Fresno Veterinary & Emergency Center

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The business is correct. What they are calling "mediation" is not going to be successful as far as I am concerned because their liability carrier cannot be a mediator/impartial party. I am waiting for 1 more response from the state Veterinary Medical Board. Once I received that, I will be pursuing this matter in court.

The customer presented to our hospital as a transfer from family veterinarian with concern that blood did not clot in the lab tube following phlebotomyUpon presentation, there was no evidence of excessive bleeding from the veinopunture sites
Following bloodwork, the following recommendations
were made: admission to the hospital for liver biopsy and culture, bile acids, and fluid support
The owner accepted the recommendations
During the abdominal ultrasound, Dr*** felt as though he located a mass on the liver lobeHe gave the owners the options, which included exploratory surgery and removal of potential massOwners agreed
Owner signed surgical consent form and left deposit for surgery
The surgery report is as follows:
Ventral midline celitomyThe liver was diffusely thickened with a cobblestone textureThe right lobe was the thickest and probably what was seen on ultrasoundMesenteric LNs were enlargedAll other abdominal organs appeared grossly normalThe right lobe was removed in a guillotine manner with pdsClosed abdomen and skin with 2-pds simple continuous and the skin with 3-nylon simple continuousSubmitted sample for C/S and histopathology
*** was maintained on IVF's, antibiotics, pain management throughout his stay
Throughout the hospital stay, the owners were given multiple financial and progress updatesEach update, the clients elected of their own accord to continue treatment despite veterinarian progress updates
"*** is resting quietly this morning with no additional active hemorrhage noted from the incision site and venipuncture sitesPT/PTT values have slightly increased overnight but are otherwise stableALT is reduced at and ALP is reduced at ALB is not reading at Phoned the owner with an updateAdvised the owner that *** is stable this morningLiver function is still compromised and concern for developing renal dysfunctionThe owner elects to continue supportive care with steroid therapy, antibiotic therapy, pain medication and antiemetic therapyPlan to begin treatment with Vetstarch for colloid support due to hypoalbuminemiaThe owner will be in later to visit"
Later that day the owners elected to take *** home then bring back to euthanize
Clients then spoke with their family veterinarian
June 1,
From Dr***:
"On June I talked to clients at lengthThey were convinced that the surgical liver biopsy and coagulopathy were mostly responsible for ***'s critical conditionI stressed that even though the coagulation tests were slightly prolonged *** did not have a bleeding problem after the first units of plasma and was never anemicI discussed again in detail that ***'s medical problem was liver failure and that was confirmed my multiple diagnostic tests and the results of the liver biopsy."
Based on the clients concerns, the case was submitted to ***, which is a third party review of the entire case, and there would be financial compensation for the client (by the liability carrier) if there is any negligence on our endThey contacted me on June 16th, and I left a message with them again on June 21stOur case analyst informed me he would be getting in contact with the client by June 22nd

After speaking with our counsel and others involved in this case, we are declining mediation through the Revdex.com and request to continue mediation through our liability carrierThis is not due to the belief that the Revdex.com does not provide excellent mediation services, but it is our belief our liability carrier, which is taking the interests of both sides into account, would be able to mediate more effectively due to availability of experts in the field of veterinary medicine and knowledge of liability pertaining to the fieldWe hope that rather than continuing to pursue multiple avenues without allowing resolution, the consumer will agree to allow resolution of mediation through our liability carrier(Mediation Form-Consumer.pdf)

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The business is correct. What they are calling "mediation" is not going to be successful as far as I am concerned because their liability carrier cannot be a mediator/impartial party. I am waiting for 1 more response from the state Veterinary Medical Board. Once I received that, I will be pursuing this matter in court.