Sex offender is allowed to be a chiropractor

Published: 2010-04-10 10:14:00
Author: LORA PABST | Star Tribune | February 26, 2010

For the next four years, Dr. Scott Fredin can't buy pornography or use the Internet without a probation officer's approval. The police can drop by at any time to see if he has been drinking. As a registered sex offender, he must tell authorities every time he moves or gets a new job.

One thing the 41-year-old chiropractor won't have to do, however, is tell his clients he spent two years in jail for sexually assaulting two patients.

This month, more than six years after revoking Fredin's license for the felony convictions, the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners granted Fredin's request to get his license back. To protect Fredin's clients, the board said he cannot treat any female patients without someone else in the room. Fredin is working in Minneapolis, but he can't treat patients until regulators approve his new location.

Fredin declined to discuss the situation when a Star Tribune reporter visited the office near Loring Park.

Under state law, many professionals -- including dentists, psychologists and nurses -- can't be barred from practicing after a criminal conviction as long as they can show licensing boards they were rehabilitated.

Larry Spicer, executive director of the chiropractic board, said citizens often want regulators to take a firm stand when an "egregious case" occurs, but he said the board's hands are tied by law.

However, there are no second chances at the state Board of Medical Practice, which regulates 22,000 health-care providers, including physicians, midwives and acupuncturists. In 1995, the Legislature passed a law requiring the board to yank the medical license of anyone convicted of a felony-level sexual offense.

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