It was just about a week after his February traffic accident that Josh Telken of Olathe got the phone call.

The caller said she was from a nonprofit organization. She wanted Telken to know that he had the right to see a doctor free of charge to find out if he had been injured in the accident.

“We have someone really close to you,” Telken recalls her saying.

That person was Olathe chiropractor Wasse Zafer.

Three weeks ago, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts issued an emergency suspension of Zafer’s license and filed a petition alleging that he obtained fees through fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; falsified records; and committed acts of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct or professional incompetency. Telken is not part of the board’s case.

On Friday, the board began a hearing in Topeka to decide whether Zafer gets to keep his license while it considers the allegations.

Zafer’s attorney, Terri Austenfeld, said the allegations are false. Zafer has been in practice for 18 years, has treated more than 7,500 patients and does not solicit accident victims, she said.

“He’s going to defend himself strenuously,” Austenfeld said.

In 2006, the board fined Zafer $5,000 for misleading advertising.

The board’s new allegations are based on the experiences of several of Zafer’s patients who had been in traffic accidents. In the two cases where full accounts have been made public, patients told similar stories.

The patients said they had been called shortly after their accident by someone claiming to represent a public safety advocacy group who referred them to Zafer. The examination techniques Zafer used put them in pain. Zafer told them they had injuries that could yield thousands of dollars in compensation.

In one case, a patient received a phone call from a woman purporting to be from the law office of Michael Peloquin, an Overland Park attorney. The woman told the patient that Zafer’s office had provided his phone number for possible representation.

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