James Hopper: Ex chiropractor loses his appeal over indecent assault

When a patient attended a north shore chiropractor with tightness in her back, James Hopper inappropriately touched her private parts before telling her “I should almost offer you a happy ending”. The man’s medical licence was later banned — but now an appeal has determined whether it should be reinstated.

James Hopper launched an appeal after his registration was cancelled. Photo: Channel 7

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A former chiropractor has lost a legal bid to regain his medical licence after he was convicted of indecently assaulting a woman during a massage session at a clinic on Sydney’s north shore.

James Ellis Hopper launched an appeal to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal after his registration as a chiropractor was cancelled by the Healthcare Complaints Commission in March 2018.

The cancellation came after Mr Hopper was convicted of assaulting a 35-year-old patient in a consulting room at his private Active Healing Health clinic in Chatswood in 2015.

Mr Hopper worked at the clinic in Chatswood.

The sentencing magistrate found Mr Hopper asked the patient to remove her clothes and intentionally touched the patient’s “nipples, anus, vulva and clitoral area” after she attended the clinic to be treated for tightness in the back and a tilted pelvis.

At the end of the session, Mr Hopper told the patient “I should almost offer you a happy ending” but later claimed the comment was “intended as a joke”.

Mr Hopper was convicted of assault with act of indecency and sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

The NCAT appeal heard that since his cancellation, Mr Hopper has primarily been engaged in home duties and has occasionally picked up work in the hospitality industry.

He told the tribunal he intended to undertake a graduate diploma in Animal Biomechanical Medicine and that his registration as a chiropractor was a precondition to enrolling in the course.

Mr Hopper said that at the time of the misconduct he did not consider his conduct to be “inappropriate” and that he was motivated by wanting to “fix” patients.

James Hopper, pictured outside Hornsby Court following his arrest. Photo: Channel 7

“I thought I was helping the patient but I was wrong,” he told the tribunal.

Since his registration was cancelled, Mr Hopper said he been regularly consulting with a psychologist and completed a number of professional development courses including a session on professional boundaries.

He told the tribunal he now understands that “boundary violations can happen when a health professional confuses their needs with the needs of a patient in their care” and that he failed to treat the patient “with dignity and respect”.

In handing down the Judgement on Monday, the tribunal accepted that Mr Hopper was “genuinely remorseful for his conduct and acknowledges the devastating impact” on the patient but found it could “not be satisfied that Mr Hopper did not pose an unacceptable risk of reoffending”.

“The conduct that led to Mr Hopper’s deregistration was, on any measure, very serious,” the tribunal found.

“Given that Mr Hopper has acted in this way once is enough to raise serious doubts about his capacity to maintain proper ethical standards in future, no matter what his current intentions may be.

“We have been offered no plausible explanation for Mr Hopper’s misconduct (and) if Mr Hopper does not understand his own behaviour how can he guard against repetition of it?”

The tribunal rejected the application for reinstatement and also ordered Mr Hopper to pay legal costs for the proceedings.