title: Deaths after chiropractic: a review of published cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to summarise all cases in which chiropractic spinal manipulation was followed by death.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a systematic review of case reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature searches in four electronic databases with no restrictions of time or language.
  
  
  METHODS
  Death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty six fatalities were published in the medical literature and many more might have remained unpublished. The alleged pathology usually was a vascular accident involving the dissection of a vertebral artery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Numerous deaths have occurred after chiropractic manipulations. The risks of this treatment by far outweigh its benefit.
authors.affiliation: Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. Edzard.Ernst@pms.ac.uk
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ernst
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D026882:Manipulation, Chiropractic / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D008875:Middle Aged