Vernon chiropractor charged with sexual assault

A Vernon chiropractor has been charged with sexual assault.

Dr. Murray Stephen Kievit was charged with two counts of sexual assault involving the same victim in November 2022.

It's unknown if the alleged sexual assaults took place during treatment or if the victim was a patient. Court documents show the allegations are from December 2021 two days apart from each other.

Kievet, 58, owns the White House Wellness Centre in Vernon and according to its website founded the clinic in 2006.

According to the College of Chiropractors of B.C., Kievit was first registered as a chiropractor in B.C. in 1992.

Since he's been registered, Kievit has received two disciplinary actions from the regulator.

In 2009 he failed to obtain consent from a female patient and he put his hands in the front of her pants and examined and treated her in the area of the pubic bone.

He also used a teddy bear during treatment which the College describes as "inappropriate to any intended clinical purpose" and demonstrated a lack of gender sensitivity.

Following the incident, Kievit was suspended for three months and ordered that he have a chaperone present for a two-year period when treating female patients involving sexually sensitive areas.

He was also made to write a letter of apology and pay costs of $4,900.

A decade early, in 2000, Kievit was reprimanded by the College.

"Dr. Murray Kievit admitted to failing to meet the standard of care pertaining to communication, note-taking, treatment techniques and respect for patient privacy, all in relation to the provision of treatment in the patient's pubic area that resulted in unintentional violations of their sexual integrity," a disciplinary notice from the college reads.

At the time he was ordered to stop "pubic area treatment."

The College's disciplinary notice says Kievit must "communicate his treatment plan fully to all female patients so there could be no misunderstanding as to the nature and purpose of the treatment."

The notice goes on to say Kievit must practice "in such a way as to maximize patient privacy and minimize accidental or inadvertent contact with patient's breasts or genitals."

He was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay costs of $15,000 and to write a letter of apology to each of the complainants. The notice doesn't specify precisely what took place or how many complainants were involved.

Currently, Kievit has no conditions on his licence.

The College of Chiropractors of B.C. didn't respond to questions about whether it knew Kievit had been charged or whether it would now place conditions on his licence.

Kievit did not respond to our request for comment.

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