Chiropractor Loses License After Default Law Goes After Student Loans
The state suspended the license of a Spokane chiropractor in a crackdown on professionals who don’t pay off their student loans.
Michael D. Tyrrell was one of four chiropractors the state Department of Health disciplined under a new state law on defaulting on school loans.
The punishment, announced Wednesday, marks the state’s first effort to enforce the law designed to coerce people into repaying the taxpayer-insured money they borrowed to finance their education.
Tyrrell said he is on the brink of a settlement with the federal government that could reopen Tyrrell Chiropractic Clinic at 13701 E. Sprague.
For now, he said, “I’m dead in the water.”
Tyrrell, 49, said sluggish business made it hard to repay the $50,000 he had borrowed to attend the Life Chiropractic College in Marietta, Ga.
The debt ballooned to $153,000 after 11 years of interest and penalties, he said, noting the debt became unbearable after he “broke” his back four years ago.
Tyrrell said he was making progress on resolving the debt when the state Legislature passed the new law this year that resulted in his license getting yanked.
“I don’t think it’s a fair law,” he said. “They think everybody is a high roller. There are those of us out there who are trying to make a living. I don’t live an extravagant life. … Things don’t always turn out like you want them to.”
The law, passed unanimously by state legislators, demands state agencies suspend the licenses of people who default on federally or state-insured student loans.
Potential targets of the law include real estate agents, contractors, cosmetologists, teachers, plumbers and others licensed by the state.
The state Department of Health is the first agency to enforce the law.
Tyrrell and the three others - including a Republic, Wash., chiropractor - were given 28 days to request a hearing, and to show written proof of an agreement to repay the loan.
Tyrrell was the only one to request a hearing to explain his case.
“But he didn’t provide any documentation,” said Diana Ehri, of the state Department of Health.
Ehri said it takes a long time to get to the point of suspension.
First, a bank has to default on the loan and pass the debt to the federal government. If the government also fails to collect, the default is shared with state agencies.
Anthony Zipfel was one of the four chiropractors to get suspended.
Contacted at Anderson’s Grocery in Republic, where he works, Zipfel said he couldn’t discuss the suspension.
Ehri said six more health-care professionals face possible suspensions because of delinquent student loans. She said one of the individuals is from Spokane, but wouldn’t disclose the name.
, DataTimes