Texas Veterinarian Renews Fight to Give Professional Advice Online

From 2002 to 2012, Dr. Ron Hines—a retired and physically disabled Texas-licensed veterinarian—used the internet to give advice to pet owners across the country and around the globe. This advice was often free. Ron mainly helped people who lived in remote places without access to veterinarians, and who could not afford traditional veterinary care.

No one ever complained about Ron’s advice.
Then, Ron discovered that he had been on a decade-long crime spree. In Texas, it is illegal for a veterinarian to give advice online without first physically examining the animal. So the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners shut Ron down, suspended his license, and fined him. Texas did this without even an allegation that Ron had harmed an animal. Although Ron fought back in a federal lawsuit with the help of the Institute for Justice (IJ), an appeals court agreed with Texas: even though Ron was giving advice, advice does not count as protected speech if it is part of an occupation.

Since then, things have changed. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what IJ argued in Ron’s first case: The First Amendment fully protects people who speak professionally. States cannot censor them without a compelling reason. And there is no such reason here. Furthermore, in 2017, Texas changed its laws to ensure that medical doctors could practice telemedicine without in-person examinations. If telemedicine is okay for doctors treating humans, it is okay for veterinarians like Ron.

Now, Ron and IJ have teamed up again. Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling, Ron has filed another lawsuit to defend his First Amendment right to give veterinary advice to pet owners who need it. But this case is bigger than Ron. It is about protecting innovation, internet freedom, and free speech for Americans everywhere.

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