Nature of action: An undertaking and consent of the registrant under section 33(6)(c) of the Health Professions Act (the “Act”) providing for limits and conditions on the registrant’s practice and costs, including:

• an undertaking to refrain from engaging in conversations about her personal and financial matters with patients, at any time including during treatment sessions;
• an undertaking to refrain from accepting gifts of money (except for nominal tips), valuables or loans from a patient;
• an undertaking to successfully complete an online course on professional practice; and
• an undertaking to pay the College $4,000 in costs.

Reasons: The College received a report under section 32.2 of the Act that the registrant engaged in conversations about her personal and financial matters with an elderly male patient, invited the patient to her home for dinner and thereafter accepted $15,000 from the patient.

The registrant admitted to engaging in unprofessional conversations with a patient about her personal and financial matters and to accepting $15,000 from that same patient, which she then offered to treat as a loan and repaid in massage therapy treatments.

It is a breach of the Bylaws for a registrant to engage in unprofessional conversations with a patient. It is also a breach of the Bylaws for a registrant to take advantage of a patient’s vulnerabilities for the registrant’s financial benefit.