Las Vegas chiropractor disciplined for having sex with student
A Las Vegas chiropractor has been disciplined for having sex with a woman who was his student and patient after seducing her by claiming they were married in past lives, according to the Chiropractic Physicians‘ Board of Nevada.
Dr. Timothy Francis will be on probation for three years, board Executive Director Julie Strandberg said Monday. He must also undergo testing regarding ethics and the law.
An Illinois woman filed the complaint after she and Francis met at a chiropractic medical conference in Chicago and eventually carried on an affair for 1-½ to 2 years, according to the chiropractic board.
The woman also has filed a civil lawsuit against Francis in California claiming sexual battery and infliction of emotional abuse, her Los Angeles attorney, David Wilzig, said. Wilzig said Francis used his position and authority to manipulate his client into having the affair.
"He‘s her teacher. He‘s her doctor," Wilzig said. "He‘s a man of very, very high repute."
Neither Francis nor his attorney, Edgar Carranza of Las Vegas, responded to messages seeking comment Monday.
Francis has practiced medicine in Nevada since 1985, and he is a renowned teacher of applied kinesiology and muscle testing. Muscle testing is used to evaluate the moving parts of patients by neurologic or resistance testing to determine specific chiropractic interventions. Applied kinesiology seeks weaknesses in specific muscles to identify imbalances throughout the body. Then therapies are used in an attempt to rebalance what has been revealed by the kinesiology tests.
According to the complaint before the chiropractic board, Francis and the woman met in January 2012 at an applied kinesiology and muscle testing seminar. The event was the first of monthly sessions to last until August. The woman, identified in the complaint as Patient T, often would serve as a model for Francis to demonstrate hands-on techniques.
"Francis and Patient T developed a rapport in which various and increasingly personal information was shared," the complaint says.
Francis diagnosed the woman as suffering from certain conditions and began a course of treatment that included supplements, homeopathics, diet, exercise and the wearing of colored glasses for periods of time.
"Francis provided Patient T with a set of the colored glasses so she could engage in the therapy he ordered," the complaint says. No explanation for why Francis recommended the glasses was included in the complaint, but such therapy has been tried to address some people with sleep issues.
In June 2012, the session was in Dallas, and Francis told the woman that the muscle testing he had conducted on himself and her showed they were compatible 99 percent compatible, the complaint says.
"Francis discussed with Patient T that they should marry, that they had shared relationships in previous lives, that the score of 99 out of 100 never happens (implying that the two were perfectly compatible), that their souls were entangled, that while muscle-testing her, he had opened her heart chakra so that soon she would experience feelings that she had not experienced before," the complaint says.
At the August session in Chicago, Francis professed his love for the woman, the complaint says, and he gave her authorized absences from her naturopathic medicine college in Chicago. Naturopathic medicine focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of illness through dedication to nature‘s healing powers.
Later, Francis alleged the woman had sexually transmitted diseases and suggested she had become infected by her boyfriend, the complaint says. Francis also informed the woman she was pregnant and urged her to take a Next Choice One Dose emergency contraceptive tablet.
The woman never tested positive for any sexually transmitted disease and learned she never had been pregnant, the complaint says.
The affair ended in October 2013.
Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.
