Alaska’s high court has confirmed an unprecedented decision by the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners to revoke a license issued to a Fairbanks chiropractor.
The Alaska Supreme Court published its decision Friday, overruling a lower court decision in the process. Writing for the court, which ruled unanimously, Justice Dario Borghesan said that “the troubling facts of this case gave the board a reasonable basis to impose the most severe sanction of complete license revocation.”
Aaron Shoemaker, who received an Alaska chiropractic physician license in 2017, began practicing in Fairbanks in 2018 and opened his own practice, called Advanced Chiropractic.
In 2022, the state regulatory board revoked his license after accusations of a variety of misconduct including sexually touching a client during a massage, refusing to follow mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, and “being convicted of crimes demonstrating unfitness for practice.”
In June 2020, Shoemaker, then 36, was arrested by Alaska State Troopers after stealing a road compactor and posting images of the theft on his practice’s Facebook page. Court records say he was exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis, and after his arrest he was briefly committed to a psychiatric facility. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for the crime.
The Board of Chiropractic Examiners temporarily suspended Shoemaker’s license in September 2020, and after an administrative hearing, permanently revoked his license a year and a half later.
Shoemaker appealed that decision to Fairbanks Superior Court, which ruled in Shoemaker’s favor in September 2023. The board then appealed the case to the Alaska Supreme Court.
Borghesan, writing on behalf of the state’s highest court, said the board did not abuse its discretion by revoking Shoemaker’s license.
The justice wrote that there was a reasonable basis for the board to rule that Shoemaker’s misdemeanor conviction demonstrated his unfitness, and there was substantial evidence to conclude that Shoemaker “attempted sexual contact” with a patient, in violation of ethical standards.
Borghesan also wrote that there was substantial evidence that Shoemaker violated professional standards by failing to follow the state’s COVID mask mandate during the pandemic emergency.
In a footnote, Borghesan scolded Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple for relying on an opinion column submitted by Shoemaker and ruling that Shoemaker had a reasonable basis to ignore masking rules.
“The sole issue facing the superior court was whether there was substantial evidence to support the board’s finding that … Shoemaker did not wear a mask when treating patients. … it was the board’s role — not the court’s — to weigh and draw inferences from the evidence,” he wrote.
The Supreme Court’s order remands the case back to the Superior Court for final implementation of the license revocation.