BY: Steve buckner
The Missouri Veterinary Medicine Association achieved great success in the First Regular Session of the 99th Missouri General Assembly.
That success came in the passage of a bill – SCS SB 88 – that adds veterinarians and businesses providing veterinary services to the list of health care providers to which the medical malpractice statute of limitations applies. The animal owner’s knowledge is used when time periods are dependent on knowledge of the negligence.
The bill’s passage ended MVMA’s lengthy efforts to gain malpractice limitations for veterinarians that reflect parity with human medical doctors. As with human physicians, veterinarians will now (if signed by Gov. Eric Greitens, as expected) have exposure to malpractice lawsuits for two years from the time of the alleged incident instead of the previous five years.
Sen. Dan Brown championed the bill and saw it through the process. In the House, Rep. Joe Don McGaugh sponsored the bill. Both legislators deserve our deepest gratitude for steering the bill through the General Assembly. It would be a nice gesture if Missouri members of the KCVMA said a well-deserved “thank you” to both men for their efforts. The legislators can be reached as follows:
Sen. Dan Brown
201 W. Capitol Ave., Rm. 422
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dan.Brown@senate.mo.gov
573-751-5713
Sen. Dan Brown
201 W. Capitol Ave., Rm. 422
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dan.Brown@senate.mo.gov
573-751-5713
MVMA also testified in favor of HB 905/SB446 that would have prohibited breed-specific ordinances by cities and counties. MVMA supports the American Veterinary Medicine Association’s policy that vicious dog ordinances should be based on behavior and individual animals, not on a breed.
These bills specify that the General Assembly occupies and pre-empts the entire field of legislation touching in any way the control or regulation of specific breeds of dogs. However, a village, town, or city can still prohibit dogs from running at-large or to further control or regulate dogs within its boundaries so long as the ordinance, order, policy, or regulation is not breed specific. These bills, while passed out of committee, did not rise to the status of receiving a vote on the floor.
