The state Chiropractic Quality Assurance Commission has suspended the credential of Nicolas Jean Constantin for unprofessional conduct in an order dated January 15. The suspension means Constantin cannot practice as a chiropractor in Washington pending a hearing.

Constantin was issued a credential to practice as a chiropractor on August 2, 2006.

The commission took action after the state department of health (DoH) entered a motion for an order of summary judgment. According to legal documents filed in the case, Constantin admitted in a letter to a DoH investigator in August 2008 that he had misused alcohol and controlled substances, including black tar heroin. The previous month Constantin had been convicted in Blaine Municipal Court on a charge of Assault in the Fourth Degree, Domestic Violence. The following month, he was convicted of violating a No Contact Order, a gross misdemeanor. Later that month, he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after crashing his vehicle into a building, then getting stuck in a ditch while trying to get back on the roadway. The investigation later revealed that Constantin had a prior first degree Negligent Driving charge from October, 2007 that was alcohol-related. The summary action order noted that Constantin had made “two fairly recent attempts at treatment followed by six months of sobriety and relapse.”

The commission determined that Constantin “poses a risk of immediate danger, as there is no way to protect patients from the liklihood that harm might be committed by an impaired practitioner. For this reason, a temporary suspension is the best and most appropriate level of restriction … to safeguard the health care of the public.”

Constantin, who formerly practiced in Blaine, is unassociated with the practice of Blaine Chiropractic Center, owned by his parents.