When medical errors occur in animals, owners and advocates say they're often ignored, minimized or outright denied by a system that devalues the bond between pets and their owners and fails to hold veterinarians sufficiently accountable for mistakes.
Have you ever had a pet suffer from a medical error at the vet? What happened? How was it remedied?
Wed Feb 10, 2010 6:00 AM EST
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Have you ever had a pet suffer from a medical error at the vet? What happened? How was it remedied?
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My parents have an 11 year old border collie/lab mix and when she was a puppy she was showing signs of hip dysplasia, possibly from rough handling (we got her from a single mother who was worried her two young boys were going to kill her because they were so rough with her).
The vet suggested we let her perform surgery on her hip that was showing signs of hip dysplasia. We agreed as she was just a young dog with so much life to live. After the surgery we go to pick her up and realize they operated on the right side instead of the left. The vet then tried to charge us to get him to fix the other leg by claiming that the right leg would have needed surgery eventually anyways. After my dad argued with him for quite some time he finally agreed to do the surgery on the leg that needed the surgery to begin with for free.
I’ll never forget her trying to walk around on just her front two legs after the surgery because both her back legs were so sore.
And actually a few years later the same vet was charged for malpractice for improperly disposing of euthanized animals. I believe he left town, though I’m not sure if his license was revoked.
I have a two year old English bulldog that we decided to get neutered (probably the most common surgery to do). Took him to the vet, he was fine after the surgery and the next day the area around his groin was swollen and hard as a rock so we took him back and they gave him some anit-biotics. The next day it was even worse so we took him back and he ended up on IV antibiotics and painkillers for a week because he had contracted a staph infection around his groin. The infection open a 2 inch wound around his groin which had to be cut out and a drain put in. $1,500 later, he is still neutered and doing fine. My problem is that the vet took no responsibility for what happened. How can I know if the instruments were sterilized and they cleaned him up correctly? Its easier to lie about a surgery with an animal than it is a human.
I dont have a lot of experience but in both my experience working at a vet and in life in general, before you go in for surgery how do you know any of those questions. Where I work you can see very detailed of what we did what we checked.. every hour how much the animal went to the rest room and everything. I have watched a vet who did nothing but spay and neuters speed through them like crazy, there are TONS of things that can go wrong after wards, esp with an english bulldog. So if anyone else reads this and gets a dog fixed, get an ecollar (you are realistically not going to watch it 24/7) and watch for reactions to the sutures.
Any surgery has risks; the risk of infection is probably number one on that list. This is not an uncommon outcome of even the most common surgical procedures, and is likely NOT the 'fault' of the veterinarian. It does sound as if the veterinarian correctly treated the infection and sent the owner home with a healthy dog, for which she should be thankful.
As previously stated, all surgeries have risks involved. Having been a part of human and veterinary medicine for some time, I can attest that most veterinarians take all the precautions necessary to achieve a successful outcome and explain any potential risks with owners... this is why they go to school for at least 8 years and rack up 100,000's of thousands of dollars in debt in pursuit of an education. That being said, even if the surgery is performed "textbook" and goes very well, there can always be complications. Living creatures are much difficult to treat than manmade objects... Veterinarians and physicians are not auto-mechanics. As mentioned a large portion of the outcome of any treatment is dependent on the animal, owners and how well they follow postoperative instructions. Should a vet be responsible if he/she did his job correctly but the dog licks his incision in the middle of the night while the owner isn't watching and gets an infection??? Part of the problem is that "fault" is difficult to prove. It could be just as much the dog's or the owner's fault as the veterinarian.
Three years ago I took my 10 year old cat, Toby, to the vet for what was diagnosed as a urinary tract infection. He was treated and released to me. Shortly after we got home, he was crying and clearly in pain. When I called his vet, I was told to take him somewhere else because it was a Saturday and the clinic was about to close. I took him to an unfamiliar vet, and had his medical records faxed to the second vet. The second vet declared that Toby had a urinary tract infection w/crystals in his urine and he proceeded to pump him full of fluids. Once again, we went home and within minutes, Toby was still in agony. This time, I rushed him to the Emergency Vet because the second vet's office was also closed.
At the Emergency Vet I was told Toby had an "undiagnosed heart condition" and the infusion of fluids was in direct opposition to his condition. He was in dire condition. They put him in an incubator and it was wait and see if he responded. I left alone and waited to hear from the vet. Several hours later, I was told I could come to the clinic and see him. He was lying on his side inside a baby incubator and he did respond to my touch. I stayed with him for more than an hour. The vet assistant said he seemed a little more stable and we could wait to see if he was better in the morning. I cried all the way home. When I got home, the ER vet called and told me Toby had a seizure and died just after I left. I was inconsolable.
I was, and still am, angry about they way all the vets just seemed to push us away because they didn't want to do a little overtime work to properly diagnose/treat Toby. Everyone passed the buck. No one took the time. And Toby died. I still have Toby's brother, Tucker, who is 16. But I have never returned to any of the vets I used w/Toby. I don't trust them. We have a new vet, and he seems to be much more compassionate and willing to take the time to do what's right.
I took my dog, Mutley to a clinic in Waldorf, Md to have a neuter surgery,which never occurred and he was given a drug off label, it was labeled for CATTLE & HORSES and my dog died. I gave NO informed consent to use such a drug. I was never told of the side effects or that this drug is one of the old drugs. This drug XYLAZINE 100 mg/ml carries a risk factor 43 times other newer, safer comparable drugs. I was never told of the affilliation to the clinic, that a rescue group owned and operated it. As such they do alot of low cost spays and neuters using drugs that are cheaper and this compromised my dog. They also see more cats than dogs, using a ONE SIZE FIT (DRUG) for all animals. My dog was treated as an UNOWNED dog. He was NOT. This particular clinic and rescue made $800,000 in 2008 the same year Mutley died there, while claiming car expenses and filing as a NON PROFIT RESCUE GROUP. I question that. The drug manufacturer and I (NOT THE VET) filed an adverse drug reactionwith the FDA stating that this drug is NOT recommended for cats and dogs. A necropsy (autopsy) showed that my dog was NORMAL and HEALTHY. The pathologist told me that she could find NO reason for his death. I had an expert witness(vet) testify that this drug was responsible for his death. We have virtually no avenue to turn with no accountability even with the vet boards. They are supposed to protect the pets and their owners, when in fact they are protecting the veterinarians instead. They are comprised of mostly all vets. They dismiss most valid cased not doing much more than to fine them or nothing at all. I am left devastated and heartbroken. This happens more than you can imagine. When this veterinarian is asked hes tell you these things happen, but in court the stated that my dog was the ONLY animal he had ever lost . I don't know any veterinarian that can say that. I have found that the owner is not told everything and a cover up starts immediately with lies and in my case I believe they were trying to lose my dogs body to avoid a necropsy, that I requested not the clinic. My dog MUTLEY should have never died. Please never blindly trust any veterinarian. Do your research and be informed of all drug, vaccines and medications that you are prescribed before you give them your you pet. The vet has client information sheets that are to be given that the manufacturer gives them to give all pet owners but sadly they are almost never given. I have a website www.mutleyandme.org I will never stop trying to get public awareness so that this can be avoided. I was also charged for a surgery that NEVER happened. This is not the actions of compassionate caring veterinarians and rescue groups. I can;t tell you how much I miss him he was just a young happy dog. The name of the rescue group is last chance rescue inc. in Md. My dog had his last chance for life once he was there.
Correction The rescue group made $400,00.00
You know whats really sad P.Deeds? In spite of your negative comments regarding my posts, I think your case might actually have merit. Xylazine is a somewhat archaic drug that most responsible small animal vets wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, even using the strength labeled for small animals. Especially in the absence of overt pathology, a possible cause of death could certainly include an adverse reaction which might be beyond the control of the vet. On the other hand, a common cause of anesthetic accident and death is inadequate monitoring. Did you have another veterinarian review the anesthetic record? If not, that might be useful.
BTW. Not that this means you are any more or less right or wrong, most vets use off-label medications in pets. If we didn't, we wouldn't be able to practice medicine. The fact is that there are very few approved medications for pets.
Well, if you went to a low cost spay/neuter place, you generally get what you pay for. These places are going to use the lowest cost drugs and generally everything gets the same thing. That way the techs just weigh the animal and pull up the drugs according the chart on the wall.
Contrast that with a clinic like mine that each animal is evaluated and a protocol is developed by the vet. Each animal has an IV catheter in place and is monitored from the time it is induced into anesthesia until the time it wakes up. The low cost place just extubates the animal and puts them back in the cage (or on the floor lined up one by one). Our animals have to reach a certain body temp and wakefulness prior to being left.
So, choose a place that is subsidized by the government/rescue group, and you choose high volume/cheap care. You cannot do high volume and high quality. You get cheap and fast or slow and more expensive. What matters more to you?
What if, Did I forget to tell you that on the shoddy medical records of my dog that many veterinarians evaluated and were shocked, that the WRONG COLOR OF DOG and the GUESSTIMATED WEIGHT was on his record? DID I ALSO TELL YOU THAT THE VETERINARIAN TRIED TO TELL ME THAT MY DOG WAS SICK? When that wasn't the case in the necropsy report then he tried to say that I overfed him and that I was the cause of his death? What I am saying is that if mistakes are made then why not tell the truth? We deserve the truth. Do you know that I have nightmares that another of my dogs are being hurt ot killed at the vets? I can no longer have any elected surgery because of the trauma I have endured. In court the vet said that he NEVER does any exams on any animal, that is malpractice. Had I been told that this was the case I would have never taken my dog there to ultimately be murdered.
Two years ago my cat became sick, was throwing up a lot and had diarrhea for over a week. I took her to what I thought was my vet, but turned out to be a new vet who had bought my old vet's practice. The new vet was very short tempered and rude. She took one look at my cat and told me she had hyperthyroidism and she needed to have her thyroid blasted with radioactive isotopes to disable it as soon as possible. I myself have hypothyroidism, thus I know a little more than the average person about the disease, so I was a little surprised that the doctor would make such a chemically based diagnosis on just looking at my cat. I suggested that she should run some blood work to confirm her off the cuff diagnosis but the vet refused and just ran urine instead. I left and went home and did some more research on feline hyperthyroidism, but my cat had none of the many symptoms of the disease other than throwing up. I even called one of the leading feline hyperthyroidism vets in the country to discuss symptoms. He told me it cannot be diagnosed with a urine test, only through a blood test. The procedure is very hard on the cat - their thyroid is irradiated and they are kept in confinement for two weeks because they are radioactive, then you cannot hold or be in contact with you cat for more than 5 mins a day for a month and have to dispose of their waste as radioactive material. Plus since their endocrine system has been permanently destroyed you have to give them a nasty pill that makes them foam at the mouth twice a day for the rest of their lives, which is significantly shortened by the procedure! Not fun. The vet called back two days later and said the urine test confirmed that she had hyperthyroidism and that I needed to schedule the $1500 procedure that week. I told the vet off and how she should have her license revoked. I then took my cat to a new vet who was amazing. She did blood work and even let me look in the microscope to see what the problem was - my kitty had a bacterial stomach infection. Two days of little antibiotic pills and kitty was perfect, healthy, and happy (and is currently sitting in my lap purring)! All I can say is everyone who loves their pet should ALWAYS do their own research and get a second opinion before committing to any major procedure involving their beloved animal!
Glad your cats OK. Sounds like your crappy vet had some bills to pay. What a QUACK.
Yes, trust your instinct and always get a 2nd opinion. I had the same thing happen where I took my cat to the vet's office and there were different Dr.s there. My cat was lethargic and after spending a day there the vet tech told me I should put him to sleep. Since they could not tell me what was the matter with him, I decided to take him home and hand feed him. It took him 2 days and praying, but when I couldn't find him I thought he went to go hide and die. He actually got enough strength to move around and after a few more days he was back to normal. I'm glad that I didn't listen to them and trusted my gut feeling. Of course they charged me for the over night stay and the visit, but at least I didn't let them convince me to put him to sleep.
Yes, second opinions are important. Because you are in no position to judge. As a vet I can tell you that you don't know the first right thing about feline hyperthyroidism in spite of your research. I am not saying that your cat did or did not have thyroid disease, only that you have been sadly misinformed about its treatment. This also tells me that everything else you espouse is subject to question.
Wow, I wonder if "what if...." realizes she/he just confirmed how insensitive some vets can be.
Maybe if you took into consideration we are the lowest paid profession with an 8 year degree, have on average between $60,000 to $120,000 dollars in student debt for veterinary school alone, and have people accusing us of being money grubbing and insensitive, you might get a clue to what we go through on a daily basis. We get blamed for the problems pets have, we get blamed when the owners don't have enough money to pay for it, and we get screamed at and have a board complaint filed when we refuse to fix it for free. Our drug suppliers and the electric company don't really take "Well, we had to take tomatoes for little Fluffy's surgery because her mom didn't have the money to pay for it" as an excuse for not paying bills, and neither does the government.
I'm not saying there aren't bad apples out there--there are. But a majority of veterinarians are highly competent, caring people who are devastated when mistakes are made. We are not Gods...we're human. ANd the biological body system of an animal is not a car.
And the reason a majority of board complaints are dismissed is because the board (made of up of both veterinarians and lay people) cannot find any merit with them.
To Indianavet....
Money - is NEVER an excuse - for anything. Vet's choose to go to school, they choose to take on debt, they choose to enter this profession and are free to choose any other. I chose to work in education and have compromised accordingly for my choice of profession.
The cost of Veterinary medicine is expensive period. Veterinarians - like it or not - are in the business of addressing medical concerns of companion pets. If you chose this profession for the money, you entered it for the wrong reason. When treating a minor UTI it amounts to no less than $300 for testing, antibioitcs and office visit - yep - it's hard for me to wrap my head around this.
Bring a kind heart, a philanthropic soul and a desire to be compensated fairly - and perhaps the attitudes that you perceive might just change.
Cheers !
Then maybe you Vets are in the wrong profession, if any of this was considered beforehand then maybe you should have gone into forensics. People are not concerned with your bills, your student loans; these animals are our family - do you understand? We are devastated when we lose our beloved pets. You Vets spout your plot in life when what you really need is compassion and kindness for a living being. Our pets that are abused either directly or indirectly by someone that we trust has totally broken our hearts. Try this malpractice out on a relative and see how it feels!
wow do you people realize a lot of the same machines used on people are the same for animals. Yet for a single x-ray for ourselves we can pay $800 and yell and scream having to pay $80 for our pet. If you can not afford to take care of the animal dont own it. They cost money people can not do things for free. You dont work for free, dont ask a vet to do so. My wife and I had to pay $11000 for a single shot for her. Ask your self would you pay that. Look up the same things your asking your vet to do but for a human and see the difference. Wrap you head around that!! Vets have to do a lot more than a regular doctor for a whole lot less pay. I am sure they love animals, but with me its the owners that I cant stand. I am not saying jump into paying for things, but be prepared when you buy an animal to pay a dr, just like you would if it was ur child like so many claim!
To Zeromis....
What an insensitive schmuck. If somone has to teach that vet's kid - and believe me the person who does is way underpaid given what they spent on their master's in education - they also get to own a pet and should be able to access quality, affordable care for their beloved. Pets are not just for those for can afford $0,000's vet bills. I never said it should be free, but it should be affordable. And if a vet screws up, you better believe it's on their dime and not mine !!!!!!
If these insensitive comments are truely from a real Veterinarian, then that negative energy is felt by the animals and people. Just for that your business will suffer. I have 2 truely compassionate Vets that have let me slide on paying for some office visits since they know I will be loyal to them. Their business has been successful not because of me, but of all the other patients who have felt the same way. Same for human Drs. and patients. Who wants to go to a Doctor that is a schmuck.
Winky, (and the rest of you who think the vets just need to get a heart),
I LOVE animals. That's what motivated me to become a vet. But zeromis is exactly right. It costs money for me to get an education and practice veterinary medicine, and I cannot work for free. That's not insensitivity, that's just the unfortunate reality.
You talk about vets needing compassion... do you realize that the veterinary profession also has the highest depression, suicide, and divorce rates of any other medical profession? Why would that be? Simple. It is because we enter the profession for the love of animals. Yet there are so many tragedies. The owner that will pay $10,000 to fix her cat, but there is just no cure for the disease. The opposite owner that refuses to spend money on the animal, yet it could be cured for a few hundred dollars. The misery that comes from knowing that both animals will leave your clinic without a cure. The guilt that you had to turn away the second animal because you have a mortgage and kids to send to college and you cannot afford to run any more free bloodwork this year. The anger of your spouse because yet again you stayed at the clinic until 8 pm to spend extra time with your patients, and then when you did get home one of your clients called and you immediately went back in to see the animal.
YES, I chose this profession, eight long years ago when I began my undergraduate education. But when you are a pre-vet student the profession seems perfect, an idyllic setting where you will spend every day saving animals' lives. So don't talk to me about heart, about compassion. I cry every night after I euthanize an animal. I have fought every day to justify why I still work so hard for people that understand so little of what veterinarians go through, and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that some animals will be saved, and some owners will be thankful. And maybe, JUST maybe, I will be able to pay my bills.
"When treating a minor UTI it amounts to no less than $300 for testing, antibioitcs and office visit".
"Pets are not just for those for can afford $0,000's vet bills. I never said it should be free, but it should be affordable."
"I have 2 truely compassionate Vets that have let me slide on paying for some office visits"
"Then maybe you Vets are in the wrong profession"
Hmmmm. Let's think about this for a minute. How much do you think it should cost? On what do you base your figures? How much do you think is fair for the veterinarian to make? How much profit do you think should be left for the hospital owner who worked hard to make it happen? Are you so asinine that you actually think that the vet gets to keep all of that $300 for himself? Are you so asinine that you actually think that he even gets to keep most of it? When you actually have an idea what it costs to be able to provide this service lets talk again then. In the meantime understand this... By letting you slide on those exam fees, the practice owner gave away ALL of the profit on that visit and part of the veterinarians salary; the rest of that fee went to pay overhead. That is how little veterinarians make.
You're right. If we were mercenaries like you there wouldn't be any veterinarians. Instead we are just suckers. And that's how people like you treat us whether you realize it or not. You penalize us for our humanitarinism.
Hello everyone,
I would just like to comment on this article and some of the comments I've read on here from the perspective of a veterinary student.
First, I realize that owners do not think of their pets as property (I've always referred to my husky as my son) but unfortunately the law states that's exactly what they are. And while you may not like it, please try to understand the difficult and unique position that puts veterinarians in. We are bound by law to provide the best medical attention possible for the animals in our care and to put their welfare first, but we are also bound to obey the wishes of the owners because the animal is their property. Hence, you could (if you wanted to, and some people do) bring your animal to us to have it euthanized simply because you don't have the time or money to take care of it, which clearly in the case of a completely healthy animal is NOT in it's best interest. That doesn't happen in human medicine, in fact it's illegal, yet we have to face this choice and many like it on a regular and sometimes daily basis.
Second, no one, and I mean NO ONE, gets into the veterinary profession for the money. In fact, during my first year one of my professors told us that if that was the reason any of us decided to apply to veterinary school, for a nice fat paycheck, then we should leave! Despite what you read on your bill at the end of the day most veterinarians do not go home to mansions with expensive cars in the drive-way. I was told by a veterinarian when I was applying to veterinary schools that if it was possible for me to be happy doing anything else, then don't apply because this career is not for the faint of heart. You have to truly be able to say this is the ONLY career for you because it is tough and the pay you get pales in comparison to the amount of work you do and stress you endure. We work well beyond the clinic hours writing case reports in patient files, researching therapy options for severe cases and of course many of us are on-call 24 hours a day to address every client issue from "My dog just ate a box of rat poison" to "My dear old cat went to the litter box twice tonight instead of once, is she going to die" (this is not a joke, I've heard both of these from entirely serious owners). If you think it can't possibly be that tough being a vet then consider being woken up at 2 a.m. and told to go out in below freezing weather to calve a cow outside in the snow... and all for a third of the pay human doctors get for sitting in a nice warm office from 9-5 Monday through Friday (excluding the ER doctors and surgeons obviously).
Finally, I would like to comment on the 3 cases presented in this article, of which only 1 is a true error of the veterinarian. The dog that was handed a diagnosis of bone cancer was an error in the lab interpretation of the sample they received. The attending veterinarian has no control over lab interpretation, they merely present the findings to the client. And were it me, personally, I would be happier with this situation than the reverse, to be told my animal would be fine and then find out a few months later that he really DID have cancer. The cat that received an overdose of insulin is truly a tragic error, but again not the veterinarians fault directly. Many states do not require veterinary technicians to be trained or licensed, so there may be no governing body for this, in which case it is up to the veterinarians themselves to assess and train the technicians that they hire. In this case, it was the technician who made the error and HE should be held most accountable as I would guess the veterinarian told him the correct dose to give and taught him how to administer it, but the technician failed to follow direction. The dog who suffered a terrible operation on the wrong leg was a gross veterinary error and I must agree that I believe this individual should have received very strict punishment. While we are all human and make mistakes, this mistake could easily have been avoided and should not have been allowed to happen and certainly should not have been brushed off lightly by the vet. This individual is a poor representation of the veterinary medical profession.
So, to summarize, owners don't like their pets being treated like property and largely neither do vets, but until the law changes we all need to work on understanding each person's perspective and not be so quick to point fingers. To my fellow professionals I hope to join in a year, though some owners may drive you crazy and make your job extremely difficult don't ignore them or their emotional needs in your pursuit of caring for their pet, because all you get is any upset owner and even more stress. To my fellow pet owners, please understand that veterinarians are NOT in this profession to make lots of money by fleecing you with extra charges. Yes, we want and need to earn a living, but we have chosen to do so in a career we hold very dearly and most veterinarians (excluding the bad apples that exist in every profession) would never put boosting their paycheck above their patients' care.
Wow, just reading some of the comments from vets shows me that the problem is much more severe than I thought. I NEVER object to any cost to treat my dogs, but two incompetent and totally uncaring vets CAUSED her death. Period. In a single year, I started chemotheraphy for one dog that had lymphoma, had two surgeries for a ruptured cruciate, one surgery to remove an abnormal adrenal gland and two surgeries for a herniated disc and ruptured disc. ALL at the specialty hospital. That is in addition to my NORMAL veterinary bills for seven senior dogs - dentals, titers, bloodwork, etc.
Yet, still, one of my dogs died because an ER vet got too lazy to even triage her.
Those of you posting here are just citing excuses for poor care. Perhaps you really should rethink your profession.
Teresa O -
(in response to your claim that we are making excuses for poor care)
I must say that you are not like the majority of pet owners ("I NEVER object to any cost to treat my dogs") you have the same opinion that I do because you clearly should receive the same quality of care we could receive.
But the sad fact is that most people aren't like us, they don't allow all of the tests required to make a life saving surgery safer, ensure with the highest suspicion that the disease we are treating is in fact that disease etc. and this leads to a lot of the problems that paint vets in a poor light. All because the owner (who hasn't been through 8 years or more of training) have the CHOICE to do with their "property" what they want.
What I am saying is that because pets are viewed as "property" OWNERS have the power to say we, the EDUCATED MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS, can't use the same standards of care that are considered routine with human medicine.
I have even had owners tell me that if I won't do something for them the way they want it done then that they will just let their animals die/suffer at home, or even attempt to "kill" them.
You can probably then understand why vets might have to "cut corners" to do whatever they can for their patients, to alleviate their pain or cure their presumed disease. And yes...We OFTEN are flying blind in these cases, figuratively speaking.
In human medicine it is not even an option to, for example, undergo surgery with out presurgical blood tests to ensure that your organs are capable of handling the stress of anestheic drugs etc, or to undergo chemo without a definitive diagnosis of your cancer etc.
Veterinarians love animals and most of us try to make our services as inexpensive as possible because we want to do the best for your pet without cutting corners.
Even in human medicine accidents do happen, and everyone has a story of a family member or friend of a friend that something negative happened to medically, and so it the case in veterinary medicine but these events are not as common as they are painted in this article. This article also doesn't reflect the animals that we save on microfractions of information and cost of what it would to treat the same condition in man.
I am truly very sorry for your tragedy and hope that you don't feel that all vets are incompetent or lazy like you seem to feel based on your response.
Indiana vet and all you other Vets...I have had too many bad experiences all caused by vets to get my violin case out and opened very quickly. Please re read your message and look at what we are supposed to be crying for you about for salary and then go find out what the average and then median income is for this country.....Then if you read these message, it is just example after example of how vets screw up and then do anything they want not to pay for their mistakes. I am in the midst of another one of these but just as you are crying in your milk we can't do anything legally really because the system doesn't look at pets the same way as people so how can we legally protect both our pets and ourselves. We can't and you all know it so once you as group start to act responsibly, then it will stop. Don't lie to us, Don't use the wrong drugs, don't make up things just so we get to bring the animals back and most importantly, if you screw up admit it and pay up....you have insurance.
Actually, it is not so much the salary that we are complaining about. If you were paying attention (really paying attention) you would understand that we would be very happy with the salaries we are paid. However, it is insulting to be paid that salary and then hear people whine and complain about why veterinary medicine is not on a par with human medicine. When you are ready to pay us the big bucks, the pay off for you will be better medicine. In the meantime you essentially get what you pay for.
Excuse me, what if......, your last entry was rather rude. What is up with the crack about "you get what you pay for"? The vet I go to has taken very good care of all my dogs and cats over the years with one exception. My last dog, who was old, diabetic and going blind and deaf had something obviously wrong with her. When she passed gas the odor was rancid. I took her to the vet and he just gave her a quick look and said nothing was wrong with her. A few months later I came home from work one night and she had pooped on the carpet. It smelled of bacteria so I decided that if it happened the next night I would make her an appointment for the next day. I got home that night and it was worse. It was half blood. Needless to say, I called the answering service and asked for the oncall vet to call me. After discussing the situation with her I decided to take the dog in to the office. Long story short, the X-rays showed a mass on her liver that 90% of the time is Cancer. The mass was so large that it was displacing her internal organs and her ribcage and she had acted as if nothing was wrong (the dog, not the Vet). Did I throw a fit? No, but I will never let the first Vet ever touch one of my critters ever again. The rest of the staff I have complete faith in. Of course, if I didn't, they wouldn't have been my Vet since 1991.
Excellent article, but the dismissal rate by the Texas veterinary board is actually closer to 90 percent in malpractice complaints. My complaint was dismissed by ONE vet on the board 10 years ago -- what people don't understand is that complaints in Texas are not evaluated by the board, but by only TWO vets (changed in 2005 from one after my testimony to the Sunset in 2004 regarding the farce that exonerated the vet who mistreated my cat Suki). The "informal conference" that took place in my case was behind closed doors, off the record, and at one point I was made to leave the room so that the enforcement committee (NOT the board - they do not attend) could discuss the case "privately" with the vet. I was denied my request to have my attorney present, while vets can automatically bring their legal counsel; they don't need "permission." A complete farce from beginning to end. There was tons of evidence to prove what this vet did to my cat, and later an expert from A&M cited nine violations of the standard of care on one day alone. Two others wrote that numerous violations had occurred for up to a 10-month period. But in Austin the vet walked because of a system that is a complete travesty and remains so to this day.
I started my web site vetabusenetwork in 2000 to make people aware of the disgrace that veterinary boards are, and was SUED by this same vet in 2005 who attempted to get temporary and permanent injunctions (both unconstitutional, I might add) to try to prevent me from telling Suki's Story. He failed miserably both in the lower court and on appeal. Fortunately I had excellent attorneys who fought for my First Amendment rights and judges who upheld the law. It was a 2 1/2 year legal battle designed to silence me. All it did was make me more determined to fight for consumer and First Amendment rights to tell the world what some of these vets have done to our companions. Vets suing their own clients to shut them up are the scummiest of scum. Might want to think about that the next time you choose a vet.
Thank you for covering this very important subject. People have NO idea what can happen to their pet until it's too late. This was a world I never knew existed until Suki and I were put through a nightmare that defies description. Everyone working in this area of consumer advocacy does so to make sure it never happens to anyone else again.
Did you know that 80 to 90% of all cases filed to state board regulators are dismissed because they ARE WITHOUT MERIT and not because "we protect our own" as stilted articles like this one would have you believe.
Again, "what if....", confirming the insensitivty! (incase you didn't read above, what if is a vet)
Hmmm....the attitude that most complaints are false - up to 90% false - sounds suspiciously like attitudes of the past towards rape victims . . . .
Except a physical act from one person to another (rape) has absolutely nothing to do with the practice of medicine or surgery. It's not that they're false--no one is disputing that something happened. It's just what people do not understand about medicine that makes the difference. Is it really worth ruining someone's career and life over a mistake? Is it OK for someone to ruin YOUR life for a mistake that you made, even with the best of intentions?
Well, Nikkinala, unless you have read many of these cases (as I have), you are no position to judge either. Most of the complaints occur because pet owners think they know more than they do and they approach the situation both with a closed mind and with eyes unable to see because they are clouded with emotion and anguish (understandably) for their beloved pet. As for lack of sensitivity... you will never find someone more sensitive than me--which is why I get so angered by many of these cases which are little more than ill-informed bias and preconceived notions.
Oh, what if . . . . from you posts it seems to me that you belive you are the only person in a position to judge.
I wasn't equating rape to a vet's mistake; I was equating the assumption that most complaints are false.
I can fully see why "what if" has gone from posting some very polite and informative comments to now posting what may seem like very direct or even rude comments. To have a profession you care about so deeply abused by a torrent of people who seem to have little or no concept about how much work we put into our patients and our clients is enough to break the heart of any veterinarian. Clearly being kind and reasonable is not getting through to the masses for "what if" so hopefully his/her blunt challenges of some of the posts here can get some of the bloggers challenging some of their own blatantly biased opinions, some of which seem to be so far fetched they cannot possibly be based on any sort of factual information.
How would I know? I work in a rural vet practice, am on call 3-5 nights a week as well as working 5-7 days a week, I often sleep next to my patients on the floor of the practice, take my patients home with me to sleep in my room so i can watch them (and rarely charge more than the base overnight charge of $40 which is often LESS THAN THE COST OF BOARDING AN ANIMAL at a standard facility). I cry when they pass away despite trying EVERYTHING humanly possible, strained my relationship with my partner and have always cared for my patients 150% regardless of the physical cost to me. I dare you to name a human doctor who does even half those things! I am crippled when people say that vets do not care about their patients or that we only care about the money and I would hate to think I ever gave that impression to any of my clients.
Gross negligence can happen, but at the end of the day, the vast majority veterinarians are caring people who dedicate their lives to their patients (often at the expense of having no personal life), and perhaps some of the people on here bad mouthing vets should perhaps take the time to actually speak reasonably to their veterinarian rather than treating them like some sort of monster. They should take into account that the patients we see can hide their disease for a long time before the owner takes them to the vet and are often very unwell by the time we see them which can make a simple procedure like blood collection have some dire consequences through no fault of anyone involved.
I am disheartened by some of the views expressed in the article and also in the opinions here, however I know that I can do no more to care for my patients despite what some of the bloggers may think. If you are unhappy with your veterinarian, question them reasonably and properly, instead of assuming or even making up your own version of events and then slandering your veterinarian online.
A major midwest veterinary teaching hospital committed malpractice on my dog. He bled to death undergoing surgery. I asked for and received a copy of his medical records. I found out that there were no licensed veterinarians at all in the operating room, all students. I thought at least a licensed vet would be in the room. I read in my dog's medical record where his heart rate doubled, was treated with fluid and his vitals weren't checked for another 45 minutes. Before he became unstable they were checked every 15 minutes. When they checked him again he had no vitals, he was dead. Oh, and I also discovered reading his medical record that after a diagnostic procedure he had done the day before surgery, he became unstable and went to the ICU. I was never told this, but there is was in black and white. Filing a complaint with the veterinary board was worthless, I was told after the "investigation" the person I filed against was a student; this person had introduced theirself to me as a veterinarian. Student vets at least in my state cannot be held accountable for their actions, as well as the veterinary teaching hospital either. I was appalled at the complete lack of accountability these people have. Being a nurse I completely understand what it is like to work in an atmosphere where threats of litigation is always there, and I certainly wouldn't want the veterinary profession to go through this also, but at the same time something needs to be done to hold them all more accountable.
A few years ago I took my cat in to get spayed and I later got a phone call that she had gone into heart failure and died. There was nothing that I could do. I will never know if they gave her too much anesthetic.
texascat lady that is a hard situation I am sure, I was working on puting an Iv in a dog recently where the owners refused blood work just wanted the problem fixed(not saying ur case is like that) we put the iv in and the dog crashed. 4 people including the vet had listened to the dogs heart, when it recovered it had a murmor. Stress can do strange things to animals, esp cats keep that in mind plz.
I took our perfectly healthy cat into the only vet in our small town for her shots. We took her home and she died that night. The vet said she had a reaction to the anesthesia. Our town has an ordinance that all cats be vaccinated and licensed. That's not happening with our other two cats after the vet killed the first one.
wwgy, something seems to be missing. when did your get get anesthesia if you just took her in for shots.
Please do not overreact to the 80-90% dismissal rate for malpractice claims. Most claims are rejected because they are not warranted! Mostly, because people are upset that their pet died and feel they need to take their anger out on the vet, rather than cope with the loss. My wife is a vet and has been threatened by owners by lawsuit or board complaints, but most of the time when it gets to that point (the threat), the owners simply don't understand that 1) a general vet cannot always diagnose the condition to the level of a specialist (e.g. you get what you pay for), and 2) many owners do not understand the complexity of the medical system. Misdiagnosis is not black and white. The difference between malignant and benign cancer is an educated guess in any medical practice. Has my wife seen situations were the wrong procedure was given or the incorrect amount of medication injected. Absolutely, and most vets are willing to take responsibility for those mistakes. If they're not willing to take responsibilty, complain. If you feel you don't have rights, then write your local representatives. If you feel you vet did something wrong, feel free to complain to the board. However, have faith that they are not like abritrationists and will fairly examine your case.
Thank you for shedding some light on a story that needs to be told. Unfortunately, the general public is just so unaware of the risks that their pets face during visits to the veterinarian.
My kitten, Pumpkin, had an almost-fatal spay procedure back in 2000. The vet who performed the surgery, Dr. Stan Gorlitsky, of Mt. Pleasant, SC, had already had his license suspended for one year in Ohio after being found guilty of gross negligence. He moved to South Carolina and accumulated dozens of complaints against him. The South Carolina Vet Board dismissed most of those complaints which allowed Dr. Gorlitsky to continue to kill, harm and abuse animals for years in Mt. Pleasant.
I charged the S.C. Vet Board with incompetence for allowing the situation to continue as it had for so many years. They were, in my mind, as guilty as Dr. Gorlitsky. I eventually got Dr. Gorlitsky's license revoked in S.C., and went on to lobby for changes to the Veterinary Practice Act. Among other changes, the law now allows the public access to information on a veterinarian's disciplinary record which was not the case when I was researching veterinarians in the area.
Pumpkin had a second surgery which saved her life. She turns 10 years old in a few weeks. Unfortunately, far too many of Dr. Gorlitsky's patients didn't make it. For more, see www.marciarosenberg.com. PLEASE, take a few moments and check into a vet's background before entrusting your pet to his/her care.
I had a vet diagnose our 7 year old gelding with a condition that would have made him nothing more than a yard ornament. I struggled for days on whether or not to put him down. I did not have a pasture to throw him in, and people won't just take such an expensive decoration. I decided to put him on stall rest for 6 weeks, had to sedate him most of the time so he wouldn't lose his mind while confined. I then took him to be examined by 2 other vets-they pronounced him sound, not even a hint of what the other vet had diagnosed. He was put back to work and within 2 months of conditioning he and my daughter were out jumping again. That was several years ago, he is still toting kids around, and aside from some normal conditions they will develop as they age, he is servicably sound. I believe that most vets do really care about their patients, but have limited resources. Whether it is the amount of money the owners have to spend, or simply that the animals cannot verbalize what they are feeling. Vets have to take the symptoms that the animal is exhibiting and then deduce what is wrong. When so many conditions have similar symptoms, that is a difficult task. Large animal vets have an even harder time. If they are treating patients in the field, they might literally be in a field, and having to rely on rather rudimentary methods. That being said, most vets do care and are not in it to get rich. It is hard work and long hours, and they are not infallible. If you can afford a second opinion, definitely get one. If they come back with the same diagnosis, you can at least have some peace of mind when you are forced to make what could possibly be a difficult decision.
THANK YOU for so eloquently stating the exact problem that so many veterinarians face!
Most vets do care, and they do the best they can with the situation they are given. It is true, in your case, the first veterinarian was probably mistaken. But rather than having an emotional response and blaming the veterinarian, you recognized that medicine is not an exact science, and you worked to get additional information before making a decision. More animal owners should take an example from your responsible actions and your positive attitude!
THANK YOU LAURIE! These are the problems we face and accidents do happen, but we do do a lot of good out there too. It makes me so sad to hear these stories and see how their bad experiences make them feel the whole vet profession is crooked, incompetent and not compassionate. We truly LOVE animals and that is why we are in this profession!
In 1995 I took my 8 year old Angora to the vet to have his annual dental cleaning. The vet required blood work and assigned my cat to a tech at the facility. My cat got agitated and the tech used what is termed a common procedure to work with my cat - she choked him down to unconsciousness with a noose. This caused my cat to suffer a heart attack and die. The explanation given to me was that the tech had never had a pet die from being choked down, that my cat was overweight anyway, and that I could easily get another cat. I went ballistic on the facility and vet, paid for a print education piece in the newspaper with a photo of my deceased cat, and sought support from the vet community to help reshape this horrible process of choking pets down to calm them for testing. I got ZIP. I finally had one vet in town contact me, tell me he knew who had done this (it was well-known in the community which vets were good and bad), and he offered to be my cats' vet going forward. I think no other vet would have touched me at that point. The offending vet had her father in law contact me - he is a big attorney in town - to challenge my print ad and comments. It was like I was being punished for acting out after my cat was essentially suffocated to death for an elective procedure. All they had to do was reschedule the blood work or have me present to help calm him down. Instead they killed my cat because they were on deadline to get to the next pet patient. It was horrific.
So tell me more. Tell me that you took this vet to court or had him arrested for animal abuse because choking an animal into unconciousness is never, ever considered a "common procedure." If this is in fact what happened you should own this vet's hospital by now. So what happened?
I suspect the real answer is: it didn't happen and teh vet was not reported by this client. He should have been if the facts were accurate.
IF it is as bad as you say What if, what would he possibly want with his practice. We shouldn't have to do the heavy lifting on this and defending this incompetent on a financial basis is disgraceful. You just continue to prove the case against you.
I guess that was lost on you. If the vet really did what he was alleged to have done, why is he still in practice? The answer is as USA DVM suggests--it didn;t really happen the way it was described. And, don't try that blather about how the legal system protects vets. The case as it was described was about animal abuse and not malpractice. This is not something tolerated anywhere and having his license revoked would have been very easy especially if it was witnessed.
You know what if..., just from reading your posts whether or not it is true, that you appear that you are an inconsiderate jerk and are part of the problem. Hopefully, I would never be in a position to bring my pet to you. If you are the jerk you seem to be I have two words for you. The first starts with and F and the second ends with a u. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I had a shih-tzu that was 12 years old and he went to the same vet. from the day that we bought him. When he turned 10 he kept having these twitching episodes and he would bark. We took him to the vet and they said he was having seizures and he was getting blood in his lungs that were causing these seizures. They finally said he had a murmer that was overlooked that was the cause of all his issues. We had to put him down in the spring of 02 but, it was due to neglect of everyone in that office. They put these people in the vet. offices with a 2 yr degree and let them work in different areas and then send them for some conferences and say ok you are now fit to work, medicate, and deal with someone's pet when the drs and their staff should have to be in school for a longer period of time and work with each breed not just the zoo animals and now your fit to give checkups, treat, and diagnose a member of my family.
For accuracy's sake, the education for a veterinary medical degree in this country is 4 years of post-graduate education and 4 years of professional (veterinary) school at a minimum. Many vets are now also taking a year after those eight to do an internship at a high-volume practice, where they will get even more experience before going into regular practice. Some will choose to enter a residency at this point, which is another 1-3 years of training, at which point they will be considered a specialist.
In short, every practicing veterinarian in the U.S. has between 8 and 12 years post-high school education.... NOT a two year degree. And not including the continuing education that is required to maintain a license for the duration of their career.
Maybe the two year degree that this person is speaking of is a veterinary technician degree. Even so, all vet techs have to work under a licensed veterinarian. Veterinary technicians are different from veterinary assistants, which I am unsure of what schooling is needed to consider yourself an assistant.
My young Golden Retriever was very sick during last summer. I suspected that he had chewed a piece of wood which had caused an infection in his jaw. But the vet diagnosed a terrible disease and put him immediately on huge doses of steroids. She also conducted tests. Three weeks later he was slightly improved. I had to phone her to ask whether I should continue the steroids. She made up a new prescription for him which I collected from the vet. I asked her about the test results. She told me only to continue the treatment. Two weeks later, my dog's health again deteriorated. I took him back to the same animal hospital but this time saw a different vet. He checked the lab results which confirmed my dog did not have the disease and should never have been given steroids as they prevent the antibiotics from working. Which means the first vet never even bothered to check his lab results. He would have died if I had continued with the prescription. All he had was an infection in his jaw. Not only did he suffer terribly, but the vet's bill ran to thousands of dollars. I was furious. When my Siamese cat got extremely sick and I took her to another vet, all they recommended was that we leave her at the vet for the weekend - $$$$. I knew she was dying but did not want her to suffer. When I asked if the family could attend the vet the following day while she was put down, the vet insisted that I give her a selection of medication first. Again $$$$. The next afternoon I couldn't take it any more. I phoned the vet and all they suggested was that I take her in so they could evaluate her condition. They also mentioned several funeral services they could arrange and cremation costs. It made me sick. She died in my husband's arms that night. I cannot believe these vets can be so unscrupulous and devious.
On the surface it sounds like you have pretty good case against this vet for malpractice which resulted in your spending thousands of dollars. You of course sought reimbursement for this, yes? And, you had the vet disciplined by the state board?
Wow "what if...", you are tough. While you have a professional degree, the average citizen doesn't. I wouldn't think the average person would seek recourse through the state board - thhe public doesn't know that that avenue is available, and I would guess that civil litigation would be in small claims - again, over most folks heads. Can't you at least grieve with these folks for expressing their very sad stories?? Instead you challenge them. You should add emotional-intelligence training to your skill sets.
Why would someone who says that their dog would have died if continued on the prescribed treatment need to take their animal to a vet?
wow, suggesting you try to keep you animal alive, we ask people to turn theirs over to us if they wont treat it! and personally a lot of places you can not burry you animal, it has to be creamated or taken to a pet cemetary due to health laws. That is probably why they offered that. always remember you can pick you pet up and go elsewhere at any point! rather to put an animal down or not is a hard call and one only an owner can make. most time it is because money though!
I do grieve. I grieve that my profession is being subjected to this undeserved attack that has been launched by this absurd article which presents a very slanted view of veterinarians with no substantiation or verification of the facts that serves only to inflame the public and giving veterinary medicine no chance to defend itself.
Exactly. The public does not understand veterinary medicine. As an RVT, all I hear when I tell people what I do is: Oh, vets are only in it for money. Money, what money?
Come on what if....after all you spouting about bad pay and so much education, you sure sound pretty silly. You cannot defend this and you and all vets should be up in arms....go get your band of lawyers and heal thy self....
Come on yourself Kirk. I made no attempt to defend this vet. I would like to know why Stev didnt pursue it because if the story is true as it was told, he would likely have won. I cannot legally pursue this case because I am not the plaintiff. However, if Stev pursued it and came to me to be an expert witness, then I would stand up for him.
You talk about vets not standing up for whats right when other vets do wrong, but this guy didn't do it either and if he was honest he had a winner. So I am left to conclude that he lied about how this case really went down. Then he stood back and threw rocks like a coward. Because nobody walks away that easily from "thousands of dollars" in an easy-win case.
My wonderful cat, Abby, died two years ago. I believe that she could still be with us today if the veterinarian we took her to had been more thorough and professional. Abby was a beautiful calico which we rescued. We believed we were providing the best care, and expense was never an issue. When we first took her to the vet I pointed out what felt like a knot at a part of her tummy. The vet fluffed this off, and continued to tell me not to be concerned. When I also questioned the vet concerning the correct diet for all four of my cats, he stated that the dry Science Diet food we were feeding them was appropriate. Abby became very ill one evening suffering from a seizure. We rushed her to the animal hospital, had her blood tested and had a digital x-ray taken. I now know what the knot-like feel was, her small intestine was slightly twisted, and she also had a kidney stone. She was having kidney stone attacks. I took her back to our regular vet the next day; unfortunately operating on the kidney stone was too dangerous, due to the size of the stone. We took Abby home and took care of her hoping to find a solution through research and second and third opinions. She was with us for six more weeks, doing well, and not suffering through any more attacks. One of us was always home with her splitting the shifts between day shift and night shift. One morning she had another attack and we rushed her to the vet to be euthanized. Unfortunately, the veterinarian’s office was extremely complacent and we had to insist we see the doctor so Abby could die with some peace. The veterinarian did not see Abby in a timely manner, and she died in our arms. I had been with this veterinarian for many years; this was a disturbing outcome and I my doubts were escalating as to the quality of care for my cats. Two years later our oldest cat, Molly, was starting showing signs of not being herself and not in her normal pattern. She was an extremely tough cat who never had been ill since we adopted her at eight weeks old. I called the veterinarian’s office to bring her in, and the response I received was "we do not have any appointment times this morning, but you can drop her off to be examined". Needless to say I hung up the phone and found another veterinarian’s office that had the capabilities of up-to-date diagnostics, equipment, and specialists, an animal hospital, not a clinic. I found the employees and doctors to be extremely compassionate, and told us to bring Molly in ASAP. In a very short time, after blood work and a digital x-ray, the diagnosis was cancer. We consider quality of life to be the most important to any animal, so we had Molly euthanized and took her home. After this visit I immediately took my other two cats in for a complete exam, changes were made to their diet, no more dry cat food. One has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and is being treated with great success. My other cat through diet modification now has normal glucose blood levels. The level of professionalism and the availability of modern diagnostics are vital to the health and well-being of any pet. Pet parents must become more diligent in researching presented diagnosis, firm in the treatment of their pets, and states must move toward the protection of pets from bad medicine. All animals are heaven's gifts.
Our feline Bastet was taken to our vet to be seen for vomiting, uncontrolled urination and not eating. She seemed very ill, after bloodwork, the VET said she was suffering quite alot, and said if she was his cat, he'd recommended euthanizing her. I held her while the vet injected her arm. After a minute he used his scope and said "she's gone". We took her home, while my husband was preparing her grave, I held her and sang her favorite songs(I always sing to my pets and include their names in the song). Somehow it makes them happy. I kept hearing a moaning and her eyes were open. She remained warm, almost an hour after the injection. The doorbell rang, I placed her on the bed to answer and she moaned loudly. I called my husband and he thought it was wishful thinking. I called her name and she moaned again. My husband called the vet and explained. We took her in and the vet said "I don't understand, she had no heartbeat before". I cried the whole time, he gave her another injection, her heart continued, he gave her another injection and her heart had not stopped. He said, "I don't understand, I gave her enough to kill a horse." He then said "I have to inject the heart, and if you don't want to watch, I understand". I was beyond my grief, after this she passed. She suffered from her illness, but nothing prepared any of us to see her suffer the way she did, and to know we were to bury her while she was still alive. We had brought her home because we were told her body would be refrigerated and later picked up and disposed of with other pets. If there was a way to regulate/control/inspect expiration of meds to euthanize by a board, to keep this from happening again. It is still painful to discuss. I did file a report to the Vet Board, and nothing was done, one day we received a card from the vet, that he had donated money to the local SPCA in her name. Needless to say, how many other pets have been "euthanized" and put in refrigeration and they were still alive. She was a special "child of God", a childlike kitty that asked nothing, she gave all her affection, love and comfort. We will always miss her.
We took our kitten, Molly, in to be spayed on Jan. 13th. At 2:30 we called to check on her and were told that she was doing fine and waking up without any problems. At 4:40 PM on the day of surgery the vet noted that Molly was non responsive in her cage except for manual prodding stimulation. Again at 9 PM, they note that she is not responsive except for manual prodding and stimulation. The next note is in the following morning that Molly had died overnight. In our opinion, she was showing signs of distress and deteriorating condition at 4:40 and the vet should have called us. We would have taken her to the overnight emergency clinic, where she could have been monitored by a vet all night instead of being left to die alone. We have filed a formal complaint against the vet with the Virginia Department of Health Professionals and we are awaiting the results of the complaint.
This is the first case that has been presented that seems like it might be rationally considered as it seems to be one that might be taken at face value. To leave a pet in a hospital unattended in a comatose state is indeed malpractice (assuming of course that this was what the recommended). The rest of these cases unfortunately do not allow for the veterinarians side of the story.
This appears to be an open forum. Why then don't they respond?
Because the vets whom these cases are about probably either don't know they are being attacked, know they are being attacked but have been advised by their lawyers not to respond (which does not, contrary to popular belief) imply guilt, or maybe a few of them actually are guilty and have chosen not to respond for that reason.
<or maybe a few of them actually are guilty and have chosen not to respond for that reason.>>
And we have a winner.
just like you to latch on to only what serves your interest and ignore the rest
I love my pets dearly, they are family and I have and will always go to the end of the depths for anything they need. This article brings back a particularly painful memory of losing a beloved cat while he was under anesthesia for a simple x-ray of his hip. I asked, I understood and I believed when my vet told me that anytime an animal was under anesthesia in his hospital that they were connected to an actual heart monitor. I was later told that my cat could not be on a monitor while the x-ray was being taken. Maybe so, however this x-ray should have only taken him away from the monitor for only a few moments. At some point it was the vet tech who realized that my cat was not breathing. I will never know how long he had not been breathing. I will never know if he had been left unattended. The vet indicated that they did all he could do to bring my cat back, but my dear Smokey, whom I referred to as "my angel" because of the time and circumstances for which he entered my life, did not come back to me on that day. Smokey was only two years old. It has been a little more than two years since losing him and I still can't write this message without tears.
The vet seemed deeply regretful but I can't help but feel that if he was monitored as I was told and the attention given to him that I was told, that his heart stopping would have been immediately discovered and he could have been saved.
I live in a US Territory and reporting such an event would have been worthless. Honestly, I never even considered reporting the event believing it wasn't intentional, but was clearly still a "medical mistake" that I truly hope this vet doesn't allow it to happen again.
sorry for your loss, I know how it feels. I still cry too.
Heart monitors are definitely a safety measure and one that we take in the hospital where I work. An interesting thing to note however is that an actual person monitoring your animal and listening for heartbeats is just as important. There is a condition called PEA (pulseless electrical activity) in which a heartbeat shows on the monitors (which are recording the electrical pulses your heart sends out) but the heart is not actually beating. It may very well be that the technician noticed your cat not breathing sooner than they may have had he been hooked up and they were listening to a heartbeat that wasn't there. I was not there obviously so I cannot speak with any certainty but it is something to keep in mind.
I do clinical medical research on FIV. It was common for vets in the past to put felines that had FIV to sleep. In one e-mail I recieved the vet put the FIV mother and kittens to sleep. Most vets still don't treat FIV virus except for antibiotics. They seem to wait for some drug representative to showup with some expensive and overpriced drug which doesn't really deal with FIV. Many vets simply say thqt FIV feline will live a normal life. Can you see a doctor telling someone with HIV you don't have to treat it as you will live a normal life without HIV drugs. This is based on study of FIV in U.K. that showed feline lived 10 years. In United States one study was done for six years on FIV felines that did not show symptons for AIDS showed up. I should indict that FIV clade C feline my live only a few weeks. But I guess this kind of study can be ignored. There is simply not that many studies to give a good idea of the course of the disease.
I have a website giving information on treating FIV. "Feline AIDS FIV" www.arkansas.net~artg My own FIV cat Tiger has been infected with FIV for ten years and is in good health. Shows no sign of AIDS. Oddly, there has been published a recent cure for HIV by Nobuto Yamamoto. Whether it is or not is debateable, but it does indicate you can improve the condition of the immune system without HIV drugs. Injection drug is used in Freeport, Bahamas in order to bypass FDA requirements that required millions of dollars.
In treating FIV I use herbs and supplements, the main one based on Immu-25 from india which also has the cost problem which is created by FDA. As this had HIV trial few years back and normalized blood cells counts. Supplement is sold in U.K. mainly for horses under the name ImmuPlus.
FeLV, FIV are just two virus that are not treated by most vets. They do use LTCI drug but that has only 45% inhibition of FIV and would not work unless other FIV inhibitors were used. LTCI is example of overpriced drug. Which long-term will not work for FIV. For a few thousand years herbs were used in medicine but for some reason they have been given a bad name. Yet our modern drugs are not used by most people because there costs are beyond the money that poor people have. But herbs are not approved by the FDA and doctors can only use the approved drugs. It is odd when cost saving are talked about in health care cheap drugs off patent and herbs seem to get lost in the discussion.
So what exactly is your point? There are currently no medications labeled for use for FeLV and FIV, there are no off label medications that have stood up to controlled studies, and nor have there been any herbal therapies that have withstood testing. And, most human medications used for HIV tend to be toxic to cats.
My dog suffered with various stomach and intestinal issues for 4 years. We received diagnoses from chronic pancreatitis, enteritis, and acid reflux. He never seemed to get better despite us following the vet's plan to the letter. He wound up getting extremely ill and was in the hospital for days and almost died. A month later, he was getting sick again. Finally, we had enough and saw a specialist.
The specialist diagnosed him with inflammatory bowel disease and said that the "diagnoses" we were given were in fact symptoms of the disease. She put him on some medication and a new diet and he's like a puppy again. She also theorized that the symptoms were getting so severe that they were causing problems in his pancreas and liver and what ultimately caused his hospital stay.
I truly believe that our original vet was happy to keep treating the symptoms because it meant $200-300 per visit and $1300 for the hospital stay. Even when nothing worked and he had been suffering for 4 years...they NEVER EVER suggested anything else was wrong or referred us to the specialist.
Thankfully, he's recovered well but that vet has never apologized.
I'm glad your do is okay, but why did you wait 4 years before getting a second opinion?
during routine blood panel, my dog came back with an extremel high liver enzyme. Rocko never showed signs of being ill, but I spent a small fourtune on on the tests they recommened. I did several low dex tests and ultra sounds. The vet claimed cushions disease. the dex test says it's in the body, so the tumor would be surgical, but after sevral of the ultra sounds showed nothing and all internal organs looked normal sized and healthy, he claimed it was in the pituitary gland. then came the medication that made my little guy so ill and cranky I took him off it. My beloved Rocko passed away in Jan 2009. From a cyst/tumor that burst....the emergency vet said it was probably in the folds of his liver. Amazing how the original vet never connected the high liver enzyme with a liver problem. Even after I asked if it could be a liver problem, he pointed out to me that he was the vet and I was not. I guess I wasn't surprised when the nightly news showed the clinic being closed and the vet being arrested. His license revoked. I'm glad, but if I had known the correct diagnosis, I might still have my friend.
Hi kjpups, I read your comment and thought I could maybe help you with your grieving by explaining a bit about Cushing's disease.
Cushing's disease is a relatively common disease in older dogs, and high liver enzymes occur with Cushing's. Cushing's simpy means that a tumor in a dog's body is producing too much cortisol (a stress hormone). In dogs, the tumor is typically located in one of two places, the pituitary gland (near the brain) or the adrenal gland (near the kidneys). The ultrasound was likely done to view the liver and see if it looked normal, and the low dose dex test is considered one of the first tests a vet does to help determine if Cushing's is a possible diagnosis.
Unfortunately, a problem with the liver, in this case a tumor/cyst, can also manifest as increased liver enzymes (as can many other diseases). It can be hard to identify a cyst/tumor in the liver, because diagnostic tests don't tell you anything 100%. For example, radiographs (x-rays) can show you if a liver is enlarged (but it might not be enlarged with a cyst) and can show tumors only if there are multiple small tumors or a very large tumor that is pushing other organs out of the way. Similarly, ultrasound does not always yield a 100% result-ultrasound can show you, for instance, if a liver is changing from normal tissue to scar tissue, but a tumor would not necessarily be spotted if it was hidden within the folds of the liver. The vet would have been requesting multiple tests because with each extra test you can run, a little bit more of the puzzle comes together.
I am so so sorry that Rocko's case was misdiagnosed, but if it does anything to help you feel better, the vet was following what is considered a normal protocol. I know the pain you feel at a pet's death, I was reminded of it this past summer when I had to put my dog of 16 years to sleep. You did everything you could to try to help him, and the vet was probably doing the best he could too (he might not have been very friendly by your description, but he was following correct medical protocol). As for why he was arrested, I can't comment. It could be anything though, and not necessarily related to his medical competence. If learning more about Cushing's would help put your mind at rest, you could search for "hyperadrenocorticism" on www.merckvetmanual.com.
I'm a second year vet student right now, two years left to go, yay. :) I've read most of the comments on this thread, and think both of our "sides" have something we could be reminded of and learn from one another.
To vet students & vets, most of us could improve on communication. We always have other things we could be doing (lab tests, surgeries, etc) but we really need to stop and make it a priority to explain our reasoning and why we're requesting certain tests to pet owners. I think many owners file complains about their cases because either they don't understand why the vet was doing what he/she was doing (even if it's medically correct, and hence is why 90% of lawsuit cases to veterinary boards are dismissed) or they get the impression their case was brushed over carelessly because the vet does not make time to explain it.
To pet owners, please also sympathize with us. As someone mentioned earlier, vets have one of the highest rates of divorce and suicide. This wouldn't be the case if we were calloused individuals. We see way more death than we want (ex: people that refuse to pay a few hundred bucks for an easily treated problem) and are at the mercy of owners in terms of if we can provide needed medical treatment to pets. Furthermore, people often expect vets to treat animals for free "because we love them." We do, but if we treated every case that walked in the door for free (to help the maximum amount of animals) we would lose our ability to treat any animals at all, as we would lose our facilities. A living body is a magnificent thing, but one thing it is not is simple. There are literally hundreds of thousands of things that can go wrong with a body, and no diagnostic test is 100% reliable. We are also limited by our humanity, there's only so much we can learn, and we are never able to treat 100% of cases. (Which is one reason I don't believe in evolution. Too many things can kill you, and I find it hard to trust that random mutations could come together in such a way as to provide life, and at that, life for as many species as are on earth.)
God Bless you kjpups. I know new pets never "replace" an old friend, but it is my hope you can find a new furry friend with which to share your life.