Nick Xenophon Team candidate advocates genital acupuncture for infertile women

A NICK Xenophon Team election candidate who advocates genital acupuncture for infertile women has complained to the Chinese Medicine Board that his credentials were not recognised.

Xenophon Team candidate for the Adelaide seat of Kingston, Damian Carey.

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A NICK Xenophon Team election candidate who advocates genital acupuncture for infertile women has complained to the Chinese Medicine Board that his credentials were not recognised.

Damian Carey, who will be running against Labor MP Amanda Rishworth in the seat of Kingston, has previously defended genital acupuncture as proven “for 2000 years’’ and fears IVF is breeding a generation of “sub-healthy’’ children.

The Sunday Mail has obtained a letter Mr Carey wrote to the Chinese Medicine Board complaining that his degree was not recognised and he would need to provide decades of case studies to prove his credentials.

Mr Carey, who practises at Willunga and Rose Park, holds a Masters degree from the University of Sydney and trained under an acupuncture specialist for many years.

“As a practitioner with over thirty years of experience I am writing to express my grave concern with the draft registration standards for Chinese Medicine practitioners,’’ he writes.

“When I first started, in Adelaide in 1981 on the path to attaining an education there were no formal courses available whatsoever.

“Nonetheless I determined to follow that path and I have continued to study for thirty years to improve my skills and I can rightfully claim that I am a highly competent and well educated practitioner with a thriving clinical practice and with over three thousand patients on my records, many of whom depend upon me as their primary health care practitioner.’’

Mr Carey is registered as a Chinese Medicine Practitioner by the Federal Government’s Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

The aspiring federal MP wrote a masters thesis suggesting that acupuncture around the perineum region was “potent’’, although rarely used for “personal modesty reasons’’.

On the subject of genital acupuncture, he has suggested male practitioners have a woman present and use “draping’’ to protect modesty.

Yesterday he declined to say whether he was still using the acupuncture method in his own practice. “There is no such thing as vaginal acupuncture. But that (acupuncture) point has been documented for use for 2000 years,’’ he said.

Asked if he was still using acupuncture on women’s perineums in his own practice he replied: “What I do in my practice is my business. If I was a doctor or a gynaecologist you wouldn’t question my methods.’’

In his masters thesis he writes that one “ethical dilemma raised by this case is the use of Huiyin (CV 1), situated in the perineum, between the anus and vagina”.

“Huiyin is rarely used due to the invasion of personal modesty, yet it is a potent point with clear relevance to this case, having the functions of regulating the Chong and Ren vessels, regulating Yin and calming the spirit,” he writes.

“The ethical dilemma is heightened when the practitioner is male. Naturally, the use of Huiyin would require careful explanation with permission clearly sought and received.

“Another option is to invite a female witness to be present. Careful use of draping to minimise exposure is also highly recommended.

“A broader dilemma exists in (Assisted Reproductive Technology)’s ability to artificially override the normal physiological filtering of unhealthy gametes, leading to the potential for generations of sub-healthy ART children to be born.

“This issue requires deep analysis and is beyond the scope of this paper, yet it must be addressed at least briefly,” he writes.

Originally published as Nick Xenophon Team candidate advocates genital acupuncture for infertile women