Nature of Action: The registrant, Connor Son, RMT, voluntarily entered into an undertaking and consent agreement with the Inquiry Committee of CMTBC.

As part of the agreement, Mr. Son agreed to the following terms:

1. a five-month suspension (served);
2. a formal reprimand;
3. a condition on his practice of massage therapy, namely a one-year period of supervised practice under terms specified by CMTBC;
4. review of the Massage Therapists Regulation and CMTBC’s Bylaws, standards of practice, and Code of Ethics;
5. completion of intensive remedial coursework on record-keeping and professional ethics;
6. undertakings not to repeat the conduct; and
7. payment of a portion of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $750.

Reasons: The undertaking and consent agreement relates to three separate investigations initiated by the Inquiry Committee on its own motion regarding Mr. Son (in May, October and December 2020, respectively).

As part of the undertaking and consent agreement, Mr. Son admitted to breaching a term of a previous undertaking and consent agreement he signed in January 2020, which had required him to remedy identified issues in his advertising. He also acknowledged numerous breaches of CMTBC’s advertising requirements (which are part F.1 of CMTBC’s Bylaws) and his use of titles reserved for registrants of CMTBC while his registration was suspended.

Mr. Son admitted to failing to comply with CMTBC’s Interim Guidelines for Return to Practice (COVID-19) by failing to conduct pre-screening for symptoms of COVID-19 with all of his patients treated between December 20, 2020 and January 20, 2021 prior to their arrival. Mr. Son also failed to comply with CMTBC’s Interim Guidelines for Return to Practice (COVID-19) by failing to conduct pre-screening for symptoms of COVID-19 with three patients upon their arrival at their appointments.

Mr. Son also admitted to failing to retain signed consent forms for two patients, contrary to section 6 of CMTBC’s standard of practice on consent; he also failed to ensure that information such as names and dates were recorded on the consent forms for several other patients. Mr. Son failed to include required intake information in his health care record for one patient. Additionally, Mr. Son altered a health care record for a patient before providing it to CMTBC, to fill in some charting that was missing; as he updated this chart, he accidentally copied and pasted text relating to COVID-19 screening into two record entries relating to treatments which took place in December 2019 and February 2020, before COVID-19 screening requirements were established. Mr. Son did not advise CMTBC that he had altered the record in this manner before providing it to the College, until he was asked to explain this discrepancy.

Mr. Son acknowledged that by engaging in the conduct described above, he committed professional misconduct and violated section 6 of CMTBC’s standard of practice on consent; section 11 of the College’s Code of Ethics in effect at the applicable time (since amended); sections 69.3, 78.2, 78.7, 78.8 78.91 of CMTBC’s Bylaws; subsection 9(d) of Schedule “D” to the College’s Bylaws; and sub-section 3(1)(a)(i) of Schedule “E” to CMTBC’s Bylaws.

The Inquiry Committee considered Mr. Son’s admitted conduct to be serious, involving numerous breaches of professional requirements, and noted that his failure to conduct required pre-screenings may have placed patients at risk given the possibility of transmission of COVID-19.

The Inquiry Committee is satisfied that the undertaking and consent agreement in this matter appropriately reflects the seriousness of the registrant’s admitted conduct and will protect patient safety.