Papakura vet struck off for misconduct

Papakura veterinarian, James Mason, has been struck of the veterinarians’ register for breaching the Veterinary Council of New Zealand’s code of professional conduct.

In its December 2008 decision, the Veterinary Council’s judicial committee found Mr Mason guilty of professional misconduct.

In breach of Greyhound Association rules and the Veterinary Council’s code of professional conduct, Mr Mason placed substantial bets on dogs for which he had on-course responsibilities. The bets were placed off-course to avoid detection.

When one of the dogs on which he put money won its race Mr Mason failed to deliver for testing its post-race drug testing urine sample.

The Council’s judicial committee found Mr Mason’s misconduct raised issues of integrity and honesty.

Compounding that, the committee said he acted deliberately to make sure the winning dog’s sample could not be tested.

Other charges of providing unidentified and unlabelled medicines to two dogs, including the winning dog, on the day of the race, could not be established because the relevant witness declined to attend the hearing.

At the hearing, Mr Mason and his supporters became abusive and threatening towards the Council’s judicial committee.

Mr Mason appealed the committee’s decision in the district court, which also found his actions to be unethical and needing disciplinary sanction because of the obvious motivation for corruption, his dereliction of duty and highly unethical actions.

The judge agreed Mr Mason’s deliberate actions in failing to provide the dog’s urine sample for testing fully justified a finding of professional misconduct.

He said Mr Mason’s actions justified his removal from the register.

He noted Mr Mason’s conduct verged on corruption that could bring the veterinary profession into very real disrepute and seriously undermine the public’s trust and confidence.

Refer to http://www.vetcouncil.org.nz/news.php for copies of the Judicial and District Court decisions