Jamestown vet Dr Geoffrey Hampton Warren sanctioned for unprofessional conduct

A rural vet’s refusal to accept responsibility for his filthy surgery has seen him pay the ultimate price – despite thousands of loyal locals rallying to save his career.

A popular South Australian veterinarian’s sustained unprofessional conduct, including leaving his surgery faeces-ridden and having drugs confiscated, has seen him handed the heaviest penalty possible.

Dr Geoffrey Hampton Warren, of Jamestown, has been permanently banned from practising with the state’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling he was “no longer a fit and proper person” to be registered after his surgery was found in a “state of disarray and disrepair”.

Tribunal senior member Alex Lazarevich explained in his ruling, the heaviest of its kind in a least a decade, Dr Warren continually failed to accept his shortcomings and the severity of the findings against him.

“Considering the departures from the standards of conduct of the profession as well as the respondent’s apparent lack of genuine insight and reluctance to concede such departures … it is appropriate to cancel the respondent’s registration and to order a disqualification,” Mr Lazarevich wrote.

“Our impression is that the respondent considers himself the victim of an unwarranted attack by the (Veterinary Surgeons) Board.

Country vet Dr Geoffrey Warren has been permanently suspended from practising. Picture: Change.org

“We are not convinced that the respondent has demonstrated insight into his conduct.

“We emphasise again that the departures of cleanliness were not minor departures, and the video and photographic images, as well as the oral evidence before the tribunal of the degree of smell, speak for themselves.”

The findings also said animals were taken from the surgery by the RSPCA and later developed ringworm due to “the unhygienic state of the premises”.

Dr Warren in June was expected to appear before the tribunal to make submissions against the findings, but at the eleventh hour claimed he was “10,000 miles away” out of the country.

The tribunal heard Dr Warren had been practising as a vet in the Jamestown region for about 40 years, but in the past decade had been reprimanded for hygiene indiscretions “startlingly” similar to the latest findings.

Evidence provided by the SA Veterinary Surgeons Board against Dr Warren alleged the condition of his practice was shameful, posed a “serious risk” to both animal and human safety, and was as bad as one witness had seen in nearly 40 years of practising as a vet.

Video and photos of Dr Warren’s surgery viewed by the tribunal showed a build-up of faeces, used surgical utensils unwashed in a sink and kennelling facilities with no clean bedding or access to water.

The allegations put before the tribunal also said “drugs, veterinary disposables, rubbish and excrement were intermingled”.

Dr Warren's Jamestown premises. Picture: Google

Forty-nine days after Dr Warren’s missed hearing, he provided a response to the allegations in which he “acknowledged the seriousness of the cleanliness of our clinic not being up to our usual standard”.

Dr Warren then said the allegations against him were “lies and exaggerations”.

He said 10 months of suspension amid the proceedings, which was imposed by SACAT, had resulted in the death of animals in his community he otherwise would have treated.

“We feel we have let down our community, although they don’t blame us,” he said.

“The affect (sic) this has had on our clientele’s emotional wellbeing will stay with us.”

In the wake of the allegations being levelled against Dr Warren in September last year thousands of Jamestown residents petitioned to have him reinstated.

Then, at the start of August with the tribunal set to hand down its findings, Dr Warren made a plea through regional news publication Stock Journal claiming there was no physical evidence for the accusations.

The tribunal also ordered Dr Warren to pay $20,000 to cover the costs of the proceedings against him.