Tufts Veterinary Emergency Treatment & Specialties

Thank you for sharing the concern described in Revdex.com complaint #***, referenced in your correspondence belowOur veterinary practice is committed to compassionate care for our patients and service their human ownersOur response to this concern follows. "Our client/ pet owner first visited
our hospital with her dog for an internal medicine appointment on April 10, Her dog was quite ill with kidney issues, weight loss, endocrine disease and heart diseaseThe dog and owner returned on April 29th for an appointment with our board certified cardiologist to more thoroughly address the patient’s heart disease and to answer questions on how to manage itOur cardiologist has been carefully coordinating cardiac care for this patient with our internal medicine specialist and with the veterinarians at the patient’s primary care clinicHe has also been trying to compassionately coordinate communication and decision making with the owners. The dog recently developed congestive heart failure. The two previous visits with the cardiologist outlined that the patient was at high risk for heart failure. When the client recognized the clinical signs that had been outlined previously, she took the important step of having the dog evaluated on an emergency basis. We are sorry to see that the owner felt our doctors had no compassionWe would respectfully have to disagree with their statement. But we are pleased that our doctors were able to identify the dog’s condition and alter her medication so that the patient was ultimately discharged from the hospital to the care of the owner. We are sorry that our hospital does not have the ability to operate as a pharmacy for other veterinary clinics. Therefore, we are unable to fill medications that were not prescribed by our doctors. Although we had prescribed *** ***, our doctors had not prescribed *** and we were unable to fill that medication. In some circumstances, if we receive communication from the primary care clinic about a particular medication, we can accommodate their request. But we had not received that communication when the owner called our facility or dropped off the x-rays for our cardiologist to review. We certainly appreciate that the owner wished we could provide her the medication. In future situations, if we have a request from the original doctor that prescribed the medication, we may be able to fill the prescription. But that was not the case under this situation. And as long as their remains a valid veterinary-client-patient relationship, we will be able to fill the patient's medications that were prescribed by our hospital’s doctors. " If the Revdex.com has further questions about this case or our client service program, we will be happy to discuss them.Sincerely,***, Interim Hospital Director