(a) General rule.--Except as otherwise provided in this section, no veterinarian or an assistant under direct veterinary supervision shall be liable to any person for civil damages as a result of any acts or omissions committed as a participant in a low-cost rabies clinic established under section 9,¹ unless the conduct of the veterinarian falls below the standards generally practiced and accepted in like circumstances by veterinarians performing the same or similar acts, and unless it is shown that the veterinarian did an act or omitted the doing of an act which the veterinarian was under a recognized duty to another to do, knowing or having reason to know that the act or omission created a risk of actual harm to the person or property of another. It shall be insufficient to impose liability to establish only that the conduct of the veterinarian fell below ordinary standards of care.

(b) Exception.--Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting or modifying any existing legal basis for determining the liability, or any defense thereto, of a veterinarian set forth in the act of December 27, 1974 (P.L. 995, No. 326),² known as the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act.