An Alberta judge signed off a permanent injunction that legally prohibits disgraced veterinarian Dr. Jeff Serfas from practicing after he repeatedly flouted earlier disciplinary rulings and suspensions. Serfas ran the Forestburg Medical Clinic, but he had been without a veterinary registration since it was cancelled almost two years ago. Court documents in July show Serfas admitted to ignoring prior disciplinary rulings by continuing to practise, including selling antibiotics to an undercover Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA) investigator and performing a horse breeding evaluation. Lawyers for the ABVMA presented a consent order in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton on July 29th. The order, which is a legally-binding, court-enforceable agreement between Serfas and the ABVMA, states that Serfas disregarded prior disciplinary decisions and includes a permanent injunction prohibiting him from practising as a veterinarian. In addition, Serfas was ordered to pay $7000 in costs to the ABVMA. Signed by Justice Avril Inglis and the lawyers for both Serfas and the ABVMA, the order states that the injunction remains in effect until “such time as he may become registered with ABVMA or other professional body governing the regulation of veterinary medicine in Canada.” November 2025 is the soonest Serfas can re-apply for his veterinary registration in Alberta. An ABVMA hearing tribunal in 2014 fined and suspended Serfas for thirty days after multiple complaints in 2012 and 2013, including that he drank alcohol on the job, intimidated clinic staff and clients, and had intentionally harmed animals on occasion “as a result of his emotional volatility.” An ABVMA tribunal in May 2019 ordered the closure of Serfas’ clinic and suspended his registration for one year after ruling that he acted unprofessionally in a further eighteen instances, including two cases where dogs died after surgery performed by Serfas. He was ordered to pay $100,000 in fines and investigative costs in late 2020 after an ABVMA hearing tribunal found he ignored the prior ruling and continued to operate on animals. Penalties for ignoring a court-ordered injunction range from fines to incarceration.
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