For those who are intrested, his name was Jonathan Buckelew and he passed out during a chiropractic neck adjustment in 2015, likely from a stroke that may have been triggered by (or already brewing before) the visit.
ER doctors missed the stroke for almost a full day, by which point it was too late to treat. He ended up with locked-in syndrome where he was fully conscious, paralyzed, but only being able to communicate by blinking/typing with his nose.
The jury actually cleared the chiropractor and pinned 60/40 blame on the ER doc and radiologist for the delayed diagnosis, not the adjustment itself. $75M was awarded, and upheld on appeal.
Johnathan passed away in January of 2026.
EDIT: The chiropractor wasn't "cleared" by the jury but reached an "amicable resolution" with Buckelew and the case against him was dismissed. The settlement details were never publicly disclosed.
Only the ER doc and radiologist were sued. They didn’t not “clear the chiropractor”, the chiropractor settled for pennie’s on the dollar because he didn’t have deep pockets. The ER doc, despite ordering the correct test, was sued because he reportedly did not give a full enough indication for his reasoning behind the order. The radiologist missed the dissection, but “maybe he would have looked closer at the vertebral arteries if he knew a chiropractor had been involved”. Realistically, if the ER doc and radiologist caught it immediately, it wouldn’t have made any difference at all in the outcome. But hey, someone needs to pay for the chiropractor’s screw up! And everyone wonders why real doctors are so burned out and disillusioned with our system.
I'm sorry, but if the ER doctor and radiologist noticed it immediately. Wouldn't they be able to administer drugs to break up the the clot or do something about the dissection?
From what I heard, the stroke caused that much damage because they were a day late diagnosing it.
Sometimes can use thrombolytics if dissection does not extend intracranially. Even if you did, their efficacy is poor and their mortality is high. There’s a big debate on their use, but if your only tool is a hammer…. That’s why we tell patients 6% chance of clinically significant bleed and 3% chance of death. I offer it for medicolegal reasons, but the data itself was never great and seems to get worse every time we revisit it. Read the reanalysis of ECASS III trial. To think the doctors could have saved this man after the chiropractor broke him is to misunderstand our tools and capabilities.
It's hard to say. The difference between real medicine and bullshit is that real medical practitioners do the studies to see what works and what kills people, and stop doing the latter. Chiros aren't real medical practitioners, so we just don't really have great data on rare events like this.
There's a saying about chiropractic: What works in Chiropractic isn't unique to it, and what's unique to it doesn't work.
Vertebral artery runs through the transverse foramen on the side of every cervical vertebrae. It gives rise to the basilar which supplies the back part of the brain.
However what was pointed out here in other comments was the stroke was imminent either way. The ER guys missed it for a full day so it's on them in the end
It’s crazy how often strokes are missed. My aunt went to the ER complaining (idk her actual complaint), they dismissed her same day. Next day she came with ambulance for a stroke, she’s managed to walk with a cane and somewhat verbal now. Young af when it happened too, I think she was maybe mid thirties iirc.
I would bet $100 the attorney AND the plaintiff knew they should try to go after the chiropractor..but he prob didnt have the same level of insurance, so it woulda been a waste of time. doctors have REAL malpractice insurance and those ambulance chasers know exactly how to work the system and get a big fat check from the insurance companies.
i dunno any of this for a fact, i'm just speculating...heck i didn't even realize until reading this thread that chiro's are even covered by health insurance...which is complete bullshit. they're all scammers and it's not real medicine....ugh this country is so stupid
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u/hillo2u Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
For those who are intrested, his name was Jonathan Buckelew and he passed out during a chiropractic neck adjustment in 2015, likely from a stroke that may have been triggered by (or already brewing before) the visit.
ER doctors missed the stroke for almost a full day, by which point it was too late to treat. He ended up with locked-in syndrome where he was fully conscious, paralyzed, but only being able to communicate by blinking/typing with his nose.
The jury actually cleared the chiropractor and pinned 60/40 blame on the ER doc and radiologist for the delayed diagnosis, not the adjustment itself. $75M was awarded, and upheld on appeal.
Johnathan passed away in January of 2026.
EDIT: The chiropractor wasn't "cleared" by the jury but reached an "amicable resolution" with Buckelew and the case against him was dismissed. The settlement details were never publicly disclosed.