HopNews
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) has upheld the Massachusetts Board of Licensure’s decision to suspend the veterinary license of Margo Roman, owner of Main Street Animal Services of Hopkinton (MASH), for two years.
Background
>> Related Part 1: Local Veterinarian Under Investigation for Repeated Professional Misconduct
>> Related Part 2: About Dr. Margo Roman and Initial Complaints
>> Related Part 3: The Incident with Lily the Golden Retriever
>> Related Part 4: On Rabies, and a Painful Dental Procedure
>> Related Part 5: False Advertising and Conclusion
Why the decision was upheld
The Board’s ruling stemmed from an incident in 2020 when Roman emailed clients advising the use of ozone, which she alleged could treat COVID-19 in people. Since Dr. Roman is a veterinarian and not a physician, the Board investigated a complaint of practicing beyond the scope of her license by giving medical advice to humans. The incident follows numerous years of investigations into the conduct of the local veterinarian.
According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, “ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy.”
In the recent SJC case, Margo Roman vs. the Board of Registration in Veterinary Medicine, the petitioner appealed a judgment from the county court upholding the Board of Registration in Veterinary Medicine’s order to suspend her veterinary license. MASH owner Dr. Roman and her legal counsel contended that the sanctions were “arbitrary, capricious, and excessively punitive.”
The SJC disagreed, stating, “The Board’s decision reflects careful consideration of Roman’s conduct, as well as the aggravating and mitigating circumstances put forward by the parties.” Contrary to Roman’s argument, the board did not abuse its discretion by considering her prior disciplinary history in aggravation merely because her prior misconduct differed from that at issue. In this case, the board properly found that Roman’s history evidenced a pattern of failing to comply with the requirements of her profession.
Margo Roman’s MASH website includes a letter about the sanctions against her, stating, “Dr. Roman, who is a vocal and effective proponent of these treatments and modalities, threatens their status quo.” The SJC did not rule on the therapy’s merits or lack thereof. At issue was a practicing veterinarian’s dissemination of medical advice to humans.
The two-year veterinary license suspension became effective in November 2023. The court affirmed the judgment on May 6, 2025.
The Law Professors Blogs Network, an online publication edited by Ethics Counsel and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center Michael S. Frisch, recently weighed in on the ruling, stating “the issue before the board was not whether the treatments she recommended were effective against COVID-19; it was whether, while practicing as a veterinarian, she could make such recommendations to her human clients. The board neither erred nor acted arbitrarily and capriciously by determining that she could not.”
In a recent public records request, HopNews discovered the following:
- The Division of Occupational Licensure currently has four (4) pending complaints regarding Dr. Roman (2267).
- Pending complaints are exempt from public disclosure until the matter is settled.
- After her two-year suspension, Dr. Roman may petition the board to reinstate her license.
Disgraceful! Dr. Roman has improved the quality of life for both of the dogs that I’ve hand the privilege of loving. This is bureaucracy at its finest. Veterinary medicine is controlled by financial interests in the same way that human medicine is. Treatments that actually work are kept from us to line the pockets of insurance and Pharma companies.
Read the history of the previous investigations, JJ. No animal should be treated that way.
treated what way? Compassionately? Because Dr. Roman treated both of my dogs and they lived long, healthy lives – they recovered from torn ACLs, received treatment for food allergies (which was as simple as switching to raw diets), and received care for pletchner’s just to name a few of the ailments. I am grateful for Dr. Roman’s work and MASH is an asset to our community.
It’s unfortunate that modern medicine is more about sickness than about health. My own healers are often shadow banned because they share knowledge about herbal and natural remedies that actually work which ruffles the feathers of the financial interests.
Read the documents. Sawing down a dog’s teeth with a saw blade with no pain medication afterwards. Treating another dog suffering from end stage cancer with an unproven treatment and not disclosing to the family that it wasn’t proven for that.
Read the history. Heartbreaking
I think it would be helpful if you answered a simple question:
What do you think about vaccinations?
If that question is directed towards me, then I will answer with what I’ve learned in choosing holistic care for my dogs as well as for myself.
Vaccinations are important.
Over vaccination can be problematic.
A simple blood test can show if we have antibodies to protect us.
Much more effective than a periodic jab that doesn’t take into account each unique being.