Editor’s note: With the letter below, NCMS member Kristine Rivera, DO, a family physician in Fort Collins, responds to an opinion-editorial, “Dr. Nassar was not a doctor,” published by Virginia Heffernan in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 26, 2018. Access the op-ed here.

Dear Ms. Heffernan,

I felt the need to write after reading your Op-Ed piece in the LA Times on 1/26/18. I too, was saddened, angered and disgusted to learn of Larry Nassar’s crimes against his patients. His actions were especially agregious because he was able to perpetrate them due to his position of trust as a physician.

Larry Nassar, DO, betrayed his patients and his profession. John Wallace Wolf, DDS, betrayed his patients and his profession by violating his position of trust as a dentist. David Newman, MD, of Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York betrayed his patients and his profession by violating his position of trust as a physician.

These individuals all committed crimes, however I don’t think anyone would expect the general public to stop going to their dentist or doctor or stop going to their local emergency room if they needed care because of the actions of these few. Yet, in your piece, you essentially asked the public to view Osteopathic physicians and, specifically, Osteopathic manipulative medicine as criminals and quackery because of one individual’s actions.

I read about you after I read the Op-Ed piece. You are a very talented writer with an impressive educational background. You seem to be a thoughtful writer as well, so I was disappointed to see how carelessly you handled the topic within your piece, and seemed not to utilize your skill set to do any sort of research about the profession other than to take some quotes out of context. I understand that you are angry about his defense — his claims that he was performing medical procedures. I’m angry as well, but you missed the boat when you honed in on manipulation as evil/odd. It is the individual in your piece who is evil.

No doubt the L.A. Times has by now been inundated with many angry comments, letters and phone calls from practicing D.O.s across the country about your handling of the Osteopathic profession within the piece.

I would like you to do a bit more research. I suggest you watch the PBS documentary entitled “The Feminine Touch: The Struggle for Equality in Medicine.” It does a nice job of outlining the origins of Osteopathic Medicine and giving some accurate information about its founder, A.T. Still, MD, DO.

There are 34 schools of Osteopathic Medicine in the United States, and ALL of them teach their students about Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. There are hundreds of D.O.s across the country who perform Osteopathic Manipulative Treatments (OMT) in their clinics every day, and I am one of them. There are also many Physical Therapists, Massage Therapists, and Lymphedema Therapists who use techniques that are derived from Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment techniques.

There are at least two Physical Therapists in my community who focus solely on pelvic floor problems for females. Much of the therapy they provide involves intra-vaginal techniques. They are legitimate techniques. There are often waiting lists for patients to get into these P.T.s. When these patients are seen, the therapist makes a diagnosis, documents their therapies in the patient’s chart, and bills insurance for the procedures performed — unlike the subject of your Op-Ed.

I am a wife, a mother of two beautiful girls, a daughter, a sister, a breast cancer survivor, and a well respected Family physician in my community. Thanks to your article, I have now been lumped in with the likes of Larry Nassar because I am a D.O. who does manipulative treatments on some of her patients.

I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. I have to believe that you are just so incensed by these crimes that you did not hold yourself to your normal standards. From one professional woman to another, I have to say: You are better than this. Your piece was inaccurate and sloppy and not worthy of your name. You need to make this right.

Respectfully,

Kristine M. Rivera, DO
Fort Collins, CO