The complaints generated a campaign, complete with Web site, with the stated purpose of providing complaint, suit and settlement information documents "to assist members of the public with reaching their own conclusions and making informed decisions." The Web site is titled "Sheridan Truth: Learn the Truth about Veterinarian Thomas Sheridan," http://www.sheridantruth.com/

The site includes photos of the doctor, links to public documents relating to the complaints and legal-action documents, directions on filing a state-board complaint and a blog open to public posts.

Newscasts relating to the Sheridan case have even made it as far as You Tube, a site allowing visitors to post videos for public viewing.

Sheridan failed to respond to multiple telephone and e-mail requests by DVM Newsmagazine to comment.

What's at stake?

No matter how complaint information is handled, there are positive and negative effects for the subject in question.

"From the veterinary perspective, if the complaint is not made public, it protects them in the event that there is a frivolous complaint filed or one deemed to be without merit that does not need further investigation," Atkinson says. "The negative aspects of releasing the information would be the disclosure or exposure of a complaint. Then, perhaps, the media will write about it, and the veterinarian has to defend himself or herself, yet we don't necessarily have a final disposition of wrongdoing."

But should state boards be concerned about protecting veterinarians, or their animal patients?

Unless complaints are made readily available to the public from the time they are filed, pet owners may have no way of knowing they exist. "If there are pending complaints against a veterinarian, I as a consumer want to know, even if they are not public at that point," Atkinson says.

While it is a consumer's right to question his or her veterinarian about state-board complaints and actions, very few actually do.

"The consuming public generally is not sophisticated along those lines. It is just not in the norm of what people think about in a professional relationship between doctor and client. It may be an uncomfortable situation," Atkinson says.

Tattle-tale technology

Consumers are learning, however, that they can rely less on their veterinarian for complaint disclosure and more on their computer to get the scoop. Internet use continues to grow, spurring many pet owners to research and gather information independently.

"I think that in today's day and age, with technology and media and the Internet, consumers are becoming more sophisticated. Consumers can go online and look up a disease, drug regimen or treatment options. And all that is very positive," Atkinson says. "If that leads to more inquiries at the state boards, that is good."

Robyn Kendrick, AAVSB executive director, adds, "Being a member of the public, we have more of a desire to want information because it is more readily available. Because there is a vehicle to deliver it, there might be more of a thirst for it."

How that thirst will impact veterinarians in the future remains unknown.