Yup, folks, they did it again. The April issue of the Family Primetime monthly insert in the Antigo Daily Journal has run another plagiarized article under a chiropractor’s name. This time, it’s “Sunscreen: Should you wear it or bare it?” presumably by Stephen P. Veselak of Goldswothy Allied Health in Antigo.
This article was lifted in chunks and pieces word-for-word from a piece titled “The Suscreen Dilemma” by Jacob Schor, in “To our Health”, June, 2009 (vol.03, issue 06). Schor is a “naturopathic physician practicing in Denver” according to the web site where the article is published.
Check it out for yourself at http://www.toyourhealth.com/mpacms/tyh/article.php?id=1195
The Veselak article starts with a personal, homespun opening paragraph. Then it borrows, without attribution, from the Schor article’s paragraphs 2, 3, 5, 9, 16, and 17. The last paragraph in Veselaks’ mash-up is possibly Veselak’s own creation, since it strangely advises you to see your “medical doctor, dermatologist, or chiropractor” to have suspicious skin growths checked out.
Beg your pardon? See your chiropractor for diagnosis of skin growths? What the hell does a chiropractor know about skin lesions? By Wisconsin statutes, the licensed scope of practice for Veselak is:
“The practice of chiropractic is the application of chiropractic science in the adjustment of the spinal column, skeletal articulations and adjacent tissue which includes diagnosis and analysis to determine the existence of spinal subluxations and associated nerve energy expression and the use of procedures and instruments preparatory and complementary to treatment of the spinal column, skeletal articulations and adjacent tissue. Diagnosis and analysis may include physical examination, specimen analysis, drawing blood, blood-analysis and the use of x-ray and other instruments.”
Where do you see any dermatological expertise referenced in that? Why is Veselak, a chiropractor, lecturing on skin tags, lesions, and melanoma, topics completely outside his legal scope of practice?
And why does the Antigo Daily Journal persist in running blatantly plagiarized articles under local chiropractors’ names?
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Maybe you should give them an APA style guide with your next blog print out!
Very good and simple article, please keep it up good work, anyways i am using http://www.findplagiarism.net to check plagiarism because it’s free and good service.
Regards,
Malik
Once again, Fred isn’t going to turn down an article by any one of the collection of quack-a-doos within the ADJ distribution area. Judging from the inordinate number of Antigo chiropractors and the heavy advertising they do, I imagine Fred is glad to see them coming. Ka-ching! Ka-ching!
And once again, being a ratfink, I reported this article to Jacob Schor, ND.
What’s up with not citing sources of information? Do people who steal other people’s words think they are impressing the rest of us hoosiers?–you know, “dazzling us with their brilliance?” As if!!
I dunno…. Proper attribution of source materials is taught in high school. If it doesn’t “take” there, I’m not so sure college-level APA materials on the subject would do any good, either.
Of course, journalistic standards and ethics are perhaps, like sunscreen advisories, beyond the scope of practice for chiropractors. But you’d think they’d be essential for getting a journalism degree, wouldn’t you? This whole chiro-ADJ thing looks like a case of “you crack my back, and I’ll crack yours” nudge-nudge wink-wink put on over on the ignorant public. I’m surprised the other article writers in Family Primtetime aren’t a bit uncomfortable with the company Fred Berner is associating with them.
Well should I feel flattered or annoyed by this? I suppose if my point in writing was to provide information that will benefit as many people as possible and thereby increasing the overall ‘good’ in the world, this cutting and pasting business will have furthered my efforts.
If we judge my inner motives by my reaction to this news, I must admit that it would seem my inspiration in writing articles is less than self-less. I find, once the amusement has passed, I’m more than a bit pissed. The brunt of my annoyance seems to be on whoever it was who so readily borrowed my writing, as this individual apparently holds themselves out as a health practitioner. In my mind those who do so are or should be held to a higher level of ethical responsibility than all other professions as they ask people to entrust their health care to them.
Jacob Schor
Naturopathic Doctor
Denver, Colorado
Jacob, thank you for commenting. I would think you’d be more annoyed than flattered. Not only did Veselak blithely lift your article, he did it incompetently. He left out the parts of your article that referenced the research establishing the rationale for antioxidant protection, and then skipped the explanation for how antioxidant protection works, how to use it, and how to make your own.
Finally, where you recommended, “Talk to your doctor for more information”, Veselak re-aimed the recommendation to his own purpose with, “Consult with your medical doctor, dermatologist, or chiropractor if you are suspicious about what you see.”
Seeing a chiropractor for a consultation on possibly cancerous skin conditions seems to me as rational as going to a urologist to have your vision checked. Not that I have anything against urologists, you understand….
Veselak’s flippant disregard for evidence-based medicine shown by his treatment of the core of your article is, I’m afraid, characteristic of Antigo’s chiropractic health entertainment cabal. The mystical, magical subluxation reigns supreme, providing a spinal tap directly down to the back-pocket wallets of the community.
Like you, I believe health care practitioners should be held to a higher level of ethical responsibility than other professions. I also believe that, by and large, they honor those higher ethical standards, and accordingly deserve and enjoy the respect of the community. It’s unfortunate that we have some local failings in ethical behavior, and I appreciate your helpful comment here, substantiating the circumstances in this case.
—- Albus
Amazing, can’t believe that Fred Berner and the Antigo Daily Journal can not be sued for repeatedly stealing other author’s work??? Pretty sad that our hometown newspaper has become such a disgrace.
I’m not a lawyer, Sherry, so I can only offer a common-sense opinion on the matter. So here goes….
Plagiarism is an ethical breach. Offering someone else’s work as your own, pretending to be the author, with no accreditation to the real author, is considered bad form in all professions, but is not actually illegal.
However, copyright violation is actionable. Using someone else’s work without the author/creator’s permission, even if you accredit the source with a reference, is against the law. The injured party may indeed sue the violator. Typically, from what I’ve seen, the publisher is included in the suit, along with the violator. So, in my non-lawyer opinion, which should not be followed without the advice of an attorney, Jacob Schor has suffered damages as the result of having his work published under someone else’s name without his permission, and does indeed have an actionable case against Stephen Veselak and the Antigo Daily Journal.
The plagiarism aspect, it seems to me, would serve to strengthen the case. Typically, when such cases are resolved in favor of the plaintiff, the defendant pays the plaintiff’s legal costs for bringing the suit, along with any adjudicated penalties.
Actions have consequences. No matter what you may think about the merits and quality of the content that was stolen, the theft of intellectual property is a still crime.
Sherry, your comment about “repeatedly stealing others’ work” has got me thinking about taking a look at back issues of Family Primetime. Maybe Fred will give a stack from the ADJ archives to look through….
It seems that back issues are hard to come by. Does anybody out there have access to an archive stash of “Family Primetime” magazine inserts that I could examine?
I guess you didn’t like my response as I see it was deleted. An article I wrote was quoted by Dr. Veselak and I have no problem with not getting credit. The information is good and it was good to get the information out. I do see a trend in this blog to try to discredit chiropractic, especially when one knows so little about chiropractic education. Sad.
Dr. F, your response post was not deleted – it had not been approved yet. It has been approved and is visible now, although it is on a different post (http://antigobuzz.com/blogs/2010/03/04/blatant-plagiarism-in-the-antigo-daily-journal-by-albus/ ) Thank You.
Dr. F, note that Jacob Schor, ND, was the author of the article plagiarized by Stephen Veselak. We are not engaged in discrediting chiropractic, at least not in this discussion. The topic is an act of plagiarism by a chiropractor, on a subject which in fact has nothing to do with chiropractic.
It may, also, be a bit presumptuous of you to assume that “one knows so little about chiropractic”. You could be in for a big surprise if you pursue that line with too much confidence. I take it you are a straight (traditional) practitioner, and not a mixer?
Some of my best friends are chiropractors. A good many of my colleagues freely use my writing and I have no problem with this. All have the integrity to cite the source and give me credit. This article was different as it was published in a journal and they have rights to the article and should have been asked for permission to reprint it.
this isn’t at all about chiropractors, it is about one particular practitioner who appears to be short on ethics and hasn’t had the decency to apologize for his errors.
Jacob, it’s also about a publisher who was appraised of possible plagiarism in articles he accepted and printed without doing even the most basic source-checking. We’re also waiting for some kind of apology and improved procedures from Fred Berner at the Antigo Daily Journal. I can’t speak for the rest of the community, but I feel more than a little scammed by this situation.
Dr. F, here’s a note about chiropractic education, by a chiropractor:
http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2004/11/chiropractic-education-by-john-badanes.html
I’m thinking this linked article will not be plagiarized in the Antigo Daily Journal, but one never knows….
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