Chiropractor banned from ‘tapping’ patients’ buttocks amid investigation by professional college

A North Vancouver chiropractor has been banned from certain behaviours—including “openhanded smoothing or ‘tapping’ of the buttocks”—while his professional college investigates alleged misconduct.

The College of Complementary Health Professionals took its “extraordinary action” against Dr. Steven Weller on March 31, but a summary of the decision was not published online until this week.

According to the document, Weller is “prohibited from engaging in any non-therapeutic physical contact with patients, including social gestures such as hugging, and any openhanded smoothing or ‘tapping’ of the buttocks.”

He must also provide the college with a copy of his treatment calendar and the names and contact info of every patient treated, and he may be subject to random audits of his practice.

These conditions are in place while the college investigates a complaint made by a patient on Feb. 26, according to the college’s summary.

The patient alleged that Weller “engaged in a pattern of boundary violations and inappropriate touch during treatment,” the document reads.

Importantly, the allegation against Weller has not been proven. The limits placed on his practice are in place temporarily, during the investigation, because a panel of the college’s inquiry committee “recognized the presence of factors that satisfied it that there was a real, non-speculative risk the alleged conduct would recur,” according to the summary.

“Having weighed the different options and the circumstances of this case, the panel concluded that the above-described limits and conditions are proportionate and sufficient to protect the public during the investigation or pending a discipline hearing,” the document concludes.