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A local veterinarian could be facing disciplinary action by the state for allegedly diverting prescription medication from the practice for personal use.
The accusation was filed with the California Veterinary Medical Board on July 10, alleging that Surya Chaudhri of Animal Medical Center of Pleasanton used his position to illegally obtain the opioid midazolam from the practice for unauthorized uses.
No citations or fines had been issued as of Tuesday. Chaudhri’s license remained active, and the practice at 3901 Santa Rita Road is still open. The office had not returned a request for comment as of Tuesday morning.
The accusation filed this summer comes following an investigation that kicked off in 2023, during which allegations emerged from Animal Medical Center’s co-owner that Chaudhri had been diverting midazolam from the pair’s other practice – Acadia Pet Center in San Jose – to their Pleasanton location.
The two had owned equal shares of both practices since 2022, with Chaudhri primarily working out of Animal Medical Center and his co-owner primarily working out of Acacia Pet Center, although Chaudhri would provide coverage as needed at their San Jose location.
According to the vet board accusation, Chaudhri confessed to taking the drug for personal use and said he was struggling with substance abuse issues, which he went on to seek treatment for “because he realized he had a problem and wanted to get better”. He denied abusing any other drugs and declined to provide further details to investigators.
The co-owner told investigators that after Chaudhri’s confession, he determined that a total of 770 milliliters of the drug had been diverted on four different occasions in 2023.
The diverted medicine “was never administered or going to be administered to an animal patient”, according to the co-owner, having instead been logged as being taken from the San Jose practice to the Pleasanton practice. He added that no other drugs had been diverted.
Chaudhri’s acquisition of the two practices in 2022 came shortly after he was released from probation for a 2018 DUI in Alameda County. He is facing further legal trouble in both Alameda and Contra Costa counties from multiple banks, with at least one case ongoing in Contra Costa County and at least two cases resulting in penalties of more than $40,000 each.
Meanwhile, the accusation from the California Veterinary Medical Board lists three causes for discipline, two for unprofessional conduct for self-administering a controlled substance and violating controlled substance laws, and one for violating the Veterinary Medical Practice Act.
The accusation filed this summer marks an escalation of the disciplinary process to the California Attorney General’s Office and serves as the first public document in the process, according to the California Veterinary Medical Board’s website. From there, the defense can opt to negotiate a stipulated agreement prior to a full administrative hearing.
The timeframe for the disciplinary process “is generally a minimum of two years”, according to the vet board.
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