AUSTIN, Tex., AUGUST 17, 2020 -- It was 20 years ago today, August 17, 2000, when Suki's killer Edward J Nichols, Crestway Animal Clinic, attended an Informal Conference (IC) in Austin, TX, to decide whether 1) Nichols would be disciplined for his actions toward Suki as outlined in my 53-page complaint and documentation dated December 7, 1999, 2) the complaint warranted further investigation, or 3) the complaint would be dismissed.
I was in that little conference room, witnessing countless lies told by Suki's killer Ed Nichols to a group of guys who had ZERO authority to discipline him. There was NO vet board, just this impotent little group of laymen led by ONE vet from the board. Martin E Garcia III, who was in charge. But the system in Texas protects its pet-killing "doctors" by making sure there is no official record of those lies.
Like everything else, it is up to me to tell What Happened to Suki and What Happened to Me in that room in Austin, witnessing Nichols' repeated lies never realizing he would still be telling them 20 years later. But then at the time I was sure he would be punished for what he had done, for so long, in so many ways, to Suki.
After all, I had every piece of proof in his own handwriting and chart.
On that day, Martin E. Garcia III, a hideous now-disgraced but filthy rich vet who as of 2011 no longer practices thanks to being caught and officially disciplined for some, ahem, controlled substance record keeping violations of his own, decided (after conferring privately with Nichols after I was told to leave the room) that my complaint was to be dismissed, "GIVEN HER AGE."
GIVEN HER AGE, the IC was over and Nichols had won.
Garcia never even said Suki's name, referring to her only as an "old cat." Even after the investigator and I caught Nichols in lies he had told Garcia when I was out of the room, Garcia's mouth formed a smarmy smirk and ignored us, looking only across the table at Nichols in a locked gaze.
As the ONLY guy in that room with any authority (the rest were there only for window dressing) Garcia had sole power to let Nichols go -- and he did. And he used Suki's age against her to excuse everything Nichols had done to her and not done for her.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki could be operated on under dangerous anesthesia with no owner consent.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki was not entitled to presurgical labwork who, by Nichols own handwriting, was in "multiple organ shutdown."
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki was not entitled to IV fluids before, during or after the unauthorized dangerous surgery under anesthesia for a cat who, in Nichols own handwriting, was "v. dehydrated."
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki was not entitled to potassium supplementation with K count of 2.9.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki was forced to endure dehydration, surgery and anesthesia with a phosphorous count of 17.1 at the time of surgery.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki could be put into an induction box and forced to breathe a mix of nitrous oxide and halothane, pure poison that was ultimately the cause of acute renal failure in a cat with provable CRF with no such Dx on her records.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki was forced to endure whatever Edward J. Nichols wanted to do to an elderly cat who had collapsed the morning of April 19, 1999 and had lost the use of her back legs.
GIVEN HER AGE, Suki could be pumped full of dexamethasone by Nichols who had written "release home tonight" on her chart, telling me in person to "take her home and be with her." That was April 19, 1999. I took Suki the next day to a hospital who did everything they could, but could not undo the irreversible damage over weeks and months inflicted on her by "Dr" Nichols.
And at the IC in Austin, one final insult from the creep Garcia, who looked very pleased with himself as did Suki's killer Ed Nichols:
GIVEN HER AGE, neither Suki nor I were entitled to accurate medical records. Nichols had repeatedly left off: weight, temperature, diagnoses, symptoms, recommendations, recheck dates, Rx, and the type/frequency/amount of home subQ fluids which is also an Rx.
There was no indication of CRF, anemia, or hypokalemia on her chart, all of which Suki had.
Nichols piped up and said that the labwork served as the diagnoses and therefore it was not required for him to put those on her chart. Garcia smiled and nodded like he brainless imbecile he is.
When I challenged Garcia on how he could justify Nichols' mistreatment of Suki in so many different ways. Lee Matthews, attorney representing the board in that IC (I was refused my request to bring my attorney), screamed at the top of his lungs in my face: "YOU ARE NOT A VETERINARIAN!!!!"
So Garcia wouldn't even discipline Suki's killer for the pathetic, lazy, sloppy, careless state of his records. When asked by board attorney Lee Matthews why so much information was left off of his records (including the "many many conversations" Nichols claimed that he had with me that never happened) -- Nichols replied: "I inherited that record keeping system from the vet I bought the clinic from."
Garcia accepted that "explanation," too, even though "the system" was a piece of paper and a pen. Oh, and White Out for those pesky things no one should see. Suki's original chart had White Out on it. In the IC I asked what that was and Nichols said he didn't do it so he didn't know.
I watched BadVet Edward J. Nichols convince BadVet Martin E. Garcia III that he was not responsible for his own record keeping and Garcia was perfectly okay with that. No other vet but Nichols saw Suki during that time, 13 visits in three years. I mention that because Nichols griped and moaned "I hardly ever saw Suki - Julie rarely brought her in." 13 times in three years - the last four times in the last four weeks in his "care." All verified by his own chart, and yet in typical Nichols' fashion, blatantly lied about things that were provably false.
Lie after lie after lie. Just another day with Suki's killer and the people in Austin whose job it is to protect "doctors" like him.
And now, to clear up just one of Nichols' enduring lies, of which there are countless:
There was NEVER A TEXAS BOARD HEARING in Suki's case. The Informal Conference is a low-level closed-door meeting around a table with no record of its proceedings.
By contrast, board hearings are public just like trials, with recordings. They are open to the public with a public record.
Nichols has lied about that for 20 years like he has lied about me and Suki for 21, ever since we both defied him -- she kept herself alive for one week after what he inflicted in her in that OR on April 19, 1999. And I refused to reveal Suki's whereabouts during that following week as he repeatedly called to scream at me, demanding to know where she was and why the "idiots" treating her "haven't bothered to call me!" The ego on this freak show is beyond belief.
I refused to tell the screaming Nichols where Suki was, knowing above all that I had to protect Suki, even though the damage he inflicted turned out to be irreversible. Three expert vets independently confirmed his repeated violations of the standard of care to the court during Nichols' insane SLAPP suit against me from 2005-2008, where he got his ass handed to him several different ways. I can never thank those vets enough. Nichols had not one expert vet to defend what he did to Suki. NOT ONE.
For me, today is just as difficult to get through as Suki's actual death, because it reminds me of witnessing that pompous little "Enforcement Committee" in Austin letting Nichols kill Suki all over again, right in front of me, in a sham of a proceeding called the Informal Conference.
Garcia's blatant, indefensible ignoring of every piece of evidence was a horror show I will never forget or forgive. The exact same evidence that Garcia ignored is the same documentation that my three expert vets saw in Nichols' failed lawsuit against me.
I watched an incompetent, negligent, lazy, careless, sloppy, stupid sorry excuse for a"doctor" lie to the one group I TRUSTED to bring even a small amount of justice for a cat who never did anything to deserve the repeated insanity inflicted on her by a vet who now struts around claiming that a "hearing" in Austin "exonerated" him. It's a lie. There was never a hearing for Edward J. Nichols. He lied his way out of all accountability.
Today the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners is STILL allowing BadVets to harm and kill pets so they can brag to their friends, families, clueless customers, and "reporters" that they never did anything wrong and "the board" proved it.
All that the TBVME proves every day is that they have only one mission -- to protect BadVets at any cost. And there wasn't even a board in Suki's case - she wasn't even worth that.
Just one lousy, crummy, disgusting vet who surrendered his own license in 2011 rather than take his disciplinary medicine but who had "cleared" Suki's killer in 2000 while smiling at me just to let me know that he could. Another coward just like Nichols. The system showed Garcia plenty of mercy while he used that same system to smirk at and demean me.
The one bright spot - make that two: Filthy rich Martin E. Garcia III can no longer practice in Texas, and killioinaire coward Edward J. Nichols has spent the last 21 years lying, including running from his own lawsuit the night before my trial, smearing my name, and spreading his lies to whoever will listen. His lying and cowardice continue to prove -- better than I ever could -- what he did to Suki and what he did to me.
Still lying. Forever lying. Eternally lying. That does make me happy as I can only hope and pray that the considerable weight of countless constant lies, deflections, and distractions over 21 years is somehow taking its toll.
And I did get in one final statement to Garcia before I left that little room in Austin, looking straight at his smug, ugly face, "This is far from over."
I think I made good on that. And I said it with a smile. -- JC.
