A Boulder City chiropractor has lost his license to practice in the state for five years, which could be extended if he does not adhere to requirements voted upon by the Chiropractic Physicians’ Board of Nevada.
During a hearing on Oct. 10, Dr. Tad Tenney and his attorney, Hal Reiser, appeared before the board via Zoom to discuss the 25 charges against him. These charges stemmed from him reportedly hosting seminars to provide various services, treatments, nutritive supplementation devices related to diabetes, weight loss and neuropathy.
In a unanimous vote, the board approved Tenney’s voluntary surrender of his license effective immediately. Within 30 days, he must pay $44,514 in fees, costs and fines to the Chiropractic Physicians’ Board of Nevada. He must also provide refunds to three of the complainants in the case, in the amount of nearly $25,000. His attorney said that has been done and that in all, Tenney has refunded more than $150,000 to those who paid following one of his seminars and will continue to do so.
“Dr. Tenney’s failure to comply with any term or condition of this Settlement Agreement will result (in the) Board staff changing the public information related to Dr. Tenney from voluntary surrender to revoked,” a board report states. “Thereafter, Dr. Tenney’s license will be treated as having been revoked, and Dr. Tenney may not apply for reinstatement for at least 10 years after the change of such status.”
Once the five-year period is up, Tenney would have to appear before the board for reinstatement.
Records show that Tenney received a license to practice in Nevada in 1999. His office, which is now empty and for lease, was located at 806 Buchanan Way, suite 109.
“Some of the reviewed contracts contain references to an entity called Boulder Wellness,” the report states. “In the course of the investigation, it was determined that Boulder Wellness is a fictitious business name for Boulder Chiropractic, Inc. registered with the Clark County Clerk’s office on July 27, 2020.”
Though the contracts indicated a set price for the goods and services to be provided, they showed that Tenney would negotiate the price of contracts with the patients, ranging from a low of $1,500 to a high of $9,000, the document states. Most of the patients in the reviewed contracts paid in cash on the day of the signing of the contracts.
On Nov. 5, 2021, the board’s office received a consumer complaint from Patient FH (the patient’s name cannot be disclosed for reasons of patient confidentiality) about his and his wife’s (Patient FW) attendance at a seminar and subsequent enrollment in a wellness program sold by Tenney in September 2021 in Pahrump.
From April 16, 2022 to Aug. 22, 2022, he hosted more than 50 seminars, sometimes two a day, with a total of 895 participants over that span. These seminars were held in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. One class in Boulder City had just five attendees while as many as 39 attended one in Kingman.
The report states that most of the attendees at these seminars were in their sixties, seventies and eighties.
“At the end of the presentations, Dr. Tenney would invite the attendees to enter into a contract with him to pay for the contracted services by cash, check, credit card or care credit. The amount was to be paid in full prior to starting the program,” it states.
Little comment from Tenney
During last Thursday’s hearing, Tenney was given an opportunity to speak but had little to say.
“I just appreciate the board being willing to accept this settlement agreement so that we can move forward,” he said.
An email from the Review seeking additional comment from Tenney was not returned.
It was pointed out that this was the fourth time Tenney has appeared before the board over the years dating back to 2003. But board attorney Louis Ling said those cases had nothing to do with this one.
“There’s a lot to this case,” said Dr. Benjamin Lurie, the investigating board member. “It’s been difficult to work on this case with Dr. Tenney and Mr. Reiser. I think what this case does right now is that it possibly solves today’s problem.”
Unhappy customers
According to the Nevada Better Business Bureau, there are seven complaints listed against Tenney, all with a familiar theme and mostly from elderly individuals suffering from diabetes or neuropathy.
“After a $63 consult, and a high-pressure sales pitch, we forked over $4,000,” one complaint states. “Once home, we realized that we had just been bamboozled for $4,000 with nothing but a jar of protein powder to show for it. We attempted to contact his office to revoke our agreement and request a refund. Multiple phone calls and messages have been made and either brushed off or outright ignored.”
A review on Yelp by a Kingman woman states, “Sounded very professional at the presentation, but follow-up was a different story. Promised things I never received. The program has lots of promises that did not happen. STAY AWAY FROM THE COMPANY BOULDER WELLNESS &DR. TAD TENNEY.”
Another Yelp review from a man from San Francisco, echoed the preview remark.
“Tad gave a polished seminar, charged me $10,000 for a powdered milkshake that did nothing to help me and my diabetes. I’m extremely disappointed. My advice to anyone thinking about using Tad Tenney, is don’t. I got scammed, don’t you be the next to get scammed.”
One of the stipulations in the agreement, should Tenney continue to host seminars, is that it must be clearly stated that he is no longer a licensed chiropractor in Nevada and that he is not claiming any representations as a medical practitioner.
“These (stipulations as part of the settlement) are intended to make sure that patients enter into any future agreements with Dr. Tenney in Nevada with their eyes open,” Ling said. “If they still choose to contract with Dr. Tenney and utilize the services he’s going to be providing, at least they will be notified that he’s not doing so as a licensed chiropractic physician in Nevada.”