Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) By this
section, the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners is identifying for its
licensees conduct that it shall deem to be violative of law.
(b) As used in this section, the following
terms have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise:
1. "Licensee" means any person licensed to
engage in the practice of chiropractic as regulated by the State Board of
Chiropractic Examiners.
2.
"Patient" means any person who is the recipient of a professional service
rendered by a licensee for the purposes of diagnosis, care or a consultation
relating to chiropractic care. "Patient" for purposes of this section also
means a person who is the subject of professional examination even if the
purpose of that examination is unrelated to care.
3. "Patient-chiropractor relationship" means
an association between a chiropractor and patient wherein the licensee owes a
continuing duty to the patient to be available to render professional services
consistent with his or her chiropractic training and experience. The
performance of any professional chiropractic service includes, but is not
limited to, any consultation, examination, and care provided by a licensee in
furtherance of chiropractic care or consultation.
4. "Sexual contact" means the knowing
touching of a person's body directly or through clothing, where the
circumstances surrounding the touching would be construed by a reasonable
person to be motivated by the licensee's own prurient interest or for sexual
arousal or gratification. "Sexual contact" includes, but is not limited to, the
imposition of a part of the licensee's body upon a part of the patient's body,
sexual penetration, or the insertion or imposition of any object or any part of
a licensee or patient's body into or near the genital, anal or other opening of
the other person's body. "Sexual contact" does not include the touching of a
patient's body which is necessary during the performance of a generally
accepted and recognized chiropractic technique.
5. "Sexual harassment" means solicitation of
any sexual act, physical advances, or verbal or nonverbal conduct that is
sexual in nature, and which occurs in connection with a licensee's activities
or role as a provider of chiropractic services, and that either: is unwelcome,
offensive to a reasonable person, or creates a hostile workplace environment,
and the licensee knows, should know, or is told this; or is sufficiently severe
or intense to be abusive to a reasonable person in that context. "Sexual
harassment" may consist of a single extreme or severe act or of multiple acts
and may include, but is not limited to, conduct of a licensee with a patient,
co-worker, employee, student or supervisee whether or not such individual is in
a subordinate position to the licensee.
6. "Spouse" means the husband, wife or
fiancee of the licensee or an individual involved in a long-term committed
relationship with the licensee.
i. For
purposes of this section, a long-term committed relationship means a
relationship which is at least six months in duration.
(c) A licensee shall not engage in
sexual contact with a patient with whom he or she has a patient-chiropractor
relationship. The patient-chiropractor relationship is considered ongoing for
purposes of this section, unless:
1.
Professional services are terminated by written notice to the patient via
certified mail return receipt requested and documentation in the patient
record; and
2. Three months have
elapsed since the last professional service was rendered.
(d) A licensee shall not seek or solicit
sexual contact with a patient with whom he or she has a patient-chiropractor
relationship and shall not seek or solicit sexual contact with any person in
exchange for professional services.
(e) A licensee shall not engage in any
discussion of an intimate sexual nature with a patient, unless that discussion
is related to legitimate patient needs. Such discussion shall not include
disclosure by the licensee of his or her own intimate sexual
relationships.
(f) A licensee shall
provide privacy and examination conditions which prevent the exposure of the
unclothed body of the patient unless necessary to the professional chiropractic
services being rendered.
(g) A
licensee shall not engage in sexual harassment in a professional setting while
performing in a professional capacity.
(h) A licensee shall not engage in any other
activity which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the activity
serves the licensee's personal prurient interests or is for the sexual arousal,
or sexual gratification of the licensee or patient or which constitutes an act
of sexual abuse.
(i) Violation of
any of the prohibitions or directives set forth at (c) through (h) above shall
be deemed to constitute professional misconduct pursuant to
45:1-21(e).
(j) Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent a licensee from rendering any professional chiropractic
service to a spouse, providing that the rendering of such service is consistent
with accepted standards of chiropractic care and that the performance of
chiropractic services is not utilized to exploit the patient spouse for the
sexual arousal or sexual gratification of the licensee.
(k) It shall not be a defense to any action
under this section that:
1. The patient
solicited or consented to sexual contact with the licensee; or
2. The licensee was in love with or had
affection for the patient.
