Corte Madera chiropractor ordered to pay 2 patients more than $7,000

Published: 2009-04-11 21:02:06
Author: Richard Halstead, Contra Costa Times, February 28, 2009

Donald Harte, a Corte Madera chiropractor, has been ordered to pay two of his former patients a total of more than $7,000 after they took him to small claims court alleging he used false advertising and scare tactics.

Commissioner Harvey Goldfine, who presided over the small claims proceeding in Marin County Superior court on Jan. 30, took several weeks to weigh the evidence before issuing his decision on Feb. 19.

"I think he was very clear," Gertrude West, one of the patients, said of Goldfine's decision.

West, 76, of Larkspur said Harte lured her into his practice with false advertising, used scare tactics to get her to sign a long-term contract and refused to refund her money when her condition failed to improve.

The other former patient, Victoria Pollock-Grasso of Tiburon, objected to Harte charging her a $559 administrative fee when she decided to stop receiving adjustments from him. Grasso said she stopped seeing Harte because an orthopedist she went to for a second opinion informed her she had degenerative disc disease in her cervical spine and that Harte's manipulation of her neck could cause her to have a stroke.

Harte could not be reached for comment on the court's decision. He has 30 days in which to request that the case be heard again by a different judicial officer.

West said that at Harte's urging she prepaid for 100 chiropractic visits in hopes of easing the pain in her arthritic knees. A surgical partial replacement of one knee in 2005 had not improved her condition.

West said she was drawn to Harte by one of his printed ads. In the ad, Harte stated that patients had come to him with a long list of symptoms: "Insomnia, anxiety, migraines, depression, fibromyalgia, hormonal issues, heart conditions, arthritis, GERD, digestive problems, low thyroid, dizziness, asthma, ADD, rotator cuff, urinary problems, carpal tunnel, sinus problems, knee and hip pain, even bone on bone - just to name a few."

The California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which regulates chiropractors in California, notified Harte in 2004 that a similar ad violated state regulations and ordered him to stop using it.

Harte responded by launching a counterattack against the board's enforcement officers, asserting the board was persecuting him and other "straight" chiropractors who adhere to the beliefs of chiropractic founder Daniel David Palmer.

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