ASA Adjudication on Optimum Health Centres

Ad

A magazine ad feature, for Optimum Health Centres, was headlined "The world's best-kept health secret Startling research unearthed after 80 years" and featured a photograph of a man standing beside what seemed to be some medical equipment and X-ray photographs. Text continued "Hello, my name is Dr. Michael and I am an Osteomyologist (spine specialist) ... The overwhelming majority of diseased organs can be traced back to a misaligned and deteriorated area of the spine ... Spinal misalignment can cause an interference within the nerve system (a condition known as vertebral subluxation). If left undetected, subluxation can lead to severe dysfunction and ill-health. When the body begins to experience abnormal functions like asthma, allergies, chronic pain, fatigue or lowered immunity, we must first be suspicious of some kind of nerve system interruption. The problem is that we weren't taught to think in that way. So what does everybody else do? They throw drugs into their bodies and hope for the best. Unfortunately, medication only masks the problem ... If you understand this philosophy, you too can be healthy, naturally and without drugs. If your body is not well and you dump medication into it, your body is now both sick and poisoned. Reaching for the medicine cabinet is just a bad habit. Fortunately, it is also becoming obsolete behaviour for a growing number of families ... People come to our clinic with their headaches, migraines, IBS, chronic pain, neck pain, shoulder/arm pain, whiplash from car accidents, backaches, ear infections, asthma, allergies, numbness in limbs, athletic injuries, or just a lowered state of health ... What I do is perform a specific spinal adjustment in order to remove nerve pressure and the body responds by healing itself ... I train with an elite group of doctors who spend hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds every year to stay on the cutting edge, using the latest research and the latest strategies. We specialise in care that is very ... effective ... Dr. Michael Mathews MAO ... (Dr. Michael Mathews, MAO is not a medical doctor, he is a registered Osteomylogist [sic])".

Issue

The ASA received two complaints:

1. Both complainants thought the ad misleadingly implied that "Dr. Michael" held general medical qualifications.

2. One of the complainants challenged the efficacy of the treatment for the listed ailments, particularly migraine and whiplash, which were serious medical conditions.

3. The ASA challenged whether the ad was irresponsible, because it encouraged treatment of serious medical conditions without the supervision of a doctor or suitably qualified health professional, and discouraged the use of conventional medicine and medical supervision for such conditions.

4. The ASA challenged whether the claim "Dr. Michael Mathews, MAO ... is a registered Osteomylogist [sic]" misleadingly suggested Michael Mathews was registered with a medical or statutory body.

CAP Code

Response

1., 2., 3. & 4. Optimum Health Centres (OHC) said osteomyologists used chiropractic techniques; no osteomyology techniques existed.  They asserted that Michael Mathews was a qualified Doctor of Chiropractic, registered with the Association of Osteomyologists, and was fully trained to use chiropractic techniques, most of which were well documented for treating back pain, neck pain and whiplash.  They said Michael Mathews had chosen not to register with the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) and consequentially was not allowed to advertise his services as a chiropractor; however, he was allowed and was qualified to use chiropractic techniques.  OHC argued that any chiropractor who was registered with the GCC had identical training and qualifications to Michael Mathews and used exactly the same techniques as him.  They submitted an unsigned, undated letter from a General Practitioner (GP), which stated " ... the doctors at Optimum Health Centres ... are degree status doctors of Chiropractic.  Although they practice [sic] under the registration Osteomyologist they have the equivalent and comparable training and qualifications as any other Chiropractor and are fully qualified to implement these techniques ...".

OHC said they were currently using a completely different ad which had been approved by the CAP Copy Advice team.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted a previous adjudication, published in December 2007, on a complaint about OHC's advertising, established that the use of the term "Dr" misleadingly suggested that osteomyologists were registered medical doctors.  We noted that, since that adjudication was published, OHC had added the disclaimer "(Dr. Michael Mathews, MAO is not a medical doctor, he is a registered Osteomylogist [sic])" to the end of the ad.  

We noted osteomyology was not subject to statutory regulation.  We understood that osteomyologists were therapists who had trained in osteopathy or chiropractic but were not regulated by the General Osteopathic Council or the General Chiropractic Council.  That could be a result of personal choice or could be because they did not meet the professional or training standards required by those statutory bodies or had been suspended or struck off from them.  Because there was no official requirement for osteomyologists to meet any training or professional standards and because they were unregulated, we considered they should not refer to themselves in their advertising as 'Dr' or use claims that associated them with doctors such as "I train with an elite group of doctors", even if the ad contained a disclaimer which explained that the osteomyologist was not a medical doctor.  We concluded that, although the ad did contain a disclaimer which was likely to make clear to those who read it that "Dr. Michael" did not hold general medical qualifications, the term "Dr" was likely to mislead readers about the professional status of Michael Mathews, given that osteomyology was an unregulated profession.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. & 3. Upheld

We noted the claim "People come to our clinic with their headaches, migraines, IBS, chronic pain, neck pain, shoulder/arm pain, whiplash from car accidents, backaches, ear infections, asthma, allergies, numbness in limbs, athletic injuries" had appeared in the ad which was the subject of the December 2007 adjudication.  In that case, the ASA Council decided the evidence provided by OHC did not prove that osteomyology could treat those conditions.

We noted that, since that adjudication was published, OHC had discussed revisions to the ad with the CAP Copy Advice team.  They were now relying on the argument that osteomyologists used the same techniques as chiropractors to justify that osteomyology could treat the ailments and medical conditions listed in the ad.  However, we considered OHC could not rely on that argument, firstly because it was not established that chiropractic could treat all those ailments and conditions, and secondly because they had sent no evidence to demonstrate that the training, qualification and techniques of chiropractors and osteomyologists were identical.  We further noted the letter from the GP had not been signed and dated and that alone was therefore insufficient evidence.

Moreover, we noted the CAP Code specified that ads should not offer advice on, diagnosis of or treatment for serious ailments like migraine and whiplash unless it was conducted under the supervision of a doctor or a suitably qualified health professional.  We considered that, because Michael Mathews was not a medical doctor and because osteomyology was not subject to regulation by a statutory or recognised medical or health professional body, the ad should not have referred to serious medical conditions such as migraine and whiplash and was irresponsible for doing so.

In addition, we considered that all the references to ailments were misleading, because OHC had not sent evidence to demonstrate that osteomyology was effective in treating any of them.

We also considered the claims " ... So what does everybody else do?  They throw drugs into their bodies and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, medication only masks the problem ... If you understand this philosophy, you too can be healthy, naturally and without drugs.  If your body is not well and you dump medication into it, your body is now both sick and poisoned.  Reaching for the medicine cabinet is just a bad habit.  Fortunately, it is also becoming obsolete behaviour for a growing number of families ..." irresponsibly discouraged the use of conventional medicine and medical supervision for serious medical conditions.

On point 2, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 50.1 (Health & beauty products and therapies - General).

On point 3, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Responsible advertising) and 50.3 (Health & beauty products and therapies - General).

4. Upheld

We considered the claim "Dr. Michael Mathews, MAO ... is a registered Osteomylogist [sic]" suggested Michael Mathews was registered with a statutory or recognised medical or health professional body.  We understood that Michael Mathews was registered with the Association of Osteomyologists but that organisation merely allowed osteomyologists to share their knowledge.  Because it was not a statutory or recognised medical or health professional body, we concluded that the claim was misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We told OHC to remove the claims "Dr", "I train with an elite group of doctors", People come to our clinic with their headaches, migraines, IBS, chronic pain, neck pain, shoulder/arm pain, whiplash from car accidents, backaches, ear infections, asthma, allergies, numbness in limbs, athletic injuries" and "So what does everybody else do?  They throw drugs into their bodies and hope for the best.  Unfortunately, medication only masks the problem ... If you understand this philosophy, you too can be healthy, naturally and without drugs.  If your body is not well and you dump medication into it, your body is now both sick and poisoned.  Reaching for the medicine cabinet is just a bad habit.  Fortunately, it is also becoming obsolete behaviour for a growing number of families".  We also told them to remove the claim that Michael Mathews was a "registered" osteomyologist.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)