2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVI - Public Health › Chapter 112 - Registration of Certain Professions and Occupations › Section 59 - Illegal Practice of Veterinary Medicine; Penalty; Powers of Board; Causes for Revocation of License

Section 59. Any person who, not then being lawfully authorized to practice veterinary medicine and being so registered or exempt from registration, all as defined in the previous section, shall practice or attempt to practice veterinary medicine or who held himself out to the public as a practitioner of veterinary medicine, whether by signs, words, advertisement, listing in directories, the use of the title ''doctor'' or any abbreviation thereof or any title including ''V.S.'' or by the use of any other means implying a practitioner of veterinary medicine or any of its branches, fraudulently uses any posted degree, diploma, or certificate implying a practitioner of veterinary medicine or any of its branches, or who opens an office or maintains an establishment or facilities for the purpose of or with the intention of practicing veterinary medicine shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days and upon a subsequent conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. Any registered veterinarian or incorporated veterinary hospital or company who or which knowingly employs or permits a person to practice veterinary medicine unless such person is registered, shall be punished by having his license to practice veterinary medicine revoked, or its license to operate a veterinary hospital suspended, as the case may be, and by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or both.
By majority vote of the entire five members the board may, for any cause set forth in this section, revoke or suspend for a certain time the license of any person to practice veterinary medicine in the commonwealth after notice and hearing.
Cause for which the board may revoke or suspend a license are as follows:
1. The employment of fraud, misrepresentation or deception in obtaining such license.
2. Conviction of a felony, in which case the record of such conviction shall be conclusive evidence.
3. Chronic inebriety or habitual use of drugs.
4. Having professional connection with or lending the use of his name to any illegal practitioner of veterinary medicine and the various branches thereof.
5. Conviction of a violation of any state or federal law, regulating narcotics, or a settlement of a tax liability in connection with such violation, in which case the record of such conviction or settlement, as the case may be, shall be conclusive evidence.
6. Fraud or dishonesty in applying or reporting tuberculin or other biological tests.
7. False or misleading advertising having for its purpose or intent deception or fraud.
8. Conduct reflecting unfavorably on the profession of veterinary medicine.
9. Conviction on a charge of cruelty to animals.
10. Failure of a registered veterinarian to keep his office or hospital and equipment therein in a clean and sanitary condition.
11. Failure of a duly licensed veterinarian to properly supervise a person practicing veterinary medicine under the provisions of section fifty-six A.