In the 1930’s the Mexican Supreme Court considered chiropractic to be part of medicine. But why?
#LegalHistory
Science and art of curing diseases
In 1935 the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that in order to practice chiropractic in the State of Coahuila, a degree was required.
To arrive to this conclusion, the Court explained that chiropractic is the science and art of curing disease, without the use of drugs or medicines and only by the use of scientific manipulations and adjustments of the spine.
The Supreme Court also defined disease as the impairment of the health of the body. On the other hand, the Court understood health to be the normal state in which a living being exercises its natural functions without difficulty or pain.
Therefore, the Court concluded that chiropractic was part of medicine, since medicine is the science of preventing and curing diseases, thus chiropractic was included in it, and, therefore, within the precepts of the Coahuila Sanitary Code, which required a degree to practice this profession.
WHO definition of chiropractic
Today, the World Health Organisation (2005) defines chiropractic as:
Current Mexican legislation
Currently in Mexico there is a project to reform article 79 of the General Health Law, to include chiropractic among the professions that require a professional degree or specialisation certificates to practise it.
This bill had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies on April 30, 2021, and sent to the Senate to continue with the legislative process, which was remitted on September 2nd, 2021 to the Joint Commissions of Health and Second Legislative Studies.
Watch the following video (Spanish):
References:
Mexico. Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Federal Judicial Weekly Report. Volume XLVI, page 1149. Digital Register 334880 (Mexico). Retrieved from: https://sjf2.scjn.gob.mx/detalle/tesis/334880.
Mexico. Chamber of Deputies. LXIV LEGISLATURE RELATING TO LAWS OR DECREES. Retrieved from: http://sitl.diputados.gob.mx/LXIV_leg/dictameneslxiv_ld.php?tipot=&pert=0&init=3487.
Mexico. Senate Chamber. Senate Gazette. Retrieved from https://www.senado.gob.mx/64/gaceta_del_senado/documento/120168
World Health Organization. (2005). Guidelines on basic training and safety in chiropractic. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/104191
