Injunction prevents Non-Veterinarian from Performing Equine Dentistry
We in BC have just had devastating news about our equine dental practitioner Bill Bishop. Below is the article in our newspaper and a BCVMA link to the summary text of the injunction preventing non-veterinarians from practising dentistry.
I view this court ruling as the loss of our rights as Canadians to "choose" and it erks me to no end that the courts would put animals under the regulation of a group who knows little or nothing about the services they wish to have complete control over.
Does anyone have any advice to help us get our legislation changed (fast) to reflect our need to have access to holistic health and competent health care providers for animals (the same access that we have as humans) and to protect our basic rights "to choose" the modality and provider. Freedom of choice has been taken from us. Does anyone know how to go about fighting an injunction like this? If you are interested in reading the summary text of the injunction, you can download it at the BCVMA website: http://www.bcvma.org/cfm/index.cfm.
Note that Bill is ok to practice in Alberta, because "the omission of the reference to dentistry in that province's Veterinary Profession Act, indicated a clear intent on the part of the Alberta legislature to exclude dentistry from veterinary 'medical services'." The Court's decision was based on the fact that "dentistry" IS included within the definition of veterinary medicine in (BC's) Veterinarians Act . so in truth, it was based on "words on paper", not on public interest. Here is the contact info for the BCVMA:
British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association
107 - 828 Harbourside Drive,
North Vancouver, BC
V7P 3R9
Tel: 604-929-7090
Toll Free in BC: 1-800-463-5399
Fax: 604-929-7095
email: info@bcvma.org
Injunction prevents Non-Veterinarian from Performing Equine Dentistry
This article was in
Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 12, 2006
The B.C. Veterinary Medical Association has been awarded an injunction preventing a B.C. man from "floating" horses' teeth because he is not a qualified veterinarian.
The injunction prohibits Bill Bishop, doing business under the name The Horse's Mouth Equine Dentistry, from performing equine dentistry.
It was granted by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen after a five-day hearing in which Bishop unsuccessfully argued that floating horses' teeth -- balancing them to ensure proper surfaces when a horse eats -- was traditionally done by farriers, the professionals who shoe horses, and not vets. The ruling will prevent Bishop from practising in B.C. but won't affect his operations in Alberta, said his Vancouver lawyer George Gregory.
Gregory said it appears veterinarians only became interested in floating teeth after the advent of small power tools that enable them to grind teeth. "Before that it was a long and difficult process that had to be done by hand," he said.