Friendship Hospital For Animals

Review: Dec. 2:

My husband and I took our 8-year old cat, [redacted], in for an exam due to vomiting and lack of appetite. Dr. [redacted] introduced herself as our doctor. Later we came to learn from Friendship’s website that she is actually an intern, only graduating from veterinary school a few months ago. Never once did Dr. [redacted] mention she was only an intern and never did she have any supervision at our exams.

Dr. [redacted] told us [redacted] had a heart murmur, at this appointment. She drew some blood and urine to run tests. She also gave [redacted]’s Sub-Q fluids and then sent us home with special food to ‘wet’ [redacted]’s appetite.

Around an hour later, Dr. [redacted] called to tell us that [redacted] had chronic kidney disease but that kitties could live for months or years, with a special diet and some other lifestyle changes (Sub-Q fluids). However, that [redacted] was currently very dehydrated and that we should bring her in for 1-3 days of in-hospital IV care.

Dec. 3:

We visited [redacted] three times – my husband in morning, myself in the afternoon and together in the evening. My husband said she looked peppy in the morning. When I saw her in the afternoon she did not look good to me. She didn’t have energy, was filthy and was not excited to see me. I spoke to Dr. [redacted] and I specifically asked if the fluids were OK for [redacted] with a heart murmur, as I had since learned of a friends’ cat dying from Sub-Q fluids as she had an undiagnosed heart-murmur that the fluids exacerbated and she died within two weeks. Dr. [redacted] said that she “was not overly concerned about the heart murmur”. So, since she is supposedly the expert, we trusted her.

My husband and I visited [redacted] that evening and expressed to the technician that she did not look good to us and seemed to look worse every time we visited. We asked to speak to the on-call doctor but the tech said the overnight vets do not check on the animals – they only take care of the emergencies and that the techs take care of the animals. She also said the animals often don’t look great at night but pep up in the morning. When we left the hospital we made the decision on the way home that we would bring [redacted] home the next day. Our gut feeling was the hospitalization was not helping her and that she was getting worse. Besides, we could do the Sub-Q fluids at home for a lot less money (~$1000 a day to keep her in the hospital).

Dec 4:

Dr. [redacted] called me around 8:45 to inform me that [redacted] had fluid around her heart and lungs. Fluid build-up as a result of the IV fluids she was given. She was in an oxygen box. Dr. [redacted] gave her a diuretic and seemed confident that this could help reverse the fluid buildup. Around noon Dr. [redacted] called and said the diuretic did not help and she did not recommend another dose of diuretics because it is bad for her kidneys. I asked Dr. [redacted] what she recommended and she said there was really nothing we could do so she recommended euthanasia.

Around 4pm both my husband and I spoke to Dr. [redacted] to try to understand how this happened. She did, in fact know that [redacted] had a heart murmur. Why did she recommend IV hospitalization to such a patient? Why didn’t she listen every time we said she looks worse? All we heard was “I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you” and that heart problems happen in older kitties. She beat around the bush. And talked in circles.

So we made arrangements to come in to the hospital at 6 pm and to see another doctor, in order to have [redacted] euthanized. She looked terrible and was having a lot of difficulty breathing, when we got there. It was so incredibly hard to say goodbye, knowing it was a series of mistakes that led up to this in just 2 days.

And this whole ordeal cost us $2500. It is ridiculous how expensive this care was and how the whole thing ended up killing our cat. And the saddest part is that [redacted] spent the last 2 days of her life in a cage. It didn’t have to, and never should have, ended this way.Desired Settlement: - Friendship should be telling their clients when their Dr. is really an intern

- Interns should have an experienced Doctor supervising their care who should also be examining the patients

- Friendship should stop training their doctors to run tons of unnecessary tests and procedures

- Friendship should warn patients that IV fluids could do this. If it is a real risk then they should be warning us and offering additional tests to check the heart before administering fluids, to see if the heart can handle them.

- Friendship should return their clients’ calls, which pertain to these types of complaints. I left a message for Dr. [redacted], the director, and also for his assistant and nobody has returned my call.

- We would like a full refund and a formal apology for these senseless actions that lead to [redacted]’s premature death

Business

Response:

We have spoken to the client and thoroughly reviewed this

case. We believe the client’s

dissatisfaction with the communication between herself and Dr. [redacted] is a

fair assessment. After reviewing the

case with several specialists, including those in Cardiology as well as

Critical Care, we feel the medical care provided to the patient was appropriate

and well managed. During the patient’s

time here, the client received credits totaling $379 dollars, for hospitalization

and exam fees, which are not reflected in the disputed amount. The patient also received several specialty

care consults that were not charged for.

Interns are fully licensed veterinarians in the District of

Columbia and do not require supervision to practice medicine. An internship in veterinary medicine, unlike

human medicine, is completely elective.

While many recent graduates go directly into general practice or become

solo practitioners, it is the highly motivated and most successful graduates

that seek a veterinary internship for advanced training. At Friendship, interns are required to attend

teaching sessions and seminars, present research or scientific lectures,

participate in professional journal reviews, as well as see patients as an

integrated member of the hospital team.