July 15, 2008:
Please go to Aloutte Animal Hospital's web site (link at bottom of this post)
The Vancouver Sun published a list of vets that were named in the lawsuit referred to in the below article. AAS removed that section of the article in its entirety when it was brought to our attention that Dr Michael Orser of Alouette Animal Hospital had not been named in the lawsuit. We retracted the list and we apologize to Dr Orser for any harm or distress this has caused him.
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Lawsuits have B.C. veterinary association facing ruin
Nicholas Read, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, January 04, 2007
The B.C. Veterinary Medical Association is facing possible financial ruin and the resignation of its staff and volunteers because of lawsuits, and a punishing new insurance policy that calls for a $50,000 deductible for each new claim.
The situation is so critical, says a letter sent to the BCVMA's 1,175 members on Dec. 7, and obtained Wednesday by The Vancouver Sun, that unless money can be found to fight the lawsuits, association members, volunteers and staff will have to resign.
The BCVMA is the professional bodies of veterinarians. It has the power to set standards and discipline members of the profession.
At issue are lawsuits launched by B.C. Veterinarians for Justice, an association of 37 predominantly Indo-Canadian and foreign-trained veterinarians, formed in 2002.
They claim the BCVMA discriminates against Indo-Canadian vets by demanding they pass English-language proficiency tests before being granted licences to practise.
Those vets say the tests were introduced because BCVMA members were angry that Indo-Canadian veterinarians were charging significantly less for basic veterinary procedures, such as spaying or neutering a dog or cat, than other BCVMA members were charging.
For example, Veterinarians for Justice spokesman Dr. Hakam Bhullar said in 2005, at his clinic he charged $45 for spaying a cat, while the BCVMA's recommended fee was then about $140. He charged $22 to vaccinate a cat, while the recommended fee was then $85.
As a result, Veterinarians for Justice accused the BCVMA in court documents of discrimination, abuse of process and power, malicious prosecution, defamation, conspiracy and promotion of hatred against them on the basis of race. They also filed suits against the BCVMA totalling more than $10 million with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal and B.C. Supreme Court. In addition, the BCVMA and some of its members face up to 40 other lawsuits from individual pet owners who claim the BCVMA failed to discipline member veterinarians when, the claimants say, the vets delivered inadequate or improper care to their animals.
"It's not resentment," Bhullar said of his reasons for orchestrating the lawsuits.
"It's not like I'm against anybody. It's not a race issue. It's for the safety and protection of the public and their animals."
However, he does concede it was Veterinarians for Justice that found the claimants by putting advertisements in 13 Lower Mainland newspapers, asking for people with complaints against the BCVMA to make themselves known to the organization.
Veterinarians for Justice also urged the claimants to take their complaints to court because, Bhullar alleges, since 2004, Indo-Canadian vets have been singled out unfairly by the BCVMA for disciplinary action. Eight suits were filed in B.C. Supreme Court last month, but Bhullar says 32 more are pending, and should be filed within the next two
months.
It is because of these suits and the ones filed by Veterinarians for Justice, says the letter from the BCVMA council, that insurers for the BCVMA cannot renew existing coverage on the same terms as before.
- ow, in addition to the $50,000 deductible for each new claim, the maximum coverage for indemnity and legal defence costs for any new claim will be $500,000 up to a total of $2 million for all existing and new claims, the letter says. The annual premium for the new coverage has also increased from $32,500 to $90,000.
BCVMA president Dr. Andrew Forsyth couldn't say how this year's coverage differs from last year's, but he confirmed that unless steps are taken to address the association's insurance problems, it is possible that staff and volunteers -- including the council -- may have to resign.
"The matter is urgent," says the letter signed by the association council, a governing agency of eight veterinarians elected by the membership every two years. "The current situation is untenable and momentous for our profession," the letter said.
"The recent new lawsuits have made it difficult for the BCVMA to secure sufficient directors' and officers' liability insurance," Forsyth said.
The province has stepped in with an arrangement to ensure that the volunteers and staff of the BCVMA who act on behalf of the pet-owning public to ensure proper standards of practice are not placed in the precarious position of having to defend themselves personally if there are new claims from whatever source.
However, BCVMA registrar Valerie Osborne said it is expected that this so-called "gap insurance" will be temporary pending the ability of BCVMA members to come up with an arrangement themselves.
The lawyer acting for the eight complainants, Gerard Pyper of Surrey, was not available Wednesday to comment, but according to statements of claim filed last month, claimants are seeking financial compensation from veterinarians for emotional trauma, financial hardship, loss of faith and trust in the veterinary profession, and from the BCVMA for financial hardship, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of their pets in those cases where the animals died.
Pyper was hired by Veterinarians for Justice to represent all the individuals claiming wrongdoing by the vets and the BCVMA.
But Bhullar says any settlements won will be awarded to the claimants, and not Veterinarians for Justice. The latter will only seek to be reimbursed for its legal costs.
Bhullar says that since 2004 the BCVMA has dismissed all customer complaints against its member veterinarians except for complaints made against 12 Indo-Canadian vets.
Forsyth says it is every veterinarian's right to argue his or her case before a formal inquiry hearing, which is what those 12 vets appear to have done. But most complaints, he said, are dealt with through an "alternate complaint resolution" process whereby the complaint is gone over privately by a team of veterinarians with the veterinarian in question.
However, neither he nor Osborne could comment on Bhullar's assertion that only Indo-Canadian vets have been singled out for disciplining, saying the BCVMA does not keep records based on race, age or sex. If a vet is found to be guilty of making a clinical or diagnostic error, the BCVMA may discipline him or her with a letter of reprimand, an instruction to get further education, a fine or even a temporary suspension, depending on the severity of the mistake. If a suspension is imposed, the BCVMA is required to publish news of that suspension in its newsletter.
The BCVMA operates on an annual budget of about $1.5 million.