A paramedic who used an ancient healing technique on a patient — instead of following doctor’s orders — says the move shouldn’t have gotten him fired because he was following the patient’s wishes.

Michael Senisch, 62, of Bridgeton, had been a paramedic for 34 years but also holds a certification as a second-degree Reiki Practitioner — a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.

He claimed he offered to help a patient with an open wound by using a Reiki practice, in which he held his hands close to the covered wound without touching it, to provide warmth and relieve the discomfort. The woman had declined doctor’s advice to have a catheter drilled into her bone, and because Senisch didn’t perform the procedure, he was fired, he claims.

In the lawsuit, filed against AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, in Superior Court in Atlantic County, Senisch said his dismissal stemmed from a call made to a Mays Landing home on Feb. 28, 2016.

Senisch said he saw New Age crystals and other items inside the house, which was owned by the patient, Wendy Johnson, 59 at the time, and her husband, Brian Johnson Sr.

The couple owned a store in Smithville, called Herban Legend, a boutique shop that sells crystals and religious statues, and incense, according to the claim.

Wendy Johnson was suffering from a wound on her breast — about 12 mm, by 8 mm by 5 mm deep. Her husband, a retired Pleasantville deputy fire chief, and former EMT, said he and his wife had been treating the wound with "colloidal silver,” but the treatment method had not worked. Colloidal silver products contain tiny particles of silver in a liquid, and have been marketed as an over the counter dietary supplement, but in 1999 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled they were not safe or effective.

She was reluctant to return to a hospital, because she allegedly previously contracted MRSA, a staph infection, while she was admitted before.

Another paramedic on the scene attempted to insert an IV into Johnson’s arm twice, but was unsuccessful.

A doctor at the AtlantiCare-City’s Medical Control Unit then recommended performing an intraosseous infusion (IO), a process in which a catheter is “drilled” into the bone in Johnson’s upper arm to administer fluids and medicine into the bone marrow.

Senisch claims Johnson refused the treatment, and her husband, who Senisch spoke to, said “She would not want that.”

In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, Senisch said he tried to put another IV into Johnson, but was unsuccessful. It was at that time that he offered to perform the Reiki practice.

The lawsuit states when Johnson was taken into the emergency room, one of the doctors became “visibly angry” that Senisch had not administered the IV and the IO, spoke to Johnson “briefly,” and administered the IO to Johnson while Johnson’s husband and Senisch were outside the room.

More than a week later, Senisch was called into a meeting where he was allegedly fired for using Reiki, a practice for which the supervising physician said he would “refuse to put my license on the line.”

The document states that after learning Senisch was fired, Johnson and her family pushed for Senisch to be rehired. Before Johnson died a month later, she said the paramedic honored her wishes of not administering the IO. The family also wrote a letter in support of Senisch, but the paramedic was not rehired.

“The lawsuit filed in 2016 by a former paramedic contains a number of claims that are simply untrue,” said AtlantiCare spokeswoman Jennifer Tornetta. “It is unfortunate that the former paramedic and his attorney waited until now, only weeks before jury selection, to publicize his false allegations in the media. We look forward to presenting the actual facts of the case to a jury in a few weeks. The care and safety of our patients is always our highest priority. Until we have the opportunity to share the facts of this case in an impartial court of law, we will refrain from commenting further."

Senisch is being represented by attorneys Philip Burnham of the Burnham Law Group and Michelle Douglass of the Douglass Law Group. The two say the firing of the paramedic violated New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act because he refused a doctor’s orders to administer a procedure against the patient’s wishes.

“I think that what is important for people to take away is that they also have an obligation to know what is going on because it is their body that is being intruded upon,” Douglass said. “You have a right, from an emergency room setting or just a general routine medical checkup, to be advised fully of the benefits and the consequences of the medical treatment and procedures that a medical provider wants to perform on you. Doctors are people too, and they also have emotions and anger, biases and prejudices, and people need to be aware of that. I know that sometimes doctors are motivated to do things out of their own emotions or experiences.”

“In this day and time, no still means no,” Burnham said. “It is your body. You have a right to say no, and this woman has alleged in our complaint she said no and that she did not want this invasive procedure.”

Senisch is requesting a jury trial and is seeking damages alleging the incident has created emotional distress, physical illness, economic damages, and stress.

The civil trial is scheduled to begin May 13.