Two months after his veterinary license was temporarily suspended by the state, a Penn Township veterinarian permanently surrendered his right to practice following allegations of improper or illegal conduct.

Denis Lee Daman, who owned and practiced at Suburban Animal Clinic in Penn Township, permanently surrendered his veterinary license in an agreement with the Department of State following allegations he performed dozens of surgeries on animals, despite having previously given up his ability to prescribe post-operative pain management medication.

The state moved in June to temporarily suspend Daman's ability to practice on allegations that he, among other claims: continued prescribing controlled substances despite losing the ability to do so; performed surgeries without proper pain management and while being unable to perform surgeries alone; and improperly managed medical cases.

On July 8, Daman signed an agreement with the state acknowledging one of those allegations, that in 2021 he performed 79 surgeries on animal patients “without the ability to prescribe post-operative narcotic, pain-management medication.”

Daman did not agree with, nor did the state further pursue, the litany of other allegations against him.

“Rather than engage in litigation in this matter, which could include civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation as well as costs of investigation, (Daman) agrees to the permanent voluntary surrender of his veterinary license,” the agreement states.

The veterinary license isn't the first one Daman has surrendered. He admitted, as part of the agreement, to having surrendered his Drug Enforcement Agency registration, which rendered him unable to prescribe controlled substances, including narcotic pain management, anesthetic and euthanasia medicine.Daman surrendered his registration in January 2020 after admitting to law enforcement he prescribed himself hydrocodone-acetaminophen, commonly known by the brand name Vicodin, on two separate occasions using his own DEA registration. He accepted those accusations in the agreement.An earlier charging document from the state department also accused Daman of instructing a pet owner to decrease their pet's phenobarbital anti-convulsant to every-other-day dosage, with a non-narcotic anti-convulsant on the off-days, so the narcotic medication “would last longer since (he) did not have a DEA license to refill the phenobarbital,” something to which Daman did not accept in the agreement.The state also accused Daman of telling his staff to remove dates on expired medications with nail polish remover so that he could continue dispensing the drugs, asking another veterinarian to provide him with controlled substances and asking a neighboring vet to perform euthanasia at Daman's clinic. Daman did not agree to any of those accusations.

In addition to being unable to prescribe narcotic pain meds, the state had another issue with Daman performing nearly 80 surgeries: He suffers weakness in his hands, experiences tremors and requires assistance with surgeries “due to loss of function and dexterity.”The 72-year-old, in addition, had difficulty remembering drug doses, leading in one instance to him increasing a cat's insulin to the point it had a severe diabetic episode, the state alleged.Despite those additional accusations, Daman and the state only agreed to him performing the 79 surgeries without a DEA license.The state Board of Veterinary Medicine issued the order approving the agreement July 23 and mailed it to Daman on Aug. 2.