West Side Animal Clinic

my dog from died from surgery, done by vetand was still, stuck paying the billmy dog was brought to Westside animal clinic, to check my sick dog, we were told he, needed surgery to remove a piece of bone he swallowed, it was going to cost between [redacted] and [redacted] for surgery to remove bone from his stomach, never warned us of any risks involved, with this type of surgery, we were told the surgery went very well, but he never got better, he went back to the vets, and they said he needed more surgery, to remove fluid in his stomach, but he died during surgeryDesired Settlement[redacted]Business Response [redacted] case X XXXXXX[redacted] The letter you sent to our clinic asked us to respond by April 14th. [redacted]. [redacted].A reply t[redacted]On Monday morning Feb 24 2014 [redacted] a 7 year old male [redacted] was presented to our clinic as an emergency. His history was that he had eaten a T bone on Sunday and had been vomiting continuously since then. Clinically he was depressed, had a sub normal temperature and was dehydrated.He had also lost one pound of weight since we had seen him the previous fall. Blood work was all normal and a radiograph show a ball of bone lodged in small intestine. We recommended removal of the material and gave the owners a quote of the estimated cost. They gave us the go ahead. Although 5 other surgeries were scheduled for the morning we put [redacted] at the top of the list and he was done first. The surgery went well. There were no signs of any perforations although much of the intestinal tract was reddened and bruised from the bone making it's way thru the tract. We moved the bone to a healthy part of the intestines and removed it through a small one inch incision. We then closed the intestinal incision up and tested it to be sure there was no leakage. There was none. We then flushed the area numerous times before placing it back in the abdomen. The rest of the GI tract was then inspected and found to be in good shape. We closed the abdomen and let [redacted] recover from the anesthesia . His treatment the rest of that day and the next consisted of IV fluids,antibiotics, pain control medication and anti nausea medication. He recovered well and was accepting hand feeding by the next morning. The only unusual thing of his recovery is that his temperature remained sub normal. He returned home the day after his surgery and the owners reported he ate well his first night at home. However the next day his appetite was not as good and the owners called saying they were having a hard time giving him his medications. We asked that he be returned to the clinic where we could start him back on his medications by the injectable form and start another IV treatment with fluids. He ate a small amount over night but did not seem to be any less depressed in the morning. At that time we re ran the blood work and took more abdominal radiographs. At this time we found that his protein levels and electrolytes were abnormal and we were suspicious of peritonitis. We called the owners and got permission to explore the abdomen again. We were very surprised to find that his intestines were leaking through the small incision we had made to remove the bone EVEN THOUGH the sutures were still in place . It was like he did not have the ability to heal. We have done hundreds of surgeries like this many much more complicated and involving longer and multiple incisions and we have never seen a suture line fail to heal. We then performed a resection to remove the area that was not healing. We also started multiple flushings of the abdomen to try to clean out any infection that may have started from the leakage. We had a second doctor monitoring the anesthesia as the heart and blood pressure readings indicated that [redacted] cardiovascular function was weak. We had started him on a plasma infusion to help build up his protein levels in an effort to help him heal better. Three times when his heart rate slowed we were able to give him medications to correct it. Unfortunately as we were almost finished his heart arrested and we were unable to revive him. We called his owners immediately and told them that [redacted] had passed away. Since they were shocked (as anyone would expect them to be) we did not go into too much detail but told them we would call back later. When we did contact them again we tried to explain all that had happened but we did not have a good reason why the first surgery failed. We still don't. We submitted cultures and histopathology on the intestinal tissues. We consulted with other veterinarians and all we can come up with is that [redacted] had some undetected condition or disease that did not allow him to heal properly. He did have a history of not healing well after his neuter surgery but that was done at another animal hospital so we do not know all the details. Foe the [redacted] family we offered to pay for [redacted] private cremation with the return of his ashes but the owners declined. We did not charge for any of the numerous tests and procedures done after the first surgery. Several times we expressed our deepest sympathies for their loss and we sent at least two letters conveying our frustration and disappointment that things did not go as we expected them to. As one of the pathologists told me when we were discussing the case "Sometimes things go wrong and we cannot explain them.That's just the way it is in nature."We can very readily understand that [redacted]s owners are mad and unhappy with us. We sincerely wish that [redacted] had recovered normally and was at home with them now. We are very frustrated at being unable to explain why this case went bad. We average over 100 surgeries like this a year,many that are more involved than [redacted]s operation, with an almost perfect success rate.Perhaps this is a reminder that we should all feel very fortunate to have a healthy dog or cat or son or daughter. And that the happiness they bring us should not be taken for granted. To the [redacted] family, once again you have our sincere and deepest sympathies for your loss and our wish for better luck and times in the future. Consumer Response I don't think I should have been charged for a foiled surgery that resulted in the death of my dog.Final Business Response If that is a request for a refund then we are sorry we cannot do that. There was a balance of over [redacted] that we removed from your account. Sorry