The B.C. chiropractic career of a Vernon man is over.
The College of Chiropractors of B.C., in a hearing slated for Monday, July 31, will permanently cancel Murray Stephen Kievit’s registration.
Under section 37.1 of the Health Professions Act, the Inquiry Committee made a Consent Order against Kievit further to a complaint alleging inappropriate touching in the course of treatment.
Kievit denied the allegations in the complaint.
He was charged in January 2023 with two counts of sexual assault against the same complainant following incidents alleged to have occurred on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9, 2021. The allegations have not been proven in court. A three-day trial on the charges will begin Jan. 15, 2024.
The college will also require an undertaking that Kievit not engage in any further practice of health care, and he must pay $1,000 in costs.
Kievit had been practising in Vernon at the White House Wellness Centre, which, according to its website, he founded in 2006. He graduated from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in 1992 and currently owns the White House Wellness Centre on 27th Street.
Kievit does have past disciplinary actions on his record, resulting in suspensions and fines from the college, and he was found not guilty of sexual assault in 2000 following a trial.
According to the college, in August 2009, Kievit admitted to failing to obtain consent from a patient before placing his hands in the front of her pants and touching the area of the pubic bone.
Kievit was reprimanded by the college, suspended for three months and required to have a chaperone present for two years when treating female patients “involving sexually sensitive areas.” He also had to attend a course on gender sensitivity, boundary issues and communication, and write an apology letter to the complainant.
Kievit was ordered to pay costs of $4,904 for the incident.
In August 2000, it was found that Kievit did not meet care standards pertaining to communication, note-taking, treatment techniques and respect for patient privacy, again in relation to treating a patient’s pubic area, which resulted in “unintentional violations of their sexual integrity,” a college disciplinary notice states.
The college ordered him to stop treating pubic areas until he had provided a letter confirming his qualification to do so, “to communicate his treatment plan fully to all female patients so there could be no misunderstanding as to the nature and purpose of the treatment,” and to maximize patient privacy and minimize contact with patients’ breasts or genitals.
He also had to submit to an office inspection within two years to confirm compliance, and had to write an apology letter to each of the complainants. The disciplinary notice does not say exactly how many complainants there were in this case.
Kievit was ordered to pay a fine of $4,000 and costs of $15,000.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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