Four veterinarians, including the primary vet for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and others, have been placed on probation by the California Veterinary Medical Board. The stipulated settlements for Drs. Vince Baker, Ryan Carpenter, Sarah Graybill Jones, and Cathaleen Canfield were made public this summer and conclude accusations brought against them in 2021 and 2022.
Baker faced 14 causes for discipline based on a revised complaint; Carpenter, nine; Jones, seven; and Canfield, nine.
Baker is managing licensee for his Equine Medical Center practice in Cypress, Calif., and as such is responsible for the record-keeping practices of veterinarians who work under him, including Carpenter, Jones, and Canfield.
The stipulated settlements saw all four veterinarians' licenses revoked, but those revocations were stayed in favor of probation – four years for Baker, Carpenter, and Canfield, and three for Jones.
As previously reported, the primary focus for much of the accusation documents involves record-keeping, both records of examination and diagnosis ahead of treatment and records of drugs dispensed, including controlled substances in some instances. In several cases, the veterinary medical board accuses the veterinarians of failing to establish a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship (VCPR) per state regulations because it's not clear from existing records that the veterinarians examined horses prior to dispensing medications.
The majority of substances listed in the documents are routine and legal therapeutic medications. By the veterinary medical board's legal definition, however, some were considered “dangerous” if they bore the phrase “RX only” on the label. Many, like Lasix, aren't considered by a layperson's definition to be inherently dangerous or exotic. Some of the drugs mentioned however, were also considered by the state to be misbranded because they were produced outside of federal oversight. Thyro-L, the trade name for levothyroxine powder, falls into this category as it is not FDA-approved and was allegedly dispensed by Baker, Carpenter, and Canfield. Baker is also accused of using compounded substances from Buy Rite Drugs which the board indicated has no license to ship its products to California.
Some of the records the board considered to be inadequate from Baker's practice were for more tightly-regulated substances like Euthasol and ketamine.
Accusation documents did not mention horses by name, but rather used initials to “protect the identities of the equine patients.”
Part of the revised accusation document for Baker referred to a horse identified as M. Sp., and the list of drugs dispensed to the horse match the medical records of Baffert trainee Medina Spirit. Those records have been made public in the wake of the ongoing appeals case of the colt's disqualification from the 2021 Kentucky Derby. In the case of M. Sp., Baker is accused of prescribing the drugs “without performing an examination and forming a diagnosis of any condition that required treatment,” “dispensing dangerous drugs,” failing to include required information in the horse's medical record, possessing a substance that is non-FDA approved which showed up on M. Sp.'s record, and failing to provide and note required drug consultations.
The list of substances cited in the section accusing Baker of not providing or noting proper drug consultation for M. Sp. includes Otomax, a prescription ointment which contains betamethasone and which Baffert claims is the source of the horse's positive betamethasone test. The accusation document also lists Finish First, a non-FDA-approved supplement dispensed from Baker to Baffert, which it terms as a “medication.”
The records examined by the board ran from Jan. 2021 to March 2021.
The Paulick Report acquired medical records for Baffert trainee Havnameltdown, who suffered a fatal injury on this year's Preakness undercard. Those records from 2023 also show that Baker dispensed Finish First, along with other supplements to Havnameltdown.
As we reported earlier this week, the records also show the injection of the horse's stifles and hocks with two different corticosteroids. Unlike other listed drug administrations or notes about examinations, those treatments included no notes about diagnostic or examination findings that prompted Baker to give the drug.
The post Four Racetrack Veterinarians On Probation As Part Of Agreement With California Board; Violations Could Include Medications Dispensed To Medina Spirit appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
