A client was told to lose weight while others were left feeling unsafe by racist and sexually inappropriate comments from a massage therapist who was the subject of a complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner. Photo / 123RF
A client was told to lose weight while others were left feeling unsafe by racist and sexually inappropriate comments from a massage therapist who was the subject of a complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner. Photo / 123RF
A massage therapist who told a client she needed to lose weight and that she could have her body altered surgically to be taller could face action beyond being told to apologise and do more training.
The client was among three who complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner about how they were left feeling uncomfortable and unsafe by the man’s massage techniques and his racist and inappropriate comments, including some that were sexual.
Deputy Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell has found the therapist breached the clients’ consumer rights and has referred the case to the Director of Proceedings to decide on further action.
Caldwell said the therapist, who was not named, was not a member of Massage Aotearoa New Zealand (MANZ), although his website claimed he was qualified.
She said that by holding himself out to be a therapist and providing services, he was required to meet the standards of a professional massage therapist.
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell said the complaints indicated a pattern of poor conduct and a poor standard of care. Photo / James Gilberd Photography Ltd
His failure to comply with these standards breached the code which gave consumers the right to services that complied with legal, professional, ethical, and other relevant standards.
Caldwell said there was a “clear pattern of inappropriate behaviour” by the therapist, and she was “very concerned at the prevalence of his unethical behaviour”.
The therapist also breached the code by failing to take the complaints seriously, when he did not provide adequate responses to HDC’s request for information and did not engage appropriately with the investigation process.
At one point he told the HDC: “We are not beauty therapists”.
‘Pure pain and discomfort’
Caldwell said the three complainants had been detailed in their accounts and were similar, which indicated a pattern of poor conduct and a poor standard of care.
The first complainant felt as though she was going to vomit or pass out after the massage, which she described as “pure pain and discomfort” in April 2022.
She said the session ended with her feeling “vulnerable and uncomfortable” alone in a room with a man who would not stop touching or hurting her no matter how many times she asked.
The woman told the HDC that the therapist “talked a lot” throughout the massage, but he ignored her completely when she asked him to stop the massage.
She said he “joked” about getting carpets on the floor so that patients “would not see their own blood”.
He told the HDC that “was not his style” and that client comfort was paramount. He said the suggestion that he refused to stop when asked was “pure imagination”.
He said the complainant became intolerant of any pressure at all, and that he was “not an idiot”, and would have stopped the massage if requested.
The therapist added that he instructed the client about the possibility of nausea because of the release of lactic acid.
‘Racist and inappropriate’
The second complainant booked a “relaxation massage” with the man in July 2022 and said he talked the entire time in a way that was “racist and inappropriate”, including his view that Māori people “do not exist because there are no 100% Māori people left”.
He made further disparaging and insulting comments about Māori people including they were “trying to take over government”.
The client said the man spoke about women and sex, and his religious beliefs, including detailed and specific explanations about female birthing hygiene.
The woman said she was uncomfortable and wanted to leave but couldn’t as she was lying on the massage table with no clothes on.
The therapist said all his clients wore underwear.
The woman, like the first complainant, did not raise her concerns directly with the therapist as she did not feel safe doing that.
‘Incredibly uncomfortable’
The third complainant attended a second massage with the therapist in October 2022, in which she was left “incredibly uncomfortable” and feeling lucky to have got away.
The massage started with him telling her that she needed to lose weight and that she could have her “body altered surgically to be taller” as she was short.
The man told the HDC that it “may well have been discussed” but “very politely”.
The woman said he started talking explicitly about erections, ejaculations, and about people having sex.
She reported the matter to the police the following month.
Caldwell has made seven recommendations, including that the therapist attend training on therapeutic communication, ethics and professional boundaries.
She said the matter had been referred to the Director of Proceedings, noting the man still worked as a massage therapist, and she believed there was a public interest in accountability for his failures.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
