists were best known for their white coats and their scientific methods.
Physicians soon after adopted the white coat as a way to look more scientific, adding the stethoscope around the neck for added flare (trust) later. They felt this boosted their image and would help separate them from the likes of occultists and “unscientific” healers.
Now, the white coat has garnered its own ceremony, first originated in 1989. The white coat ceremony is adopted by most medical, dental, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, podiatry, optometry, and yes, chiropractic schools. Parker College adopted this ceremony for students entering the chiropractic program while I was nearing the end of my time there. This ceremony has also garnered some criticism in the past decade, due to it establishing a sense of entitlement to authority that comes with a physician wearing a white coat.
Another criticism of the white coat is its apparent creation of a health problem in patients known as white coat hypertension (WCH) or white coat syndrome. This is a condition in which the patient exhibits high blood pressure in the presence of a doctor, thought not at home.
Chiropractic and the White Coat
In 1907, Dr. Shegataro Morikubo was taken to court by osteopaths claiming he was practicing osteopathy without a license. Tom Morris, Morikubo’s attorney, proved that his client was practicing a form of health care much different from osteopathy (nervous system vs circulatory system, short lever vs long lever adjusting, etc.).
Because of that early trial, chiropractic has always been able to claim it is a science, philosophy, and art vastly different from any healing method out there.
With that in mind, does a white coat, a garment representing the medical profession, belong in chiropractic?
Personally, I could not stand wearing the white coat in the Parker clinic. I felt as silly as the guy on the left looks. I did not feel it represented chiropractic properly. I felt like it catered to a medical mindset that really has no place in chiropractic. The two are so vastly different, yet one wants to be like the other.
Several of my fellow graduating upper cervical buddies agreed with me about this.
So, we burned our white coats in my fireplace as part of our very own “white coat ceremony.”
Yes, I have seen the pictures of B.J. Palmer, the developer of chiropractic, wearing a white coat at various times. It still doesn’t change how I feel about it.
What are your thoughts on this?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
The chiropractic colleges have to keep up the sales pitch to the students. They are selling a dream, the dream of a successful doctor to the students. It takes only a short time out of school for many to realize how they got ripped off for hundreds of thousands of dollars by the chiropractic college for classes that they didn’t need for practice, but only fulfill a CCE requirement. On top of this they don’t give the students the classes he or she needs to make it in the real world of practice. I don’t wear a white coat in my office, I don’t know where my stethoscope is, that is medical. I am a chiropractor and proud of it. It takes a real skill to correct an atlas subluxation. A good chiropractor can do something that no other health care professional can do- improve the function of the patients nervous system. That improvement will effect every aspect of the patients life, physical, mental and spiritual. Let’s create our own image.
This brought back some memories Brandon. Thanks for a good laugh this morning…we too had a bonfire with our white coats. What a glorious fire those coats make
Seriously! Those coats ignite like nobody’s business! It made our family room very smoky… January wasn’t all that thrilled about it.
A white coat on a chiropractor is ridiculous…. SCRUBS are even worse! If your patients bleed after you adjust them (the original purpose of a white coat and scrubs is to keep the blood off you), then you need to lighten up on your technique.
Ha ha ha! I love the comments I thought I was the only one that burned their coat after I was done. Glad to see that I am in good company. White coats aside, I still think that many Chiropractors attempt to justify their high fees in various ways when to me it appears that they are stuck in the medical mindset that as doctors there is a certain amount of prestige and status associated with it or that they are entitled to because of the title or work/education that goes into it. We know that some of the best chiropractors had less training and less prestige. My wife does a great deal of geneology research and doctors historically were not rich people. They were simply, as Patch Adams put it, “trusted and learned friend who visited and treated the sick.” Medical Doctors have lost that path and it seems that Chiropractors have been losing that path as well. We need to simplify the education, reduce overhead, and pass those savings on to the patients of the world and we as doctors can live simply as well. Or we can charge large fees, add more classes to the curriculum, and attain all of life’s extra because of our status and prestige in our communities while the masses can’t afford to see us regularly or at all. The choice is ours.
Burning my clinic jacket (and lab jacket) at the end of school was a great time. I never liked the whole “white coat” routine and have never worn one in my office. Dress to look professional, but there is no reason in my mind to wear a white coat when the experience I am creating for patients in my office is about as far from any medical experience they could possibly have.
That, and how many specialists have you seen wearing white coats? I view myself and my practice the same way.
I would never wear a white coat. Am I in gross anatomy lab? Am I going into surgery as a surgeon and I’m going to get blood all over me? Or better yet, am I a Chef in a bakery?
Chiropractors that wear a white coat should go to school to be medical docs, sorry but I feel very strong about this.
Thank You
Good stand, I’m being in practice 15 yrs. and never use a coat to practice. At school Dr. Sid mentioned the WCS and low self esteem of some colleges. I remember a DE where a company that sell pictures adds took your picture with a white coat and a stethoscope around the neck, the ad looked too medical confusing to the lay person. Eventually that was in 1990 and today the company no longer exists. As Dr. Sid and other pioneers said, “be a Chiropractor not a medipractor.” Enough said!!!