South 71 Veterinary Clinic Inc

The customer brought her female dog in on 10-25-2016. It was in severe shock as it had been hit by a vehicle earlier that morning. She was stabilized with IV fluids and pain meds. She had several wounds and her wound which were cleaned and those that needed suturing were
sutured. Radiographs were taken of the pelvis and hip which revealed a dislocated hip. The dog had stabilized by afternoon and was able to undergo sedation to replace the dislocated hip. The femur popped in wellAn Ehmer sling was applied which is standard for such an injuryThe dog’s owner was told at that time that the doctor felt confident that the hip had been replaced and no x-ray was needed. The owner was also told that dislocated hips will often pop out again. The dog was to remain in the sling for at least weekThe owner wanted to try the dog at home as she had limited funds for the treatment of the dogThe dog was discharged with pain meds and instruction on how to care for the dogThe discharge instructions requested that the owner bring the dog back in days if things were going well, and, to contact the clinic earlier if things didn’t seem to be going well. The next day the owner called and requested a house visit to check the bandaging since it was hard to transport the dog. The bandaging was reinforced. There was no way to know at the time if the hip had popped out of place since it would have required retuning to the clinic, sedating and reapplying the bandage. The owner did not want to do this. The clinic attempted to contact the owner a couple days later for an update. The owner did not answer the phone at the time and, a message was left requesting an update on the dog. No return phone call ever came from the owner. The owner stated in the complaint that the dog came out of the clinic with nerve damage and had no trauma to that front leg going in. The leg in question is the left front legOur records indicate that the left front leg was one of the areas that had an injuryThe chart indicates the areas of injury when the dog arrivedThe record states the wounded areas as, one near the right hip, one over the back, the left inguinal, and, the left elbowThe IV inserted that was referred to in the complaint is the cephalic vein IV catheter which is the standard of care for veterinary hospitals. The IV was placed to save the dog’s life. Since there were injuries noted on that front leg, the injury is most likely nerve damage a result of blunt force trauma when being hit by the car. We are very sorry for all that dog had to go through and, are glad that the hip dislocation problem has been remedied. She is a very sweet dog and a pleasure to work with. We feel that we did everything medically to save the dog’s life and to help with the injuriesWe felt limited by what the owner wanted to spend and wish we could have a chance to follow up. This case has been referred to our insurance company for follow up and remedy