A veteran chiropractor has been struck off for KISSING a female patient in his surgery.
Jan Blankenstein, 66, who had practised for more than 34 years, planted his lips on the base of the woman’s neck.
He said she had given him ‘a tale of woe’ and he kissed her like a parent would a child ‘to make it better’.
But the woman, who is in her 60s, said she was disturbed and distressed by the kiss which left her feeling dirty.
The General Chiropractic Council ruled his behaviour was in breach of professional standards and sexually motivated and removed him from the register.
But a defiant Blankenstein denied it was driven by desire.
He said: “This was a woman in her 60s who had come in for a session with her husband sitting in the waiting room.
“I had been given a tale of woe, and it was just as a parent would say to a child, ‘let me kiss that better.
“She was not a new patient and had been coming to see me for more than 18 months.
“I did it out of a sense of sympathy, empathy, care and concern.
“She did not seem at all distressed, and the first I knew about it was her husband coming to see me a few days later.”
The panel heard that the kiss happened at the Swindon Chiropractic Clinic in August last year.
A potential interim suspension hearing at the time found that Blankenstein was not an immediate danger and allowed him to continue practising.
But now he has been struck off after a full hearing.
A spokesman for the General Chiropractic Council said: “Mr Blankenstein admitted that he kissed a female patient during treatment without her consent.
“The kiss was between the base of the neck and the point of the shoulder.
“The PCC concluded that such a kiss does not conform to any social convention, was inherently sexual and also sexually motivated.
“It also noted that the patient found the kiss to be disturbing and distressing, and felt ‘dirty’ as a result of what had happened.
“It found that Mr Blankenstein’s behaviour was a particularly serious departure from acceptable standards, and that he displayed a reckless disregard of his professional obligations to maintain clear sexual boundaries with patients and treat them with respect.
“The committee did not accept that he was now unlikely to behave in a similar way again.”
Blankenstein said he had been planning to retire next year and would not appeal the decision.
He claimed: “By the time of the hearing I had got together a huge bundle of letters of support from my patients.
“They have been 100 per cent supportive of me throughout the process without exception, as have my colleagues.
“I will always argue the allegation it was sexually motivated is an absurd suggestion.
“Everybody in the profession thought I would be given an admonishment, which would be a considerable tarnish on the record but allow me to keep practising.”
The clinic will continue to operate.
