Florida chiropractor defends signing school mask exemption forms the school board won’t accept

VENICE, Fla. (WWSB/Gray News) – A school district in Florida announced it would no longer accept mask opt-out forms signed by any chiropractor, according to ABC7.

The decision comes after chiropractor Dr. Dan Busch signed over 100 medical exemptions for students Monday. Some are calling Busch a hero, while others say he overstepped his area of expertise.

“Every evaluation that I performed was very specific and I performed them in my scope of practice,” Busch said. “I had to stay very specific to the diagnoses that were in my wheelhouse, there are plenty that weren’t.”

Busch emphasized to ABC7 he is not trying to do anything that’s “shady, irrefutable or unethical.”

The chiropractor says he turned away a number of people but also helped many people in need of mask relief.

“What was so touching is that how many people actually broke down crying because they felt so helpless, and it hit me to have that opportunity to allow the parents to have a choice,” Busch said.

The Sarasota County School District will now only accept an updated medical exemption form signed by licensed medical doctors, osteopathic physicians or advanced registered nurse practitioners.

“We would hope that everybody would be ethical and do what’s necessary for the betterment of our community and our students,” said Craig Maniglia, director of communications for the Sarasota County School District.

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