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| Kitty Kat Gonzalez, Corpus Christi Victim of Vaccine Associated Sarcoma |
If
you are one of those pet owners who never give vaccinations a second
thought, think that nothing bad can happen to your pet because you
follow your vet's recommendations to get your pets regularly
vaccinated, or believe that veterinarians and state vet boards would never do
anything to endanger the lives of our beloved companions – you
better run, do not walk, to this excellent new web site, Educate Before You Vaccinate.
Site owner Jena Gonzalez is a Corpus Christi, Texas, resident who found out the hard way (and
don't we all when it comes to questionable veterinary practices) that
vaccinations are not always the harmless panacea that they seem. In
fact, they can sometimes be the cause of illness, injury and even
death. And Jena is fighting back.
When
Jena learned that the loss of her Kitty Kat to Vaccine Associated
Sarcoma (VAS) was one of those tragedies that could have been
avoided, she took on this very important cause to help spread the
word: Educate before you vaccinate.
Jena's site and blog of the same name is a wealth of important
information, links, background, articles and research on VAS, and how to report adverse events.
It also chronicles the timeline of the lawsuit against the vet who treated Kitty Kat (more on this below).
Taking
on the Texas veterinary board
Jena's
complaint to the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners was
dismissed. No big surprise there – the “board” in Texas (i.e.,
two reviewing vets) dismisses more than 90 percent of complaints.
Worse, the system is arrogantly inconsistent about which vets they
discipline; some get their hands slapped for violating standards of
care while others happily walk free for committing the same type of
violations.
Bottom
line: it's an arbitrary system that can't be trusted. And of course
Jena lost her “appeal” because I don't know of a single
complainant who's ever won their appeal (please somebody correct me
if I'm wrong and supply me with verifying documents).
Further, in a series of correspondences with the Texas veterinary board's offices in Austin,
Jena discovered that they are not even officially notifying losing
complainants of their right to appeal. She called them out on it and
supposedly they will be rectifying their “oversight” soon. I know
Jena will be watching them closely, as others have been doing for
years, with varying degrees of success.
Taking
on the courts
Jena
is doing more than just putting up a web site and challenging the
Texas board system: She filed a lawsuit against the vet for negligence in small claims
court in Nueces County.
It
did not end well – not for her, not for other victims of VAS,
and not for the people of Corpus Christi,Texas whose pets are still
at risk from questionable and misleading practices regarding the issue
of vaccination and overvaccination of pets, all under the guise of
acceptable “standard of care.”
Read the history and outcome of this case and ask
yourself if you agree with what the judge ruled is the “standard of
care” in Corpus Christi, Texas? Would you still agree if this happened to
your pet?
Despite
the setbacks, Jena's not done with her fight. For more
information on Jena Gonzalez, her original lawsuit, and
the progress of her current court case, check her out on Facebook,
and follow her on Twitter.
Stay
tuned.
