POSTED: Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010

Police: Patient left on table in Bellingham acupuncture clinic

Locked in with needles still in her back, woman calls 911

BELLINGHAM - An acupuncture patient, left on the treatment table with the needles still in her back, discovered workers had forgotten about her and locked her inside the office when they left Tuesday evening, July 27, according to Bellingham Police.

The 47-year-old told police she had been undergoing treatment at Discovering Health, 1513 E St. At some point, she realized the acupuncturist had left and closed the office, police spokesman Mark Young said.

The woman told police she pulled out the needles and tried to leave, but the doors were locked and required a key to unlock even from the inside.

She set off motion detector alarms while trying to leave the building and called 911 for assistance at about 7:30 p.m., Young said.

Police officers responded and were able to get her out of the office. The woman was not harmed, Young said.

A call to Discovering Health on Wednesday was returned by an attorney, who declined to comment for this article.

All three acupuncturists listed as working at the clinic have valid licenses with the state Department of Health as East Asian medicine practitioners. Two of them have held those licenses since the mid-1990s, the other got the license in 2000. One of them also is a licensed naturopathic physician, according to the Department of Health.

Young didn't say which acupuncturist was treating the woman.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said if the patient filed a complaint, it would be investigated. She would not speculate on what the penalty, if any, would be if the complaint were found to be true.

Police did not release the patient's name.