A long long time ago, UK veterinary surgeon Phil Hyde came across the website of fellow UK veterinary surgeon, Roger Meacock. What he found there depressed him.
On his website, Mr Meacock starts by pointing out he is a ‘fully qualified veterinary surgeon who has established an international reputation for treating animals using a wide range of cutting-edge healing technologies and products.’ After that things start to go steadily down-hill as we discover the ‘cutting-edge healing technologies and products’ on sale are not what you might think and that, although Mr Meacock obviously believes passionately in them, some of his ideas are a little silly. In fact, this web site seems to be something of a Grand Central Station of Silly, where there is an uncritical acceptance of a wide range of nonscience-based concepts, regardless of scientific merit, proper evidence or plain common-sense.
For instance Mr Meacock tells us the Russians can change DNA using only words and language, to restore group consciousness and clairvoyance. Readers are advised that ten drops of ‘Aerobic Oxygen’ in a glass of water will increase its oxygen levels by over 400% and drinking it will boost the oxygen concentration of animals’ blood (clearly drinking oxygen is much more efficient than breathing it). Then there is Quinton Marine Plasma, which harnesses ‘the [unspecified] healing power of seawater’ and the Silent Healing CD, a recording of (you guessed it) complete silence, apparently useful for ‘space clearing and for group healing.’
The ‘Russian Healing Blanket’ we are told, in a glorious riot of technobabble, is a ‘new informo-bioenergetic therapeutic tool which uses the patient's own reflected infra-red and extra-high frequency emissions... [and] more evenly distributes the surface electrical charge density [of the body], thus providing a reservoir of energy that is drawn into the body through deficient biologically active points... of the body surface to rebalance the meridians and body energy systems.’
Phil felt strongly these sorts of evidence-free and patently ridiculous claims might be both damaging the reputation of the profession and, more importantly, harmful to animals. He initially brought his concerns to the attention of prospective candidates for positions in the council of the of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS - the governing body for the UK profession) during an election debate at the forum Vetsurgeon.org in 2013. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
Shortly afterwards he lodged a formal complaint about Mr Meacock and his website with the RCVS’s Preliminary Investigation Committee (PIC). The complaint was first made in December 2014 and I was pleased to be asked at that time to help. Phil received a copy of Mr Meacock’s response to the complaint from the RCVS, which, though heavy on personal attack, was extremely light on the actual evidence Phil had asked for. Instead of arguing his case, Mr Meacock instead brought a charge against Phil himself, for bullying, a complaint which was later dismissed by the RCVS.
The RCVS is no different from any other large bureaucracy and has a lot on its plate. Inevitably there were many false starts and adjournments. Feeling he was getting nowhere Phil contacted Arlo Guthrie, the editor of www.Vetsurgeon.org, one of the largest and most active veterinary forums in the UK, for advice.
Arlo’s first instinct was to get together a group of like minded veterinary surgeons to offer advice and to widen the field to make the strength of feeling among the profession clearer to the RCVS. This group initially got together in August 2015 and thus was born the Campaign for Rational Veterinary Medicine (CfRVM), with the aim of responding to the false claims of veterinary alternative practitioners in the media, to publicise the real risks to animal welfare and the ethical concerns over veterinary homeopathy and to get this message across to the RCVS in order to convince the authorities this wasn’t a lone voice, but a united front. This was done in the form of direct submissions and a petition in support of reforming the (to date) laissez faire attitude of the RCVS.
Finally, nearly 2 years after the initial complaint, Mr Meacock was presented, by the RCVS, with a list of charges and advised the accusation was one of ‘conduct disgraceful in a professional respect’ and that he was to face ‘six charges relating to matters asserted on his website which the College alleged were misleading and/or inaccurate to the point of bringing the veterinary profession into disrepute’.[1] The hearing date was set for Tuesday 18 October 2016. Phil and other members of the CfRVM headed for London.
The day of the hearing involved a lot of waiting around in court where more knitting than legal debate took place. But finally an announcement was made. The Disciplinary Committee hearing into Roger Sidney Meacock MRCVS was being adjourned as he had voluntarily agreed to ‘amend his website in order to make it compliant with his professional responsibilities’. While this was not entirely what had been expected, it was nevertheless a victory, and a step forward for professional standards in the UK veterinary profession.
Mr Meacock and the far-fetched claims on his website were the catalyst that brought the members of the Campaign for Rational Veterinary Medicine together, and our work continues. We care about the rational and scientific basis for the UK veterinary profession and will continue to question the irrational ideas and treatments promoted by a small but vocal section of the profession to the detriment of our patients. Only with a real world foundation for the treatments we use and the advice we give can we be certain the animals which trust us to do our best for them are treated fairly and with respect and their owners and caregivers are not misled into believing certain treatments are effective when they are most certainly not.
So thanks, Roger, we owe it all to you.
References:
1] Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons RCVS (2016) Disciplinary hearing for Staffordshire-based vet adjourned following undertakings [Online]. Available at http://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-events/news/disciplinary-hearing-for-derbyshire-based-vet-adjourned/ (Accessed 16 February 2017).
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