Dr. William Powell chats with a woman who stopped and thank him for helping her dog in the past. About 50 people attended an appreciation pot luck lunch in Mingus Park on Saturday, showing support for his Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic which was closed down last week. Dr. Powell told those who were there that the battle is not over and he will continue to fight the charges against him. World Photo by Lou Sennick

COOS BAY - The Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board recently disclosed examples of what it deemed unacceptable medical care performed by a local veterinarian whose facility was recently shut down.

On Saturday, Dr. William Powell, the target of the probe, assailed the accusations at a rally on his behalf at Mingus Park, in the wake of receiving additional documentation from the Medical Examining Board that it's expanding the inquiry.

In a July 2 letter to Powell, the Examining Board Director Lori Makinen advised Powell the board intended to revoke his veterinary license for presenting a serious danger to public health and safety and for performing “unacceptable patient care.”

Powell's operation, the Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic, has conducted more than 18,000 spays, neuters and some emergency operations for the last seven years. The popular clinic, most recently located in Empire, was shut down last Monday.

Makinen's letter indicated if Powell signed an agreement over the matter, the only public information released would be a settlement document stating Powell agreed to the “voluntary surrender.”

“If you do not sign and return the attached settlement document within five days, the board will issue the order and notice which are public documents,” Makinen wrote. “These documents will contain some of the alleged facts and violations that convinced the board to take action ...”

Since Powell did not sign the board's agreement, and has instead decided to fight the allegations, the board released records of several pet visits to his clinic dating back to 2004, including:

n May 19, 2004: Powell performed a spay on a kitten named Dory. A few weeks later, Dory was taken to another veterinarian with an infection. During exploratory surgery, the vet discovered a duct that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder had been tied off along with the cat's ovary. Dory's kidney was removed.

n March 12, 2005: Powell performed a spay on a dog named Roxy. Six months later, another veterinarian treated the dog for an ailment and discovered an obstructed kidney, likely linked to tying off of a kidney duct during spaying, according to the medical board.

n Nov. 19, 2005: Powell attended to a dog named Taz, which was vomiting. Powell diagnosed the problem as salmon poisoning but, according to the medical board, did not conduct an examination or any diagnostic testing. Powell prescribed three medications. The dog's owner returned several minutes later, claiming Taz had stopped breathing and had a swollen tongue. Powell again diagnosed the problem as salmon poisoning. The pet owner sought a second opinion with another veterinarian who successfully treated the dog with a genital tract infection, according to the medical board.

n Jan. 11, 2006: Powell diagnosed three shelter dogs, Riley, Ben and Molly with canine hip dysplasia and operated on them without conducting X-rays. Another veterinarian who treated one of the dogs later on, used an X-ray machine and found no evidence of hip dysplasia or osteoarthritis, according to the medical board.

n Dec. 14, 2006: Powell saw a dog named Biscuit which had likely been hit by a car. Powell did not perform X-rays, according to the medical examining board, but did apply a splint to the dog's leg. Less than one month later, another veterinarian treated Biscuit and after X-rays revealed fractures in Biscuit's knee joint, femur, pelvis and a swollen foot bone. The dog was euthanized, according to the medical board.

At Mingus Park, Saturday afternoon, dozens of people attended a rally and potluck for Powell. Many signed petitions, donated money to the veterinarian's legal fund, and spoke of the work he had done on their animals. He said he met with and hired an attorney Friday.

Powell said he would not comment extensively on some of the charges because they will come up in court. However, he said they are “inaccurate and riddled with half-truths.” One case, he said, just didn't happen.

“They have taken rumors and innuendoes and stated them as fact,” Powell said. “What I think about it is not fit to print.”

In the case of Biscuit, Powell said the owner was heading to New Mexico and when he encouraged her to get X-rays for her pet, she declined. She said she couldn't afford it, and then signed a waiver.

He did allow that some of the cases are partially true.

“We had a problem with one of those cats, but 90 percent of it is either whole cloth or erroneous,” Powell said.

Because his own clinic did not contain an X-ray machine, Powell often referred clients and their pets to other practices.

Powell received another letter from the Veterinary Board on Saturday morning, asking him to provide medical records and a brief summary of his treatment of four animals, listed only by the dogs' names and approximate dates of care.

The veterinarian said he would not search for any of the records, which are listed by the owners' names rather than the pets. He said he didn't believe he and staff should waste time scouring records in search of dogs with generic names such as Belle and Guy.

“That would be a fool's errand,” Powell said, “What it's designed to do is to get me ... over there (to) spend day and night (looking) for nonexistent records.

“It's getting kind of funny. They can't hurt me more than they already have.”

Powell said he believes the board will add four more charges to his litany of violations because he won't be able to produce the records.

The letter was photocopied and passed out to people who attended the potluck.

Many who saw the letter echoed Powell's sentiments, including supporter Cindi Johnson of Coos Bay.

“I think they are lies,” Johnson said, adding it seemed suspicious to her that the requested records do not offer specific dates. She also said she didn't understand why a client would go to another veterinarian if complications occurred after a pet's surgery, rather than going directly to the doctor who conducted the operation.

“If he's so incompetent and dangerous, why did it take them this long to shut him down?” Johnson asked.

North Bend resident Marilyn Dow, who came to the potluck in support of the veterinarian, said she donated money and signed a petition at the event.

“I can't believe that we could allow him to close up. We've got to continue fighting for the man. For us and for him,” Dow said.

One of Powell's clients began to cry on the shoulder of Shawn Gayhart, an employee and supporter of the veterinarian.

“Don't cry. We've only just begun to fight,” Gayhart said.