Jennifer Fiala

Jennifer Fiala is a former senior editor of DVM Newsmagazine.

Articles by Jennifer Fiala

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Schaumburg, Ill. - New graduates entering practice might see fewer patients than their predecessors if recent American Veterinary Medical Association research holds true.

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SCHAUMBURG, ILL. - Dog- and cat-owning households visited veterinarians less in 2006 than in 2001, while the number of U.S. households with pets grew to 68.7 million, a 12.4 percent increase.

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Fort Collins, Colo. - More than 69 percent of U.S. swine producers use a veterinarian, with five out of 10 large operations employing a DVM on staff. Overall, approximately half the sites polled turn to a local practitioner for care.

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He's been called a wolf in sheep's clothing, a man with hidden agendas and the most influential player the animal-welfare arena has ever seen.

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Minneapolis - Dr. Carl Seemann plans to appeal an administrative law judge's ruling that backs state regulators' efforts to suspend his license for not administering drugs to manage a surgical patient's pain.

Schaumburg, Ill. - The American Veterinary Medical Association replaced its "informed consent" policy last month to safeguard the profession from a guardianship distinction tied to human health care.

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SURPRISE, ARIZ. - Four years of patience and politics have paid off in what Dr. Lorna Lanman calls "vindication." The one-time Veterinary Medical Assistance Team (VMAT) member whose unit was expelled by the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2003, is now reinstated by the federal government.

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Boston - It's a surprise when Alan Van Tassel comes to visit. He drops by unannounced during business hours, makes a quick introduction and starts poring over a seven-point inspection checklist.

San Francisco -Attorneys with the California State Department of Consumer Affairs want to put a legislative stopper on West Hollywood's anti-declaw law, cemented last month by the state Supreme Court's refusal to hear a challenge to the ban.

Washington - Dr. Michael Blackwell isn't ungrateful. But the $500,000 grants tied to the U.S. Senate's version of the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act, passed in July, will do little to add seats to the University of Tennessee's (UT) veterinary program. Such funds fall short of expanding even one classroom, and neglect the public's need for more DVMs, the veterinary college dean explains.

Sacramento, Calif. - Invite Dr. Wade Himes to shed light on the inner-workings of state regulatory agencies and he pauses, then laughs and asks, "Do you want me to lose my license?"

Austin, Texas - Veterinary regulators employ a "monopolistic licensing scheme" to put lay equine dentists out of business. Their anti-competition tactics are unconstitutional, punishing those with skills that "far exceed that of nearly every veterinarian in the state of Texas."

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Minneapolis - For 59 years, Dr. Carl Seemann practiced as northern Minnesota's surgical "spine man," a solo generalist who, at age 84, saw three clients a day until Christmas last year.

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Schaumburg, Ill. - He was the media's go-to guy during the mad-cow outbreak of 2003, starred in half a dozen Senate committee hearings and enjoyed regular contact with senior White House executives.

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Washington - Senate lawmakers cleared the way for a modified version of the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act, passing it as an amendment to the Higher Education Authorization Bill.

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Portland, Ore. - Oregon law now limits noncompete covenants to two years, requires immediate notification upon hire and forces owners to pay employees thousands of dollars to enforce such agreements.

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Los Angeles - West Hollywood's declaw ban is legal and enforceable, according to an appellate ruling that's headed for the state Supreme Court if the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) has its way.