Vet
Law Challenged - Round Two
In the July issue of The Equiery, we
reported that on June 10, massage therapist Mercedes Clemens
filed a lawsuit against the Maryland
State Board of Veterinary Medical
Examiners (“Vet Board”) and the
Maryland Board of Chiropractic
Examiners (“Chiropractic Board”)
for violation of her constitutional
rights. Last winter, this Gaithersburg
resident received a “cease
and desist” letter from the Board
of Chiropractic Examiners. A follow-up letter from the Chiropractic
Board, reaffirming its position,
included a generic notice from the
Vet Board.
On July 9, the members of the
Vet Board issued a statement (see
below) apparently saying that it
didn’t really mean that non-vets
couldn’t do massage, that this is all
just a big misunderstanding and
that the Board would be happy to
talk it over with Ms. Clemens.
Is this really just a misunderstanding?
In addition to the Vet Board’s
July 9 statement, we are including
as illustration the original generic
memo (see illustration on right). To
read Maryland’s Vet Law in full or
to review court documents related
to the case, please click here
In response to our original article
in the July issue, The Equiery has
been receiving numerous phone
calls and e-mails from therapists
and equine
health care
workers.
Some are
willing to
share their
stories
with our readers, but others – out
of fear that legal action will be
taken against them – are not willing
to go on record, as they are still
practicing, just “off the radar.” We
want our readers to form their own
opinions on this controversial subject,
and so we will endeavor to let
our readers, including the chairman
of the Vet Board, speak for themselves.
As they provide us with their
stories, letters and/or other materials,
we will make these available to
our readers through both our print
and digital publications.
Vet Board Chairman
Responds to Lawsuit
Chris H. Runde D.V.M., is chairman
of the Maryland State Board of Veterinary
Medical Examiners.
Annapolis, MD (July 9, 2008) -
–
On June 17, 2008, the Maryland
State Board of Veterinary Medical
Examiners (“SBVME”) received
a copy of the lawsuit filed by Ms.
H. Mercedes Clemens against the
SBVME and the Maryland Board
of Chiropractic Examiners. Ms.
Clemens alleges that both the SBVME
and the Board of Chiropractic
Examiners have, through their
regulatory authority, prevented Ms.
Clemens from practicing equine
massage in Maryland. The SBVME
unequivocally has never interfered
with Ms. Clemens’ right to practice
massage on horses in Maryland
and views this lawsuit against the
SBVME as premature.
The SBVME does not regulate
equine
massage by nonveterinarians
if the
massage is
intended
solely for the purpose of helping
the animal relax or generally feel
better. The SVBME, however, has indicated in communication with
the Chiropractic Board that a person
engaging in equine massage
may be in violation of the Veterinary
Practices Act if the massage
services offered are for the purpose
of diagnosing and treating a specific
ailment or injury of a horse. The
SBVME, whose mission is to protect
animal health and welfare, has
the statutory authority to regulate
the “practice of veterinary medicine,” which “includes
the practice by any person who … diagnoses,
advises, administers [an] … appliance,
application or treatment of
any nature, for the prevention, cure
or relief of a wound, fracture, bodily
injury or disease of an animal.”— Agriculture Article, § 2-301(f).
If a person engaging in equine massage is “practicing veterinary
medicine,” as defined, the person
must be a licensed veterinarian. —Agriculture
Article § 2-313(1).
Ms. Clemens’ lawsuit, however,
does not contain a single allegation
that she is offering—or advertising— her massage services for
the purposes of treating or diagnosing
disease or injury of horses. Thus,
SBMVE regulatory oversight is
not an issue at this time.
Unfortunately,
the SBVME is not aware of any effort by Ms. Clemens, or her attorneys,
to discuss
her situation directly with the SBVME.
As chairman, I would have
been happy to meet with her in an
effort to make the SBVME’s position
clear and explain to her that
she is not prohibited from massaging
horses for the purposes she
describes in her lawsuit.
Will She Drop the Law
Suit?
Should Mercedes Clemens drop
the lawsuit? The Institute of Justice,
which is handling the case, immediately
responded with a press release
of its own (see equiery.com), in
which it stated that it was pleased to
see that the Vet Board was “backpedaling” on its earlier
position.
Here at The Equiery, we wanted to
know what Ms. Clemens’ personal
position was. And so we asked her.
Equiery: The Vet Board has now
gone on the record as saying that
it never asked you, specifically, to
cease and desist your equine massage
practice, and that it really has
no problem with your equine massage
practice. According to the Vet
Board, it does not now, nor has it
ever found you in violation of the
Vet Practice act. Does this change
your plans at all for the lawsuit?
Mercedes Clemens: Simply put,
there will be no change to our lawsuit
until there is a change to the law.
The undated memo from Maryland
Vet Board President Chris Runde
was addressed to ALL Maryland
licensed massage therapists, which
is what I am. Runde unequivocally
stated in the memo:
“There is no exclusion under this
law to allow for…massage therapy… or other manual
techniques on animals. Consequently, an individual
who is not a licensed veterinarian
who performs any of these
procedures on an animal would be
considered to be practicing veterinary
medicine without a license.”
The memo makes no mention of
exceptions to the statement, such
as massage for “general relaxation” or for making an animal “feel better.” If that was the Vet Board’s
view at the time, it should have
been included in that memo. So no,
the Vet Board’s recent statement
backpedaling from their earlier
position does not change our plans
to proceed with the lawsuit against
both the Vet Board and Chiropractic
Board (which issued the “cease
and desist” order). The Vet Board
claims that it has “never interfered” with my equine massage practice.
Their earlier statement is unequivocal—massage and other
manual techniques are considered to be the
practice of veterinary medicine. No
exceptions. It is a document that
the Chiropractic Board used as justification
to shut down my animal
massage business. That is pretty
clear interference.
There are no exemptions in the
veterinary practice act for licensed
massage therapists or for massage
and other manual techniques performed
by non-veterinarians. Yet
there remain exemptions in the
act for more invasive procedures,
such as equine dentistry, farriery,
acupuncture and livestock management
techniques.
Licensed massage therapists are
not being treated equally under the
law. There is no guarantee that the
Vet Board’s current stated position
will be the same one they hold a
year from now. And the Chiropractic
Board, which relied on the
Vet Board’s earlier statements to
shut me down, hasn’t backed down
from its position at all. So until the
law is changed, I, along with other
licensed massage therapists in
Maryland, will remain under threat
of losing our businesses.
The Vet Practice Act
Needs To Change
David Butts is a certified equine dental
technician, owner of the Libertytown-based equine dental practice
The Horse’s Mouth, and vice president
of the International Association of
Equine Dentists.
The
plaintiff’s position against
the Vet Board is very legitimate
from a working member of society’s
viewpoint—particularly when
that member is educated, certified
and licensed.
It is my opinion that vet boards
across America are less interested
in the welfare of our animals and
their owners than they are in their
own bankrolls. The [American Association
of Equine Practitioners,
the American Veterinary Medical
Association, the American Bar Association
and the American Medical
Association] are professional
unions: They educate their members,
but their major concern seems
to be the economic welfare of their
members, not the health of the animals/
people their members treat.
Yes, it’s costly to go to vet school.
But these folks are supposed to care
about our horses and their health.
They are not supposed to monopolize
that care for economic reasons.
Most
vets admit that their vet school education included barely
one to three hours of time spent on
horse dental matters. I doubt any
vet would take his children to the
family doctor to have dental care.
So why, then, would a vet believe he or she is more qualified to work
on horse’s teeth than an educated and
certified equine dentist? The same
can be said for an equine massage
therapist or anyone educated, certified
or licensed in a particular aspect of horse health care.
With fewer vet school graduates
interested in working on horses, the
current equine practitioner is already
stretched thin. This situation
will only worsen as the horse population
continues to grow. Other individuals
who are educated, certified
and licensed in their horse health
specialties will be needed to maintain
horse health and free up vets to
do the things only they have been
trained to do, such as reproductive
work, surgery, etc. The bottom line
should be how a team of properly
educated and certified individuals
can best maintain the health of
our horses, not greediness over the
money spent on horse health care.
The Maryland Veterinary Practice
Law needs to be changed. |
Will Slots Save Us?
A Horse Community Divided
Will Not Stand
by David A. Turner
After work recently, I rushed
to Baltimore for an exhibit of old
horse portraits by Franklin Voss
and a lecture on “The History of
Maryland’s Horse Industry.” What
I got was a pitch for slots.
The speaker’s slide show was courtesy
of the Thoroughbred breeders’ lobby, and it was tailored to an audience
supportive of Maryland’s
equestrian lifestyle. Preserving historic
fields around farms and racetracks was his opening argument,
but he sold the goods with slides of
newborns struggling to their feet,
broodmares in pastures and proudnecked
stallions. ”Maryland,” said
the speaker, “is poised to be among
a handful of horse-producing states,
or to surrender that honor forever.” Horse breeding
is the backbone of this equestrian way of life, and enlarging
that part of the industry in
modern society requires incentives.
Dollar incentives are needed to
maintain pastures, promote studs
and train foals. And though he
didn’t mention it, those incentives
aren’t required just for Thoroughbred
farms.
Few in the audience were gamblers
and fewer still could distinguish
a Standardbred weanling from a
Paso Fino filly. But they grasped
the importance of economic incentives
for horse breeding. Keeping
Maryland a horsey state, it seems,
will require every cent of the $100
million slice of slot revenues being
channeled to bigger racing purses.
The speaker’s presentation did not
explain how slot revenues will serve
as an incentive for any but a small
slice of Maryland’s horse world.
Perhaps 15 percent of the dollars
awarded to
race horses
-– and only
for flattrack
racing— would
go to livestock
bred
and raised
in Maryland. Beyond that, some
matching funds could go to racetrack
owners to repair facilities.
None of the money would prop up
the larger portions of horse sports
and activities, and none would help
lure young people to the equestrian
life being sold in the PowerPoint
show. Questioned about this, the
speaker made three Cassandralike
assertions: “Without slots, no
more racehorse breeding. Without
Thoroughbreds no more horses in
Maryland, period!” Finally, “Doing
anything is better than doing nothing!” Anything, apparently,
includes placing the rights of slot machines
into our state constitution.
Kentucky’s Vision
My interest in the slot issue is
entirely horse-oriented: Distilled
out are the fear of gambling’s evil
influence, or the fear of higher taxes
should slot money flow only to
other states’ coffers. One approach
worth considering is already working
in Kentucky. There, horsemen
have laid out a method for sharing
similarly vast amounts of state
money in a way that helps all Kentucky’s
horsemen.
Three years ago, their Thoroughbred
folks found their way to thousands
of hearts like mine and solved
longstanding industry problems. It
seems that, powerful as they once
had been on the state scene, Thoroughbred
people’s lobbying presence
had slipped even in the bluegrass
counties. Lawmakers balked
at providing essential help. Just as
frightening, they needed allies for
internal struggles against racing’s
hardcore gaming interests of the
non-horse variety. In 2006, they
wised up and established an unassailable
ally, the rest of Kentucky’s
horse lovers. Their decision process
started with listening. Kentucky
Thoroughbred breeders weighed
the dire threats facing their equestrian
neighbors.
Try it out. If you’re in a racing-related
operation, ask yourself: How
concerned are you about the beloved
colt futurities featuring Arab
foals or Saddlebreds or dressage
breed classes
leaving their
Maryland
venues for
those in surrounding
states—or
worse, shutting
down?
How involved are you with the compelling needs of horse show
organizers who are hard strapped,
or carriage enthusiasts in southern
Maryland? And, except as targets
for dumping failed racing stock,
really look at the needs of those
delightful people who adopt mutt
horses and then dedicate time—no
less precious than yours—to fight
developers who threaten local
boarding stables and riding areas
near the family’s suburban home?
Is your answer a yawn, or “I’m
too busy”? Kentucky breeders recognized
such a response is shortsighted.
As in Maryland, the Kentuckians
lacked a meaningful horse
industry alliance and were suffering
a string of failures. In short,
they realized that even though the
industry’s ship was sinking, “First
me; I’m most important!” isn’t the
most compelling cry to rescuers.
So, led by Thoroughbred breeders,
the Kentucky Equine Education
Project (KEEP) was formed. Power
hitters from the Quarter Horse
world, elsewhere, and from locally
influential groups like handicapped
riding charity organizations
were
included on the
board. It divides
large state revenues
in a way
that benefits all
breeds. KEEP
gives money to
new horse shows, not just races, and
the pot just gets larger and larger.
My cherished breed, the American
Saddlebred, is a relatively small part
of the regional scene. Nevertheless,
$160,000 from the state-tax
generated funds went into 2008’s
breeding incentive program for
our [Saddlebred] farms. [The Kentucky]
organization targeted it to
four-year-old sweepstakes horses
sired by Kentucky Saddlebred stallions
at Kentucky-based Saddlebred
facilities. The result? The burgeoning
incentive dollars helped spur
owners from Washington, D.C. to
Missouri to relocate their holdings
to the Bluegrass State.
Nationwide, horse industry enhancement
programs vary in their
revenue sources. In Virginia, it is
drawn from general state appropriations
and directed to all breeds
when funds are available; in Illinois,
it’s from gaming money; [and] in
Kentucky, state taxes are generated
on breeding fees, and 90 percent of
that money comes from the huge
Thoroughbred farms. From the pot
of money, 80 percent goes back to
incentive programs run by the Thoroughbred
organizations, 13 percent
goes to Standardbred harness racing
incentives, the rest is divided among
pleasure breeds and disciplines.
Why are Kentucky’s Thoroughbred
people so generous with their
fellow horsemen? I’m told that in
order to survive, they recognized
they needed a statewide grassroots
lobbying machine manned by horse
folks -– 4-H, breed groups, trail
clubs -– working the general public,
the legislature and county officials.
A spokesperson from the Maryland
Horse Breeders said they considered
directing a portion of the
slots purse funds to incentive programs
that promote other breeds
and disciplines. But they didn’t
proceed with it.
It is possible for all Maryland
horsemen to sit down together and
develop a KEEP here in Maryland.
Passage of slots appears likely, but this
goal can be pursued however slots
fare in November. Insiders who support
such a partnership do warn that
it could prove
tough if slots
pass, and Thoroughbred
people
are asked to
discuss diverting
funds to a
KEEP-style
initiative. But
there is no prohibition to doing so,
and horse racing’s survival will not
require slots nearly so much as it will
require a strong, allied horse industry
in the years ahead.
David Turner is an ardent supporter
of ensuring agricultural status for
horse farms in Prince George’s County.
He is also a founding member of
the Mid-Atlantic Saddlebreds and an
active member of the Maryland Horse
Council.
|
