Retired Texas Vet Challenges Internet Restrictions A retired Texas veterinarian has filed a federal lawsuit challenging state regulations that bar him from evaluating animals and giving veterinary advice over the Internet. Since 2002, Ronald Hines, 69, of Brownsville, Tex., has used his website to provide veterinary advice - sometimes for free and sometimes for a flat $58 fee. Sometimes his clients are overseas with limited access to veterinary services. He gets lots of questions from people who find wounded birds and want to nurse them to health. Over the course of his career, he developed an expertise with monkeys, and said he still gets a lot of monkey questions. Lots of diabetic monkeys. For some reason, people feed them all sorts of horrible things, like sticky buns," Hines said in a phone interview. Last month, the Texas veterinary board suspended Hines' license for a year after finding that his Internet practice violates state laws. Texas regulations require a vet to establish a "veterinarian-client-patient relationship," and they explicitly state that such a relationship cannot be established solely through the telephone or Internet. Hines' lawyers at the Arlington, Va.-based Institute for Justice say the rule infringes on their client's free-speech rights and is an unreasonable restriction on the profession. Jeff Rowes, an attorney with the institute, said the case could set a precedent in fields that extend well beyond veterinary medicine. He noted that telemedicine continues to be an emerging field and that regulations restricting Internet speech could affect a number of professions, including law, psychology and investment advice. "It is fundamentally a challenge to an obsolete approach to regulating professions," he said of the lawsuit. Rowes acknowledged that a veterinarian's free-speech rights are not absolute when it comes to professional licensing. A vet who dispenses incorrect or dangerous advice would clearly be subject to sanction, he said. But a blanket rule that bars giving advice over the Internet cannot be justified, he said. "It should not be illegal for veterinarians to give veterinary advice," Rowes wrote in the opening line of the lawsuit, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Nicole Oria, executive director of the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, said state law is clear in barring Hines' method of practice. She said the board has no problem with Hines writing general articles on veterinary care, but that he crosses the line when he gives specific medical advice to customers about a specific animal. She also said the suspension of Hines' license was probated, meaning he can continue to practice while on a probationary status. Hines, who gave consultations through his website www.2ndchance.info, said he typically has a potential client send him all available medical records, including notes and X-rays. He earned less than $3,000 a year through the site. If he can't provide any useful advice without conducting an examination, he says so and refunds any fees. Often, though, he said his style of practice allows him to conduct research and think about a case in ways that would be impossible if he were running a traditional practice. "I'm dealing with the science, not barking dogs, biting dogs," he said. I can just sit and think. I can do research.