If you hold a veterinary medicine license and you are under investigation or face an administrative process from the Veterinary Medical Board (VMB), your career and income hang in the balance. Most complaints filed against you relate to professional misconduct, a serious violation that can result in license suspension or revocation if the allegations are proven. With the hard work and effort put into earning the license, you should prepare to put up a spirited fight to protect your license.
At Los Angeles License Attorney, we are familiar with the crucial role you play and the VMB’s disciplinary guidelines, making us suitable to defend your license.
Role of a Veterinary Medicine Licensee
Veterinarians are licensed professionals trained to practice veterinary medicine. These are trained veterinarians who care for ill animals, whether pets or wildlife. They can diagnose illnesses, determine their causes, and provide appropriate treatment. While human patients can explain their condition clearly to the doctor, animals do not communicate. As a veterinary practitioner, one should analyze the illness affecting the animal by performing diagnostic tests and providing the relevant treatment. As a veterinarian, one should have a passion towards their work.
You need to deeply care for animals to the level where you worry about their health. The work requires you to recognize and appreciate the role of animals in the environment and people’s lives. Some people connect with animals on a deeper level, making them feel like part of the family. Therefore, when treating an animal, you should focus on the health of the animal and the safety of those living around it.
You work in different settings, including:
- Zoos
- Homes
- Animal farms
Your primary responsibilities include:
- Vaccinating animals
- Safeguarding animals
- Protecting families that live with animals and the general public
- Treating common animal illnesses
- Performing surgical procedures on animals
- Animal inspectors and food experts partner with the government on various projects.
Performing the duties of a veterinarian requires meeting the criteria set by the relevant regulatory authority. Unfortunately, despite meeting these requirements and obtaining a license, you could lose the permit due to a minor disagreement, an exaggerated allegation, or an unsubstantiated claim. If you face an allegation or a formal claim with the licensing board, you must consult an experienced veterinary medicine license defense attorney to contest the allegations and prevent the loss of your license.
Overview of the California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB)
VMB’s mission is to safeguard animals and their families from substandard or unsafe practices by veterinarians. Even though one of the agency’s main roles is to license qualified veterinarians and enforce various regulations, the regulatory authority does so to safeguard animals and their owners by ensuring quality treatment and healthcare for excellent overall welfare. Any unprofessional conduct by a licensed veterinarian that threatens the animal’s health and life when brought to the board can trigger a disciplinary process whose consequences are severe and contingent on your case’s circumstances.
The regulatory authority achieves its mission by:
- Limiting the licensure process only to the qualified veterinary medicine practitioners
- Taking stringent disciplinary measures against licensees who breach the industry standards and regulations.
Before issuing you a license, you must pass an exam on:
- Animal health regulations and criminal offenses with a substantial relationship to your profession, and
- Safe practices for providing treatment and surgeries, and cleanliness conditions for operating veterinary clinics.
Passing the tests shows that you understand what the board expects of you regarding veterinary medicine practice and that you understand the standards you must operate within. This ensures that only the veterinarians who can meet the industry’s high-quality standards are allowed to practice.
Your struggle as a veterinarian does not end after the VMB’s accreditation. You must demonstrate that you are worthy of retaining the license by adhering to VMB’s regulations and standards daily. If you commit a minor violation or make an honest mistake, the board could file an accusation against you, triggering disciplinary action if the accusation has merit. Your regulatory agency takes every substantiated accusation seriously, and if you are found guilty after an investigation or administrative hearing, you risk severe disciplinary action, including license revocation.
The board prioritizes complaints based on severity. It addresses severe accusations first. Also, it dismisses all claims that lack merit or cannot be substantiated. You might not even be notified of such a complaint. However, for the serious violations, you should expect an investigation notice informing you of accusations and the need to cooperate during investigations. If the investigations establish that a serious accusation against you is true, the board can file a formal complaint and refer the case to the attorney general for an administrative hearing.
However, for minor violations, the board can impose disciplinary actions, such as a reprimand letter, a citation, and a fine, and conclude the case. Even the most lenient punishment, like a citation, if made public, can hurt your career. Therefore, you should hire a competent license defense attorney early in the case to negotiate a favorable settlement. Additionally, an experienced attorney will defend you aggressively at the administrative hearing to seek a dismissal of the charge or lenient disciplinary action if punishment is imminent. So, partner with a competent attorney immediately when you receive an investigation notice to receive professional assistance navigating the VMB disciplinary process.
Common Accusations the VMB Receives
Several violations can put you in trouble with the VMB. These include:
- Inflicting bodily harm to an animal or their owner
- Alcohol or substance abuse while caring for an animal
- Unlawful billing practices
- Hiring unlicensed or unqualified assistants
- Incorrect anesthesia administration
- Operating outside the scope of your license
- Failing to maintain proper or accurate medical records
- Forging an animal’s medical records
- Engaging in a fraud offense with a substantial relationship to your profession, such as insurance fraud.
- Acquiring your veterinary medicine permit fraudulently
- Engaging in any form of professional misconduct
- Negligence or gross negligence
- Violation of health-related regulations
- Having a criminal arrest or conviction with a substantial relationship to your profession
If the VMB is investigating you for any of these violations, your license is on the line. The disciplinary measure you will receive hinges on the gravity of your violation. Hire an experienced attorney early in the case to help you prepare adequately for a favorable outcome.
The Disciplinary Process
The disciplinary process begins when the board receives a complaint. Before moving to the investigation stage, the board confirms whether the accusation is authentic. If the allegation is authentic or credible, VMB appoints an investigator to investigate the matter. If the claim is not authentic, the board dismisses it, even without notifying you, the veterinarian.
Before the investigation commences, the board will notify you of the accusation and pending investigation. You must take any complaint against you seriously because it could lead to a loss of licensure or dent your reputation.
After investigations, the board can take several actions contingent on the severity of your accusation. If the complaint against you is authentic, after investigation, the board cannot find sufficient evidence to initiate a formal accusation or impose disciplinary measures; they will either close the case or call you for a review to gather more evidence. If the board requests you for a review meeting, do not attend without consulting your attorney so that you do not divulge incriminating information that could be used to file a formal accusation against you. Your attorney will guide you on how to answer questions by investigators to ensure you cooperate but retain information that could be used against you.
For smaller cases, the board imposes lenient disciplinary action without referring the matter to an administrative law judge. So, if an investigation corroborates that you engaged in a violation or your accusations are true, it can issue you a written citation or letter of reprimand, which can be private or public, depending on the circumstances. A citation explains your offense and cites the relevant law or code you have contravened. Further, it can state the civil penalty, such as a fine, that you should pay for the action or inaction.
Conversely, a reprimand states your violation and warns that the same behavior in the future will attract disciplinary action. A reprimand and citation do not affect your license because you continue practicing. However, when either is made public, it can severely damage your reputation, as everyone with access to the board’s website can see it, including coworkers, your employer, current clients, and prospective customers. After seeing the reprimand, they can boycott your services based on the details of the violation provided. If any of these disciplinary actions threaten your reputation, your attorney can negotiate with the board to keep the reprimand or citation private so that it is not available to the public.
Alternatively, you can contest the citation under the Business and Professions Code (BPC) 4875.6. However, you must write to the board within ten days of the decision, requesting a review or an informal conference. The board will then schedule an informal conference within two months of receiving the request. After the hearing, you will receive a decision dismissing, affirming, or modifying the citation. The decision must be made in writing and clearly state the reasons behind it.
If you receive the written decision from the conference but are still unsatisfied with the decision, you can write to the executive officer of the VMB within a month to challenge the informal conference’s verdict. Failure to write to the officer within 30 days makes the citation final.
Upon receiving your written contestation to the informal conference’s decision, the executive officer of the board will forward the matter to the attorney general, where the matter will be handled in an administrative proceeding.
If your violation is serious, the board can place your license under interim suspension to protect animals or their owners from further harm pending investigation. However, the decision is unfair to you because you have yet to be proven guilty. Your attorney should contest it and compel the board to lift it immediately.
For accusations with serious claims supported by solid evidence, the VMB files a formal accusation with the AG’s office and informs you of the same, plus a statement of issues. Upon receiving the statement of issues, you should contact your attorney to evaluate it and begin working for a charge dismissal or a favorable settlement. If no settlement is reached, the case will proceed to the administrative proceeding.
Your attorney must prepare adequately for this stage of the disciplinary process by gathering exculpatory and mitigating evidence. The attorney will present evidence and strong arguments to compel the ALJ to impose lenient disciplinary measures or to dismiss the case. Once the ALJ makes a decision, they will propose it to the VMB, which can adopt, modify, or disregard it.
Possible Disciplinary Measures After an Administrative Hearing
If your violation was for a criminal conviction with a substantial relationship to your profession, the board will impose a license revocation plus a $5,000 fine. Fortunately, you can compel the board, with the help of your license defense attorney, to stay the license revocation and instead impose a 24-month probation, coupled with a $2,000 fine. The maximum punishment is imposed for serious violations, such as animal cruelty.
Common violations that trigger maximum disciplinary measures or license denial include:
- Having a conviction for an offense with a substantial relationship to your responsibilities, practice, or functions, such as animal cruelty.
- Using or lending your veterinary medicine license to an illegal practitioner
- Violating veterinary medicine laws
- Deceiving or lying through advertisement
- Misrepresentation or fraud during medical treatment or lab tests
- Utilizing unauthorized assistants for veterinary functions
Find a Veterinary Medicine License Defense Attorney Near Me
If your veterinary medicine license is under threat from a VMB investigation or an accusation, you need to act fast. Every valid accusation impacts your license in one way or another; thus, you have to work with an efficient license defense attorney who will give you an edge in your case.
At Los Angeles License Attorney, we know that undergoing an investigation can be confusing and stressful; therefore, our attorneys will walk you through the process, offer legal advice, and fight for your case until you get a positive outcome. Contact us at 424-554-1140 today to get started on your license defense case.
