Yu Still Has License to Practice

As he serves time in state prison, Tychicus Yu still holds a valid California chiropractor’s license.

That is because licenses are governed by the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which last August accused Yu of sexually assaulting two female patients but will not hold a hearing in the matter until May 20.

Yu said in court statements that publicity about the sexual assault charges cost him 80% of his clientele but that he continued to see patients until he closed his practice in late March.

Thomas H. Greenwald, an attorney representing Yu, said recently that Yu will probably agree to give up his license and that the May 20 hearing may not be necessary.

The reason for the state’s delay in the Yu case is an agreement struck last fall between the state board, the attorney general’s office and Yu’s attorney to postpone action on the license until after the criminal case was decided.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Steven E. Goby defended the postponement, saying that the state did not want to interfere with the criminal proceedings and that it has many other cases to process. There is no automatic provision for revoking the license of a chiropractor who pleads no contest or admits to the sexual assault of a patient in a criminal case, said Vivian Davis, the board’s executive director.

“Our primary concern is the protection of the public,” Davis said. “And that’s being served at this point, because Dr. Yu is out of commission.”

But the two victims’ families are bewildered about why Yu was not ordered to stop practicing immediately after his no contest plea in November. “Especially,” one victim said, “since his practice is what allowed him to do what he did.”

If Yu’s license is revoked, he can apply for reinstatement in two years.