
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995                   TAG: 9506150021
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LIABILITY FEARS PUT END TO RABIES CLINICS

Q: The Roanoke Health Department used to hold rabies clinics in a public park, but they're not having one this year. These clinics are a lot cheaper than taking a dog or cat to a veterinarian who charges $11 or $12. Many people who use these clinics don't have the money for shots at a vet's office. Why don't they plan to have clinics this year, especially with the articles in the paper about several rabies cases recently?

M.M., Roanoke

A: Liability, and not public health or economics, caused the end of those low-cost clinics.

Never mind that the clinics each year inoculated several hundred dogs and cats that had no chance of getting a rabies shot otherwise.

Forget the experience of animal control officers who issued fewer citations for unvaccinated dogs because more people took their pets for a shot.

The important factor here is staying on the right side of the law - just in case somebody might sue.

The word came down Dec. 20 in a memo from Dr. Suzanne Jenkins, assistant state epidemiologist in Richmond:

State law says rabies clinics are meant for localities where a shortage of veterinarians causes a public health risk.

Places that have enough vets to inoculate the local dogs and cats don't qualify for low-cost clinics. Veterinarians could be liable when they give shots outside their hospitals, and local health departments could be held responsible if a needle-shy pooch were to get loose and bite someone.

So, Roanokers won't see any more $3 vaccinations in Smith Park.

Just in case that $9 difference sounds like small change: Did you hear that joke about the porch that collapsed and killed nine dogs? Just maybe, a pet owner or a coon hunter really does have nine dogs and little chance of scraping up $108 for shots at a vet's office.

Nine vaccinations for $27 makes the protection possible.

In her defense, Jenkins probably didn't enjoy writing that memo. She simply passed along an interpretation by the state attorney general's office regarding section 3.1-796.97 of the Code of Virginia.

In an age when a cat owner sues the doctor because the feline bit its owner, you need to be aware of liability.

But who do you sue in case of a rabies outbreak?

With an eye to avoiding a serious rabies problem, local veterinarians are thinking about offering reduced-price shots in their offices. The plan hasn't been fully developed, but some method probably will be adopted, said Dr. Jesse Webster of Vinton, president of the Roanoke Valley Veterinary Medical Association.

The price hasn't been decided, either. But expect it to fall somewhere between $5 and $12.

After all, it costs more to inoculate in a pet hospital with a paid staff than doing injections under a shelter in Smith Park with volunteers from the Health Department.

Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.

by CNB