| Complaint: | Complaint 19-24 |
|---|---|
| Respondent: | Martin Crabo |
| Premises: | Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center |
Crabo recommended surgery to remove a keratoma on the complainant's horse. Crabo referred the case to Justin McCormick who performed the surgery. After five months the complainant says that the horse healed enough to put shoes back on the horse, but the horse was obviously painful. Sedation was required when shoeing the horse. She also states that it was discovered that the keratoma was still present despite the surgery. Crabo came back out and recommended injections. The horse continued to decline and began having difficulty walking despite injections from Crabo. On one walk the horse fell to his knees and began dragging the hoof; the complainant says Crabo said "ouch" via text and recommended keeping an eye on him. There were also concerns mentioned by others regarding the condition of the coffin bone. She finally took the horse to another vet who allegedly had the horse almost fall on top of him as the horse had no balance on the foot; he diagnosed laminitis that may have been aggravated by the injections. Interestingly she says this veterinarian diagnosed a neck fracture on x-rays that appeared to be 1.5 to 2 years old and typically occur in horses that rear up and fall over backwards when tied. She states that this had never happened to her horse and notes that the suspected timeframe matched with the surgery performed by McCormick at Crabo's suggestion.
Crabo gives a timeline of the various events that happened to the horse. He states that the timeline Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center has in their records is quite different than the complainant's. The main differences appear to relate to being off by two or three months as to when some of the injections occurred, and his notes also state that the horse responded well to the injections. He also challenges that the horse had laminitis and mentions the related dispute over the coffin bone, saying that none of these things actually happened. Regarding the x-ray suggesting a neck fracture, he says everybody knows you can't date a fracture from an x-ray and neither he nor the complainant noticed a problem at the time. Lastly, he says that even if there were problems with the surgery, it was actually McCormick who should be blamed because he was the surgeon, not him.
The Investigative Committee basically says that it's impossible to know what really happened after the fact. They state the neck fracture could have happened a variety of ways. There was also in their view no way to determine whether the injections made the laminitis worse and say that Crabo didn't see any signs of laminitis when he examined the horse. There were too many factors to ever know what happened.
We'll be meeting Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center again in 21-71 and its related cases. We'll learn about how a horse came back from surgery and bled out in a trailer on the way home; the surgeons and the investigators say the horse may have fallen down or the driver may have driven too hard. Justin McCormick, who performed the surgery in this complaint, shows up as the respondent in other complaints before he's made an investigator by the veterinary board.
| Source: | December 12, 2018 AM Investigative Committee Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Martin Crabo | Respondent |
| Roll Call: | |
| Carolyn Ratajack | Aye |
| Christina Tran | Aye |
| Mary Williams | Aye |
| Robert Kritsberg | Aye |
| Ryan Ainsworth | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | January 1, 2019 Board Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Proposed By: | J Greg Byrne |
| Seconded By: | Christina Bertch-Mumaw |
| Roll Call: | |
| Christina Bertch-Mumaw | Aye |
| Darren Wright | Aye |
| J Greg Byrne | Aye |
| Jane Soloman | Aye |
| Jessica Creager | Aye |
| Jim Loughead | Absent |
| Nikki Frost | Aye |
| Robyn Jaynes | Aye |
| Sarah Heinrich | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
The primary source for the above summary was obtained as a public record from the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board. You are welcome to review the original records and board meeting minutes by clicking the relevant links. While we endeavor to provide an accurate summary of the complaint, response, investigative reports and board actions, we encourage you to review the primary sources and come to your own conclusions. In some cases we have also been able to reach out to individuals with knowledge of specific complaints, and where possible that information will be included here.