Navigating a Complaint with Your Veterinary Licensing Board: A Veterinarian’s Perspective

Receiving a complaint from your provincial or state veterinary licensing board is one of the most stressful experiences a veterinarian can face. It is deeply personal, as it can feel like an attack on your ethics, morals, and very identity as a professional and as a person. It can make you question everything, despite the years of dedication you’ve put into animal health and welfare.

The worst part? The language used in the process makes you feel guilty until you prove otherwise. There is little presumption of good intent, and instead, the burden is placed entirely on the veterinarian to demonstrate that they acted within the best of their knowledge at the time. This isn’t just an evaluation of clinical decisions, it’s a judgment on you as a person and professional. In some cases, these decisions are being made by people who have never been in your position. Worse yet, your veterinary colleagues are judging you.

The one thing that one of my mentors taught me early on was to not throw your fellow veterinarians under the bus, as you were not there in the moment when the pet presented to their practice.

The second thing that this mentor taught me was to always document events in the medical record.

Before you read more... make sure you have a support system in place for your mental health.

Understanding the Complaint Process

Veterinary licensing boards investigate complaints related to professional conduct, clinical competence, and ethical concerns. Depending on the province or state, the complaints committee may be made up of members of the public, legal professionals such as paralegals, and veterinarians.

Once a complaint is filed, you will be notified in writing, outlining the allegations and requesting a response.

The process generally follows these steps:

1. Initial Notification: You receive a formal letter detailing the complaint. This can be emotionally triggering, but it’s essential to remain calm and avoid a reactionary response.

2. Your Written Response: You will have a deadline to submit a detailed, factual response. This is your opportunity to clarify events, provide medical records, and demonstrate adherence to professional standards. Stick to the facts.

3. Investigation and Review: The board may gather additional evidence, interview witnesses, or request expert opinions.

4. Decision and Possible Outcomes: The complaint may be dismissed, or the board may recommend remediation, disciplinary action, or in extreme cases, license suspension or revocation.

   
   

The Reality of a Lengthy Complaint Process

It's important to understand that these processes can take time, sometimes an excruciating amount of time. In my case, the journey from the initial complaint to resolution took three years.

That’s three years of waiting in limbo, waking up several mornings with a knot in my stomach, wondering if today would bring another blow, as every email you receive from the governing body could be delivering bad news. Three years of replaying every decision, every interaction, every word spoken to that client, desperately trying to convince myself I had done everything I could. Three years of fearing that one mistake, one perceived misstep, could erase everything I had worked for.

The weight of uncertainty is suffocating. The self-doubt becomes relentless. You wonder if your colleagues look at you differently. You start to hesitate in cases you’d normally handle with confidence because suddenly, you’re questioning your own judgment. You start practicing in fear of another complaint. You desperately try to keep up with your medical records, chasing down technicians and front-end staff to ensure that every conversation is documented, just in case it happens again. Every note, every discussion, every decision feels like it could be the one that determines whether you’ll have to fight for your career all over again. You may even wonder if you should exit the profession altogether.

And then, you receive the final report, a 90-page document detailing everything you supposedly did wrong.

Tears well up in my eyes, because every time I have to read about this, I think:

“What did I do wrong?”

I go over every detail, over and over again. Not only do the clients not have closure, I don’t have closure.

I don’t know what went wrong. I can only speculate, and I will never get the answers. We will never get the answers.

For three years, I lived in a constant state of uncertainty, but when the process finally ended, I was left with no real resolution. I also have to think about how this client feels. We talk about burden transfer, which happens all of the time with veterinarians, but is this resolution enough to unburden the clients of their own grief and guilt? Perhaps instead of paying legal bills, the college should be paying for a veterinary social worker to provide coping strategies for the veterinarians and the clients alike.

Speaking of being burdened...

Systemic Delays and an Overburdened Process for Veterinary Complaints

The bigger problem is that the problem with the complaints process is it is bigger than you or I.

As noted by Horse Sport managing editor, Susan Stafford-Pooley:

"The wheels turn slowly once a complaint is lodged with the CVO, and an uptick in the volume of complaints over the past few years has not helped the situation."

She quotes Shilo Tooze, Associate Registrar of Licensure at the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO), who acknowledges that complaints take far too long to be resolved:

“The process is defined in the College’s governing legislation. The time to process complaints is dependent on the volume of complaints the College receives. Since 2019, we have seen a significant increase in the number of complaints. Unfortunately, at this time, a complaint may take two years to be resolved.” (Horse Sport)

The College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) has acknowledged that its current complaints process is flawed and burdened by antiquated legislation that creates major barriers to improving efficiency.

In its Winter 2021 College Connection newsletter, the CVO reported:

"Our current timelines to process a complaint are not good. There are currently over 500 open complaints at the College. In the current model, the College has the capacity to dispose of about 216 complaints per year. This obviously creates a lengthy process that causes stress for all involved. The backlog of complaints continues to grow faster than our ability to process them." (College Connection, Winter 2021)

Another major flaw in the current system is that the College cannot easily dismiss low-risk or frivolous complaints:

"The College is often asked why we are investigating a matter where there are clearly no concerns. The answer is that we do not have the authority to choose which matters to investigate or not. All matters must go through an investigation and be addressed by our Complaints Committee."

As a result, cases with no actual merit still go through the full investigation process, further overloading an already strained system.

More recently the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia have reported their deficit, where the financial burden of the complaints process has increased by over 100% in the past two years.

The college's financial statements show a cumulative deficit of nearly $1.2 million at the end of its 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, however, in the two years before that, it had a budget surplus of nearly half a million dollars. A note in the 2023-2024 annual report explains the deficit.

Many veterinarians may ask, who is running this budget? Where is the money going?

If you look at the financial statements, which are all freely available online, as this news article has linked to it... that deficiency of revenues over expenses for the most part comes from paying for legal services. In 2022, legal services cost the CVBC $231,573 while in 2024, this has increased to $903,282.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Faster, More Efficient Path?

In Ontario, the newly introduced Veterinary Professionals Act offers an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process that may provide a faster resolution than the current overburdened system. ADR allows for mediation between the complainant and the veterinarian, bypassing lengthy investigations in cases where a mutually agreeable resolution is possible.

Key Features of the ADR Process

• Confidentiality: All discussions during ADR are confidential and cannot be used against either party in future proceedings.

• Facilitator Independence: The person mediating the dispute cannot later participate in formal investigations or disciplinary actions regarding the same matter.

• Registrar’s Role: If an agreement is reached, the Registrar may adopt the resolution or refer it to the Investigations and Resolutions Committee for approval.

• Time-Limited: If ADR does not resolve the complaint within 120 days, it is referred back to the Investigations and Resolutions Committee for a formal investigation.

ADR could provide veterinarians with an opportunity to resolve complaints more efficiently, avoiding years of uncertainty under the current system. If properly implemented, it could be a lifeline for veterinarians drowning in a process that currently offers little relief.

Final Thoughts

This is the reality of veterinary medicine today. Not only are we working harder than ever, but we are doing it under the constant threat of complaints that may take years to resolve.

After the CVBC announced that they were in a deficit, the BCSPCA posted this:

A strong regulatory body focused on public interest is essential to improving ongoing challenges with access to affordable veterinary services, and to ensuring ethical and competent veterinary care across British Columbia. The BC SPCA supports the CVBC’s proposed fee increases and encourages registrants to vote in favour of the resolution.

Increasing licensing fees for veterinarians isn't the answer to improving affordable veterinary services. We all know that increased fee is going to be funneled down to the pet owner. The entire system of the complaints process needs an overhaul. I may not have all of the answers, but I also cannot stand blindly paying for fees that do not solve the underlying problem.

Now, to every veterinarian who has been through this: You are more than one complaint. You are more than one case. You are not alone.

#NOMV