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Veterinarian suspended for alleged harm to animals, botching surgeries

Ayman Salem runs the Harrisonburg Veterinary Emergency Clinic, and Silver Spring Veterinary Hospital in Winchester.
Harrisonburg Veterinary Emergency Clinic
Ayman Salem runs the Harrisonburg Veterinary Emergency Clinic, and Silver Spring Veterinary Hospital in Winchester.

A veterinarian who practices in Harrisonburg and Winchester has had his license suspended for the second time. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.

Ayman Salem, who runs the Harrisonburg Veterinary Emergency Clinic and Silver Spring Veterinary Hospital in Winchester, has a long disciplinary history with the Board of Veterinary Medicine, as The Harrisonburg Citizenreported on in 2020.

On March 15th of this year, Salem's license was suspended again after the board [quote] "determined that your practice poses a substantial danger to the public health and safety." [end quote] This was in response to five new and separate cases of alleged illegal activity or misconduct.

Included in the board's statement are allegations that in 2021:

  • Salem failed to appropriately treat a dog with a high fever, loss of appetite, and difficulty breathing, who then had to be euthanized by another vet on the same day.
  • Salem improperly performed a bladder stone removal, resulting in the dog requiring emergency surgery from another vet afterwards.
  • Salem failed to provide adequate treatment to another dog with a gastrointestinal blockage that ended up needing emergency surgery from another vet the same day.
  • Salem botched a C-section on a Great Dane, causing the death of one of her puppies and excessive bleeding at the surgical site.

An administrative hearing has been scheduled for April 28 and 29.

Randi B. Hagi first joined the WMRA team in 2019 as a freelance reporter. Her writing and photography have been featured in The Harrisonburg Citizen, where she previously served as the assistant editor; as well as The Mennonite; Mennonite World Review; and Eastern Mennonite University's Crossroads magazine.