1999-2019

20 YEARS AND COUNTING 

20 years of consumer advocacy for veterinary victims everywhere

With a lot of help from our friends! 

 

April 26, 2019--If anyone had told me in 1999 that I would be typing this 20 years in the future, I would have told them they were crazy. 

What I didn't know at that time was that the crazy hadn't even begun. 

Yes, Suki was hideously mistreated to death by "Dr" Ed Nichols, Crestway Animal Clinic, who on April 19, 1999 pushed a collapsed, v. dehydrated cat already in multiple organ shutdown from chronic renal failure (no chart note) into acute renal failure from which there is little chance of return, using dangerous anesthesia to perform an unauthorized surgery, pumping her with steroids, and leaving her alone, dying, in a cage without a word to me.
 
Suki defied him by keeping herself alive for another week.
That was my first lesson in what happens to those who make the huge mistake of defying a toxic and irredeemable BadVet--in this case a monster--who thinks the world and everyone in it is his to control. My second lesson in the dangers of standing up to a BadVet was when I went to get Suki's complete medical record and Nichols went completely bonkers--screaming, stomping, attacking, threatening, red faced and enraged. As my attorney said afterwards, laughing, when I relayed the actions of this lunatic, "The guy knows how much trouble he's in."

But the real portal to Hell was in Austin, the summer of 2000, where consummate liar Nichols got away with every single act of unspeakable negligence--with a little help from his friend and fellow BadVet Martin E. Garcia who deliberately ignored every piece of evidence of malpractice including "records" that were as pathetic and deficient as Nichols is. (Happily, Garcia no longer has a Texas vet license, having been caught in some controlled substance recordkeeping "issues" that spanned multiple years. And even after his big win at escaping all accountability for Suki's death by lying and his absolutely useless records, Nichols threatened me again in the lobby on the way out ("You just keep trying").

So I did.Through a three year abusive SLAPP suit thanks to monster (and loser) Ed Nichols.

And I am. Almost every day, reading and answering email, posting, researching. 

And I always will. I owe Suki that much, for trusting a monster who abused that trust. 

With time and technology, vet victims of veterinary malpractice, incompetence, negligence and abuse, hundreds of them, started to find one another. Long before there was social media, there were websites, blogs, message boards, support groups, email, and always the telephone where we could keep one another company through years (yes, years) of torturous insomnia and soul-crushing stress. I recall all-night talks and tears with other early victims, trying to figure out how and why professional "animal lovers" could commit these atrocities, until we realized that they were able to do so with the help of state vet boards and their own professional organizations dedicated to keeping these killers on the streets without one thought to the families they tore apart--first with the killings, and then with the lies.

Yes, a lot has happened in 20 years--way too much for a blog post. This doesn't even scratch the surface. But I tried. 

What will the next two decades bring? Who knows. Nowdays, I must move much faster just to stay in one place and still dodge the torrent of lies by emotionally arrested crybabies who were apparently taught that any criticism is defamatory, negative reviews are "false" reviews, the emotions of a vet take precedence over the health and well being of a pet, and the bruised egos of spiteful, malicious and entitled liars are reason enough to do whatever needed to inflict as much pain, grief and loss as they deem necessary. And it's still not enough to satisfy these bottomless bins of trash disguised as humans and "doctors."


Along with the wholesale abuse of public trust on a massive scale by deliberately manipulating suicide statistics to mislead people into believing that vets are killing themselves bigger, better, faster and more often than any other profession, BadVets are now on a quest to make their own clients responsible for the mental health of these overgrown brats who are so very valuable, fragile and special that any criticism (now rebranded as bullying) could drive them to kill themselves and it will never be their fault because nothing ever is--not even their own suicides.

Meanwhile, as the narcissists, babies, whiners and criers console one another over their "plight," the unending loss of pet life at the hands of soulless monsters continues, and a hopelessly out-of-date profession scrambles to maintain its toxic control over a public that just wants their animals treated ethically and humanely without having to make sure that their vets are happy and getting extra plates of ego pellets at Christmas. 

There is no doubt that the ability of vet victims to communicate with one another and the public is the BadVet's worst nightmare. Good. No sympathy here. Now it's their turn to commiserate with one another and their "professional" organizations about how to regain control of an archaic world that is gone forever and they are just too stupid to recognize it. How ironic that these brilliant scientists and "doctors" apparently are completely unaware of the basic tenet of evolution: Adapt or die. 

Maybe the poor dears thought that didn't apply to them, you know, what with being so special and all. 

Thank you to everyone who has been such an incredible source of support, to me, to one another, and to a cause that we all hope brings an end to the suffering of innocent pets at the hands of BadVets.  

The story continues...

--Julie Catalano and Angel Suki

April 26, 2019

 

 

Suki the Siamese, happily at work in happier times.

Nineteen Years: The Voice May Be Stilled, but It's Still a Voice

 

April 26, 2018-- Veterinary licensing and regulatory board systems may not be much, but for most vet victims it's all we've got. On this 19th anniversary of Suki's passing (April 26, 1999), it's more important than ever to speak up and speak out to the government entities who are charged with protecting the public but may in fact be more concerned with protecting those who harmed and killed our pets. Below are my citizen comments for the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (TBVME) submitted in January of this year with the hope that these words and the words of so many others devastated by the loss of their family members at the hands of incompetent, negligent and abusive veterinarians will someday, some how, some way, be heard by somebody at the state level who is truly interested in making a difference.--JC

January 16, 2018

To the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners:

When my cat Suki was killed by a Texas veterinarian in April 1999 I was plunged into a nightmare that not even the most imaginative horror writer could have conjured. Apart from having to live with the knowledge that a vet misused his education and skills to actually harm rather than help a family pet--which was horrifying enough--I also had to deal with a board system that ensured that there would never be Justice for Suki.

I refused to accept that fate, and instead chose to go public with Suki's Story that told chapter and verse, with supporting documentation from his own records, how Edward J. Nichols of Crestway Animal Clinic had mistreated my innocent cat so badly and for so long that to this day, not one veterinarian on this planet has ever been able to explain why this vet did what he did. Not even the vet himself. Instead he resorted to revisionist history, blame shifting, personal and professional defamation, threats and lies--all tactics that he has used for almost two decades, including filing an abusive SLAPP suit in 2005 in a years-long failed attempt to enforce prior restraint through a permanent (unconstitutional) injunction which was denied by the courts and affirmed at the appellate level.

Try as he might and despite his millions, Suki's killer cannot suppress the truth.

But it wasn't surprising that he thought he could. After all, he had had help from a system that deliberately looked the other way. Like so many BadVets before and since, he walked scot-free from all accountability despite a mountain of verifiable evidence ranging from repeated breaches of the Professional Standard of Humane Treatment to insanely egregious record keeping violations.  According to the then-reviewing Board Secretary (and now thankfully license-free vet due to his own problems with controlled substance record keeping), Suki was "an old cat."

Later, when I asked the Board attorney at what age is an animal patient no longer entitled to the Professional Standard of Humane Treatment--I really needed to know so that I could pass on that information to others who also needed to know--he was silent. He remained silent during all the subsequent times I asked him that question.

Maybe you, as a Board, can choose to be silent when tough questions asked of you are too uncomfortable or unanswerable, but we, as victims, cannot. The Texas veterinary board system failed Suki and me, and if the last almost 19 years are any indication, it continues to fail many people who had no idea that incompetent, negligent, and abusive vets can and do get away with inflicting pain, loss, grief and yes, horror, first on our pets and then on us, using a board system that has repeatedly proven its allegiance to its own industry instead of the public they are charged with protecting.

When vet victims experience the double whammy of 1) losing a pet to veterinary malfeasance and then 2) watching a state agency use their power to protect a veterinarian rather than the public, there's not much to reassure veterinary victims.

Except this. These are hopeful times. Real life horror stories of abuse of power that were once untold, unacknowledged, and carefully protected from public view are being exposed. You may have the power, but we have the truth. We will speak that truth to power forever and we will do it in the disinfectant of daylight, so that the veterinary consumers of Texas can decide for themselves which side is more interested in protecting their animal companions. 

Thank you for your time.

April 26, 2014: the 15th Anniversary of Suki's Death

"Suki's Sunflower," pastel.
Copyright 2011, Julie Catalano

April 26, 2014--Fifteen years. Fifteen years since my Suki was taken from me by a so-called doctor who had no right, reason, or permission to do what he did. 

Of the hundreds of fellow victims I have communicated with over 15 years, we all agree, almost to a person: My life will never be the same. 

 

But we keep fighting. 

We fight through the maze of state veterinary boards who frequently look the other way, letting a vet walk scot-free or administering not much more than a slap on the wrist, if that.

We witness endless frustrations with a legal system that gives little or no protection to our beloved family members who turn into worthless property once a vet has harmed or killed them. 

We shake our heads as we have to listen to the endless, disgusting filth spread by smug BadVets and their sadistic groupies who delight in taunting us, "Everything dies, get over it, get help" no matter how much documented evidence exists to prove negligence or malpractice. Sadists don't care. Their job is to inflict the maximum amount of pain, not to be bothered with facts. 

We slog through the death threats and hate mail (and after 15 years I must hold the record), along with sanctimonious preaching by a vet's friends, family, and fans who 1)  have no earthly idea what really happened, or 2) worse, know what happened but couldn't care less, because their friend comes before any laws, statutes, humanity, or decency. And BadVets love it, because they already know what they did; the fun part is watching the clueless fans buy into the lie. As one of the investigators in Austin told me: "For some of these people, it's a game." 

 

Believe me, I know exactly what he meant. 

But after 15 years I think I can say that things are slowly...slowly... getting better. Little by little, as victims find each other, tell our stories, file board complaints, and use our websites, blogs, and social media to get the word out, there will be fewer places for the worst of the profession to hide. Increased media coverage on BadVets has accomplished two wonderful things: Documented cases of allegations, charges and/or convictions; and putting the vets' names and their own words, in writing, for public scrutiny, forever. 

 

Vet boards know they are being watched too. Some are handling it better than others. 

So we keep fighting. For better laws, better procedures and policies at the state board level, and better protection for companion animals who never deserved what was done to them. We don't this for our pets. For most of us, our pets are dead. We do this, as I frequently say, for the people who have not yet met the vet who's going to change their lives forever. May you never meet that vet. 

Thank you for your unflagging support, friendship, love, encouragement, and most of all for your own advocacy. We will make a difference. We are making a difference. 

-- Julie Catalano, Founder, Veterinary Abuse Network and Suki's Safe Haven

Founded in memory of Suki the cat, victim of Edward J. Nichols, Crestway Animal Clinic, San Antonio, Texas 

Related: 

"Fifteen Years," The Veterinary Abuse Network, vetabusenetwork.com, April 26, 2014