Acupuncturist told patient her neck injury was life threatening, and only he could help her

A B.C. acupuncturist who warned a patient she might suddenly die from her neck injury and said he was the only one who could help has had his licence suspended for a month.

Among a long list of issues with his work, White Rock's Jun Hua "Davy" Zhu also told the same woman she'd have to take "special" herbs for the rest of her life, overcharged her and encouraged her to take on debt so she could continue paying for his treatment, and performed acupuncture on her dog, according to a public notice from the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of B.C.

Zhu signed a consent order with the college on Aug. 18, agreeing to an immediate 30-day suspension of his registration and to partially repay his fees for treating the patient's dog as well as his excessive treatment fees. He also has to take a class in professional ethics and a seminar in record-keeping, and has consented to random spot audits over the next three years.

According to the public notice, the college began investigating when the patient came forward to complain that Zhu had warned to put her affairs in order in case she suddenly died from her neck injury and "used scare tactics to encourage her to spend more money at his clinic."

An investigation found that he also performed vitamin B12 injection therapy, which is outside his scope of practice, failed to respond to the patient's requests for more information about her herbal prescriptions, didn't follow the safety handbook for herbal medications and failed to keep proper records, the notice says.

Zhu is one of two practitioners to be disciplined by the college in August.

The second, Cheng Ku "Steven" Huang of Chilliwack, will have to have a chaperone present for all appointments with female patients for the next one to five years after he "likely touched … two women for non-therapeutic clinical reasons," according to a second public notice.

An investigation found that Huang didn't properly drape the women's bodies to cover their breasts and genitals and didn't obtain informed consent for their treatment.

He's agreed to draft letters of apology to both women and to provide written reports to the college each month that include the names of all female patients he's seen, their contact information and the name of the chaperone who was present for their appointment.