Supreme Judicial Court Hears Appeal Over Two‑Year Suspension of Veterinarian Following Client Email on Ozone Therapy

The Supreme Judicial Court on oral argument considered whether a March 16, 2020 client email from Dr. Margo Roman constituted practicing beyond the scope of a veterinary license and whether the Board of Registration in Veterinary Medicine overstepped in suspending her license for two years.

Attorney Martha Coakley, representing Dr. Roman, told the court that “we asked this court to find for Doctor Roman on this appeal and restore her license.” Coakley argued that the single email was general health advice, not one of the specific acts that Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 112, § 58 lists as “practicing” (diagnosing, treating, prescribing, operating on, etc.), and therefore could not justify the board’s finding that Roman practiced beyond her authorized scope. Coakley urged the court to consider statutory construction of both § 58 and the disciplinary statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 112, § 61(1), and said the board’s two‑year suspension was…