Court: Rude Veterinarian Can’t Be Punished

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A veterinarian who told an elderly woman she would “rot in hell” for complaining to state regulators about how he euthanized her sick dog can’t be disciplined, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Tuesday. The court called Dr. James W. Nelson’s conduct “inexcusably rude” but said it did not amount to incompetence.

“‘Unprofessional conduct’ is not the same as ‘professional incompetency,’ and we reject the board’s attempt to treat them as identical concepts,” wrote Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt.

The decision overturned Nelson’s public reprimand by the State Board of Veterinary Medicine and its requirements that he undergo anger-management counseling, attend classes in dealing with owners of euthanized animals and write a letter of apology.

Betty Voorhies brought Lady, a cockapoo, to Nelson’s clinic on Sept. 4, 2001, after the veterinarian had urged her repeatedly to put down the dog. Lady, 17, was blind in one eye and suffered breathing problems from an enlarged heart.

After two failed attempts to inject the fatal solution into Lady’s front legs, Nelson injected it into the struggling animal’s jugular vein, “causing the dog to howl and collapse,” according to the court opinion. Voorhies became highly upset and accused him of torturing Lady to death.

Voorhies filed a complaint. The same day a state investigator visited Nelson’s office in northwestern Pennsylvania, the veterinarian phoned Voorhies to pressure her to drop the matter.

“When (Voorhies) refused to answer his questions, (Nelson) loudly told the client that her soul would rot in hell for what she was trying to do to him,” wrote board attorney Teresa A. Lazo-Miller.

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Ruling: http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/CWealth/out/1216CD04-12–04 .pdf