Veterinarian Brown to appeal sanction by state
CONWAY — A local veterinarian is appealing the suspension of her license and other sanctions imposed on her by the state’s board of veterinary medicine to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The New Hampshire Board of Veterinary Medicine recently suspended Dr. Sandra Brown’s license.
It issued its order and decision on Oct. 3. It said its findings were based on inspections that took place in May, September, October and December of last year. The inspections were the result of a board order in September of 2015 that said Brown must submit to an inspections for a period of four years.
The state board also imposed restrictions on her ability to administer medication after she was cited for a number of infractions of veterinary law.
Among the complaints lodged against Brown were that she was in possession of expired medications; that her lock box was inadequate for storing medications; that she gave a prescription for Tramadol, an opioid pain medication, in excess of seven days, which is a violation of the law; that she gave expired medications to pet owners who were struggling financially; and that there were errors in her controlled substances log books.
Brown operates a clinic located at 1513 Route 16 in Conway. She also offers veterinary services out a repurposed ambulance.
Her website describes the clinic as offering medical services to “any species from birds to bison and everything in between.” The site says she has 20 years of experience.
Most inspections were done by the board of veterinary medicine, but the one in May was conducted by the New Hampshire Pharmacy Board.
“The board has significant concerns regarding Dr. Brown’s ability to properly prescribe and maintain controlled substances,” the Board of Veterinary Medicine stated. “The board is disappointed in the lack of action and nonchalant attitude of Dr. Brown throughout this entire process over the past two years.”
It did note that she made some improvements to her practice as was recommended. For example, improvements to her lock box were made between October and December of last year.
According to Brown’s lawyer, Michael Chen, Brown was given conflicting information from the board of veterinary medicine and the board of pharmacy about locked boxes and storage of controlled substances.
The board ordered Brown’s license to practice veterinary medicine to be suspended for six months and that following the suspension, she be limited to only practice veterinary medicine without controlled substances except for euthanasia solution.
She was barred from dispensing or administering controlled substances until Dec. 31, 2021.
Members of the board of veterinary medicine are Dr. David Stowe, Dr. Simon George, Dr. Sonnya Dennis, Dr. John MacGregor, Dr. Judy Leclerc, Dr. Stephen Crawford and Elaine Forst, temporary public member.
Brown responded to the charges with the following press release.
“The Board took issue with an extended pain prescription I dispensed for an elderly suffering patient while we awaited results of an anti-inflammatory medication trial, to see if the patient’s quality of life improved before opting for humane euthanasia,” said Brown
“The prescription fell within allowable limits, and though the Board disagrees, I did so to alleviate the problem for the client needing to otherwise travel a long distance to refill the medication.
She also denied dispensing unsafe medications.
“I have, however, dispensed expired medications at no charge, with full disclosure to each client, to accommodate clients who could not otherwise afford the medication,” said Brown. “While the Board of Veterinary Medicine disagrees, this was my attempt to provide those patients in need of veterinary care the assistance they required at a cost the clients could afford.
“According to recent research, the majority of medications, particularly pills and capsules, are more than 90 percent effective after 30 years, if stored in a controlled environment with ideal temperature and humidity.”
Brown asked the board for reconsideration, and her request was considered Nov. 22 but was denied.
In her motion for reconsideration, she said that the case came before the board because of ex-employees who carried a “grudge.”
Now she will appeal.
“I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence,” said Brown. “I believe in the 23 years of practicing veterinary medicine I have lived by, and upheld this oath.
“We will be appealing the Board’s decision to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire to address errors by the Board in reaching its decision.”
Here is a article documenting that various medications can remain at or near their originally potency for 30 years
The Myth of Drug Expiration Dates
Our Federal government has large depots of medications that are kept for some sort of epidemic.. and they routinely do potency testing on these medications and have found that most/many/all medications are within FDA requires for years past the expiration date on the bottle.. and SURPRISINGLY … our Federal government does not discard those medications.. just because the expiration date on the bottle has passed.
In reality … expiration dates… are at best… a educated guess that the medication remains within the 95% -105% of labeled potency as required by Federal law. Really has NOTHING TO DO WITH REALITY
But this is in New Hampshire .. which is in the TOP THREE STATES of opiate abuse is going on…
Filed under: General Problems
For the love of God, they’re now going after our veterinarians? I, for one, wish to applaud this vet for thinking of her patients and their “guardians” who would, otherwise, have difficulties affording medication (particularly pain-relieving) for their fur-babies. This entire situation would be a joke if not for all of those – humans and pets – suffering at the hands of these idiot anti-opioid zealots who have nothing better to do than to dictate what other humans (and pets) knowingly ingest.
Shame on these people for wasting the courts time and the resources.
Are they afraid our pets are now addicted to pain meds now??? If my pets were in pain and I couldn’t get the help id have to put them down. I could not let my pets suffer!
Best of luck Dr Brown!!