The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Veterinary Medicine has suspended Dr. Margo Roman’s license at least until November 1, 2025.
Roman is a resident of Hopkinton and has been licensed to practice veterinary medicine since 1978. After graduating from the University of Florida, Roman went on to study at Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in Tuskegee, Alabama, earning her Veterinary degree. She is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and California.
Dr. Roman is the owner of Main Street Animal Services of Hopkinton (MASH), and began her practice as a mobile house call service in 1983. She opened the clinic at its current location at 72 West Main Street in 1988.
The Board of Registration had issued a tentative decision and suspension on July 28, 2023, which was appealed by Roman. Through counsel, Roman presented 25 objections to the Board’s decision, and in a lengthy 103 page decision, the Board overruled all 25 objections.
On January 22, 2023, HopNews published a 4-part exposé on Dr. Roman entitled Local Veterinarian Under Investigation for Repeated Professional Misconduct. The article documented multiple complaints against Roman, and prompted several comments from local residents and professional veterinarians.
The Board’s primary objection was that on March 16, 2020, Roman authored and sent an email to her clients entitled “UPDATE ON CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONS AT MASH“. In the email, Roman “encouraged MASH clients to get an ozone generator for their homes, because ozone is important for prevention (because it disinfects) and [sic] possible cure for the coronavirus“. Three days prior, President Donald Trump had declared a national emergency for COVID-19, and six days prior Governor Charlie Baker had declared a state of emergency.
Then on March 24, 2020, Roman sent an email to her clients “PLEASE READ WE NEED OZONE FOR PPE and treatment for CORONA.” In it, she stated that medical ozone was an effective treatment for COVID-19, and it was inexpensive. “Medical Ozone is the magic Bullet that can stop Corona,” the email read, in part. The emails also contained links to Roman’s website that provided purchasing instructions for ozone generators.
At the time of the emails, Roman had been placed on probation for previous complaints against her practice, dating back to 2018. The complaints detailed accusations of animal abuse and concluded that her practice reflected “unfavorably on the profession of veterinary medicine”. The Board said that Roman’s practice of veterinary medicine “endangers the health and/or welfare of a patient and the public.” In addition to probation, she received a formal reprimand and was ordered to undergo additional training and pay a fine.
>> RELATED: Local Veterinarian Under Investigation for Repeated Professional Misconduct
In the latest ruling, the Board concluded that Roman had engaged in “false and misleading advertising” practices with the purposes of “deception or fraud.” More damning, the Board concluded that Roman was practicing her profession “beyond the authorized scope of one’s license, certificate, registration“. As a veterinarian, Roman is not authorized to provide medical advice to humans.
For her part, Roman objected to the accusation of professional misconduct by asserting that the Board was issuing a “referendum on ozone“. She further asserted that the Board was “ignorant” about ozone, and that led to the tentative suspension. The Board overruled that objection, finding that “The giving of medical advice to humans who hired (Roman) to provide veterinary services to animals makes the violation.“
“Other than wishful thinking and a misconception about the basis of liability, (Roman) has not identified valid legal grounds for this objection,” read the report.
As a physician (MD), I find this Board’s action somewhat disturbing. I do not know all the facts, but from what is presented in this article, this veterinarian was judged by hindsight or what we, in medicine, call the retrospectoscope. At the time she was making Ozone Therapy recommendations in March 2020, the world was much different than today.
The COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared on March 11, 2020. Concurrently, the WHO and our own CDC made official statements that the public did NOT need to wear face MASKS to decrease or prevent the spread of COVID-19. Even the US President said masks were NOT needed. Around April 3, 2020, the CDC backpedaled and recommended masking. However, the damage was done. The US public was confused about masking. (Note: It is common knowledge in medicine that the spread of any disease transmitted by respiratory means and/or droplets, like COVID-19, can be decreased by wearing a mask). The CDC made a HUGE mistake with that FALSE statement; potentially, thousands of lives may have been saved.
https://americanoversight.org/the-trump-administrations-march-2020-covid-19-mailers-originally-included-mask-wearing-guidance/
In the first 6-8 months of the pandemic, medical doctors were baffled by COVID-19. It caused multi-organ failure. It caused what looked like severe interstitial pneumonia on a CT scan but did not always correlate with the degree of the patient’s respiratory compromise. Patients got super-infected with bacteria. COVID-19 caused abnormal clotting, leading to pulmonary infarcts. These patients were sick, sick, sick.
Hospitals were filled beyond capacity in several cities, even creating extra temporary patient rooms by using surgical and procedure suites, as well as tents set up outside the ER. Some hospitals had to make tough decisions about who got a respirator until another hospital could send over a free respirator.
The usual therapies for viral illness were not working. This was the worst virus since Spanish Flu in 1918. As there was no great therapeutic strategy to help patients recover quickly (and the vaccine was “years” away- even though it was being fast-tracked through the FDA), this was the first time I saw my confident, self-assured ICU and ER colleagues looking helpless, hopeless, and bone-tired. Physicians were not yet aware that steroids would help patients recover. The therapeutic antibodies were not yet available. Things looked bleak.
Plus, the economy tanked in March 2020 when the US stock market crashed to epic proportions, like Black Friday in 1929. People hoarded essential household supplies. People recommended air purifiers for your home and UV devices to sterilize your phone, your shoes, your A/C unit, or anything that needed it.
As a consumer in the USA, we know to always remember: Caveat Emptor. Although I do not know anything about Ozone Therapy (OT), another physician made a comment earlier on this article. She said that EU states like France & Italy were using Ozone therapy during the COVID-19 epidemic. A quick internet search shows that OT is recognized in the EU as an integrative medical therapy.
This article, “Effect of Rectal Ozone (O3) in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: Preliminary Results” was published on 3 August 2020. (It takes months to be published after submitting a manuscript, and that is after months or years of research; thus, one can infer that OT was a tool employed in EU medicine in March 2020).
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42399-020-00374-1
This article, “Clinical effectiveness of medical ozone therapy in COVID-19: the evidence and gaps map” was published 15 April 2023, which shows OT is still being used in Europe. In fact, this article’s conclusion says, “OT can be used as integrative medical therapy in COVID-19 at a low cost and improve the health conditions of the patients.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10226688/
In medicine, it is well known that the EU is THE leader in spurring progress in human medicine. Many mainstream medications are first officially approved in Europe (sometimes years before they are approved in the US). Often, medical treatments classified as integrative, alternative, complementary, or investigational are also first approved in the EU or China. Thus, it is not surprising that OT was employed to treat humans in the EU during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, while it was not well-known in the USA.
Since Dr. Roman practices integrative veterinary medicine, she was in a unique position to inform her pets’ parents about OT. As to whether she was practicing outside the scope of her license, I think this could be questioned. As an integrative veterinarian, she treats the whole animal, including their mental health. Thus, she would be concerned with the stability of the pet’s living situation (ie healthy humans to support the pet). Also, it is well known that the health of a pet’s human family affects the pet (ie Working Dogs who predict seizures. Emotional Support Dogs who sense their owner’s emotions.)
Plus, it sounds like people could take this OT advice or not. Dr. Roman’s clinic sent out a newsletter that was probably VOLUNTARY for the pets’ parents to receive. (They could have unsubscribed at any time.) She had links to the OT devices on her website for the convenience of her pets’ parents. It was VOLUNTARY to go to her website and again, voluntary to click on any links.
Since OT is an alternate medical therapy, these devices are probably not regulated by the FDA. Usually, the FDA, regulates allopathic medicine mainstream pharmaceuticals and medical devices, while the FDA does not regulate naturopathic, homeopathic or other forms of alternative or integrative medicine. Therefore, it was better for Dr. Roman to provide pet parents with direct links to OT machines that she trusted. There were and are plenty of others who recommend supplements and non-mainstream medical devices, like red-light therapy, RF mats, earthing mats, etc. Those people do not have a human medical degree, so why should Dr. Roman be held to a different standard?
It seems like Dr. Roman cares deeply about her patients and takes a holistic, comprehensive approach to their health. She made an alternate therapy more accessible, a therapy that is accepted in Europe. Pioneers in medicine are either thought of as geniuses or off their rockers. It looks to me like Dr. Roman is a pioneer. Like artists, sometimes, it takes years to be recognized as a genius in medicine as in art like Mr. Van Gogh.
I have witnessed alternative therapy make a difference in my life, my family’s life, and my pets’ lives. The reason I was looking into Dr. Roman is because she is one of the few in the country advocating for Fecal Transplants for chronic, refractory GI inflammation in cats. My poor 9-year-old cat is emaciated due to diarrhea for nearly a year. I have taken her to 3 veterinarians. They have run all sorts of tests. Everything comes back normal. They empirically treated her with antibiotics and steroids – “just in case.” But those were only short-term solutions. I know fecal transplant works because it healed my cat back in 2014. I am thankful for medical and veterinary pioneers like Dr. Roman.