A Toronto-based practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncturist has been found guilty of professional misconduct, including the sexual abuse of a patient, after he made comments about her body and entangled her in personal and business relationships, including joint real estate investments. The Discipline Committee of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario, in a case cited as Ontario (College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners & Acupuncturists of Ontario) v Delon Dik-Lung Cheng, 2024 ONCTCMPAO 28 (CanLII), ordered that Delon Dik-Lung Cheng’s certificate of registration be suspended for four months.
The decision, released on December 2, 2024, followed a hearing held via videoconference on November 22, 2024. The case centered on Mr. Cheng’s treatment of a female patient between August 2020 and October 2021 at his clinic, D.L. Healing Clinic, located in the Splendid China Mall in Toronto. During the relationship, Mr. Cheng made a series of inappropriate personal comments and crossed professional boundaries by involving the patient in financial dealings. A publication ban was granted to protect the identity of the patient involved.
According to an Agreed Statement of Facts submitted to the disciplinary panel, Mr. Cheng admitted to making several comments of a sexual nature to the patient between May and October of 2021. These included remarks about the patient’s breasts, such as that they were big, comments about her skin, and statements that she had a “good figure.” The panel accepted that these comments constituted behaviour of a sexual nature that was not clinical and was inappropriate for the service being provided. Under the province’s Health Professions Procedural Code, behaviour or remarks of a sexual nature by a practitioner towards a patient are defined as sexual abuse.
The misconduct extended beyond verbal remarks into a significant failure to maintain professional boundaries. Mr. Cheng admitted that during the course of the treating relationship, he engaged in personal activities with the patient, including socializing and exchanging personal text messages. In one instance from October 2021, Mr. Cheng sent the patient photographs of two other women and engaged in a text message exchange with the patient about their physical appearance.
Furthermore, Mr. Cheng enmeshed the patient in his business affairs while she was under his care. He admitted to introducing her to a multi-level marketing business and, most notably, to partnering with her to invest in two condominiums. The panel found that this conduct placed Mr. Cheng in a conflict of interest and constituted a serious breach of professional standards. His actions of mixing personal, business, and clinical relationships formed a central part of the misconduct findings.
The case initially involved a broader and more severe set of allegations. The original Notice of Hearing alleged that Mr. Cheng had asked the patient about her sex life, told her she would have good luck if she had sex with him, and that on one occasion he climbed onto the treatment table to straddle her while she was wearing only a bra. It was also alleged he commented that if she screamed during treatment, he would climb on top of her. However, these specific allegations were withdrawn by the College as part of the resolution process and were not admitted to by Mr. Cheng or proven before the committee. A second set of allegations involving a different, male patient, which claimed Mr. Cheng showed the patient sexualized images of women and suggested he could arrange a meeting for $200, was also withdrawn entirely.
Based on his admissions, the Discipline Committee found Mr. Cheng had committed professional misconduct on several grounds. The panel concluded his actions amounted to sexual abuse as defined in the governing legislation. They also determined he had contravened a standard of practice of the profession, acted in a professional capacity while in a conflict of interest, and engaged in conduct that would reasonably be regarded by his peers as disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional, and unbecoming a practitioner.
The College and Mr. Cheng’s legal counsel presented a joint submission on the penalty, which the panel accepted. The penalty includes a formal reprimand, which was delivered at the conclusion of the hearing. Mr. Cheng’s license will be suspended for four months, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on December 23, 2024. One month of this suspension may be remitted if he successfully completes a required ethics course, at his own expense and pre-approved by the College’s Registrar, within three months of the order.
In addition to the suspension and educational requirement, Mr. Cheng faces significant financial penalties. He is required to reimburse the College for funding it provided to the patient for therapy and counselling, up to the maximum allowable amount of $17,370. He must also pay $6,000 in costs to the College to offset the expenses of the investigation and hearing. The panel found the joint submission on penalty was in line with penalties imposed in similar cases and was not contrary to the public interest.
