Health authorities in Indonesia have closed down a popular chiropractic chain after the death of a young patient and the disappearance overseas of the American practitioner who treated her.
The case is captivating Jakarta, where alternative medicine is big business.
The Chiropractic First chain appears respectable enough — its branches operate not from back alleys, but from the expensive real estate of Jakarta's gleaming shopping malls.
Young Jakarta woman Allya Siska Nadya went to a Chiropractic First branch in the city's southern suburbs for help with neck and back pain.
She was treated by an American practitioner, Randall Cafferty.
Within hours, her pain was much worse and her parents took her to hospital. By 6:00am the following day, she was dead.
This case has shaken Indonesia's usually steadfast faith in alternative medicine.
Chiropractic First: Indonesian authorities close down chiropractic chain after patient's death - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
