He is banned from practicing his profession and is threatened with imprisonment – but he remains a court expert. A veterinarian who accidentally put a healthy dog to sleep is accused by the prosecutor’s office of unjustified killing of the animal and possession without permission of psychotropic drugs that he injected into the quadruped. – He should be ashamed and resign from the function of an expert himself – Aleksander Borowiec, spokesman for professional responsibility at the Świętokrzyska Medical and Veterinary Chamber, comments in an interview with tvn24.pl.
Maciej D., a veterinarian who in May 2022, in the vicinity of Zagnańsk near Kielce, he was supposed to kill a healthy German Shepherd by mistake, has already been charged and has the status of a defendant, but is still on the list of experts of the District Court in Kielce. According to the document, he is a specialist in veterinary medicine.
At the end of March, the Kielce prosecutor’s office filed an indictment against the man. A preventive measure in the form of a ban on practicing the profession was then applied. As it turns out, such a decision does not affect Maciej D.’s ability to perform the function of an expert. Formally, it can still be appointed in cases where veterinary expertise is needed.
Court: judges will not appoint this person as an expert
Gazeta Wyborcza was the first to report the case at the end of March. At that time, the District Court in Kielce informed that “the early stage of the investigation did not give grounds to initiate the procedure related to the dismissal of the expert”. After the prosecutor’s office sent the indictment to the court at the end of March, the status of the doctor was to change. After a few weeks, it turned out not to be the case.
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– The president of the district court analyzed this case and concluded that the applicable regulations do not allow for the suspension of the expert’s activities. However, I want to make it clear that the situation in which the expert found himself is known to the judges, who will certainly not appoint him – judge Jan Klocek, press officer for criminal matters of the District Court in Kielce, assured us. However, a doctor may be dismissed from his function when he hears a final judgment.
Previously, Maciej D.’s case was dealt with by the Peer Medical and Veterinary Court, which punished the doctor with a reprimand. – It is ethically doubtful that a doctor who has been legally punished by a peer court is a veterinary expert. He should be ashamed and resign from this function himself – Aleksander Borowiec, spokesman for professional responsibility at the Świętokrzyska Medical and Veterinary Chamber, comments in an interview with tvn24.pl.
However, the peer court did not reach for the highest penalty, which is the withdrawal of the right to practice the profession. As Borowiec told us last year, the court very rarely reaches for such a penalty.
The veterinarian put the dog to sleep by mistake. Prosecutor’s Office on the indictment
On May 4, Maciej D. entered the property where Stefan, a German Shepherd, was located, and then gave him a lethal injection. There was nothing wrong with the animal before. – The owners thought that he was to be vaccinated against rabies, because such situations had happened many times and that’s why they called their dog – Anna Studzińska, the president of the Animal Care Society in Kielce, told us at the time.
When it was too late, it turned out that the doctor had mixed up the addresses. He was called to another dog, a 12-year-old mongrel. He was not supposed to put him to sleep either, but only to assess whether he could still be treated.
On March 31 this year, an indictment against the man was filed with the Kielce-Wschód District Court in Kielce. The doctor will be charged with two charges. – The first one is related to the killing of a dog in violation of the Animal Protection Act. The second, in turn, concerns the possession of pentobarbital, contrary to the provisions of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction, says prosecutor Daniel Prokopowicz, spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Kielce, in an interview with tvn24.pl.
Pentobarbital is a sleep aid that is used to euthanize animals. – Veterinarians may possess this product if they have the appropriate consent of the Świętokrzyskie Provincial Pharmaceutical Inspectorate. In this case, the permit expired in March 2021. The accused should therefore return the preparation, but instead he still held it – emphasized Prokopowicz.
Both charges against Maciej D. are punishable by up to three years in prison. The first hearing will take place on May 11.
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