She said that he told her he needed to do a cervical exam, then said her unborn baby was in the wrong position.
He led her into another room, told her she was beautiful and asked about her husband — and then started to molest her, according to a lawsuit filed this week in civil court.
In the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, the woman accused the chiropractor, Junaid Farooqui, of assault and offensive physical contact, among other things. She is seeking between $200,000 and $1 million in damages. The Washington Post does not typically identify people who say they were victims of sexual assault.
Within the past year, Farooqui has been charged with at least three counts of sexual assault in Dallas County, as well as one count of indecency with a child and one count of aggravated sexual assault against a child, according to online court records.
Farooqui, who has been practicing since at least 2004, has now had his chiropractic license suspended, according to a Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners database.
It is unclear whether he has an attorney in the case.
A number listed for the chiropractic center, Central Health Clinic, is no longer in service, and Farooqui could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
On March 24, 2016, six days before the birth of her second child, the woman took her young son with her to Farooqui's chiropractic clinic in Richardson, less than 15 miles from Dallas, according to the lawsuit.
During the assessment, she said, Farooqui had her lie face down on an exam table and told her he was going to cover her buttocks “because it is distracting me,” the lawsuit said.
She said that after he told her that her unborn baby was in the wrong position, he took her into a dimly lit room for what he called a “prenatal massage.” There, she said, he began to molest her, telling her that he needed to relax her to get the baby to move into the correct position, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that when she began to question Farooqui's methods, the chiropractor told her: “I do this so often that I have women that find this so relaxing, that they have a release. It is okay if you do that.”
When the woman told Farooqui that she would not do that, she said, he stopped and let her leave. She said she felt “dirty and used” — going to the restroom to wash away oils and lotions, then leaving the clinic.
In the lawsuit, the woman, who said she had never been to a chiropractor, said she decided to see Farooqui for sciatica — pain in the sciatic nerve that typically starts in the lower back and travels down the leg.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the pain is most often caused by a herniated disk or a bony growth on the vertebrae (known as a bone spur) that is pressing on the nerve.
The issue usually clears up within weeks or months and can be treated with over-the-counter pain relievers, hot or cold packs, and stretching, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some patients seek help from acupuncturists or chiropractors. The Mayo Cinic states:
Spinal adjustment (manipulation) is one form of therapy chiropractors use to treat restricted spinal mobility. The goal is to restore spinal movement and, as a result, improve function and decrease pain. Spinal manipulation appears to be as effective and safe as standard treatments for low back pain, but might not be appropriate for radiating pain.
Some chiropractors do specialize in treating pregnant women, and there is a chiropractic procedure, called the Webster technique, that is sometimes used to try to help reposition unborn babies.
But the lawsuit states that subsequent medical exams showed that the woman's baby was not in the wrong position.
The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that although research has shown that chiropractics can help relieve lower-back and neck pain, among other things, there have been rare reports of serious complications and injuries. The center recommends that people considering such therapies find a chiropractor who is licensed and has specialized training in the conditions requiring treatment.
The woman has filed suit against Farooqui and a nurse, as well as the chiropractic office, Central Health Clinic, and Cottonwood Park Business. In addition to the assault allegations, the woman is also claiming emotional distress, saying she was fired from her job after experiencing panic attacks at work.
The woman's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
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