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5 Months Old Puppy Dies During Simple Surgery


Pockets
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Guest donatella

The nurse was not even there to administer adrenalin and CPR. Total disrespect for the dog on the table.

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Will check Kirty :)

Yes the dog was left unattended and the vet didn't even realise, it wasn't until the nurse came back in and she noticed the dog no longer breathing.....so obviously the vet didn't even notice!!

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dasha, you seem to have missed the point that the nurse left the room leaving the anaesthetic unmonitored.

The nurse was not even there to administer adrenalin and CPR. Total disrespect for the dog on the table.

Agree with both these posts. I do wish people would read whole threads before launching into posts of mitigation :mad

Pockets, those people must be feeling cursed at the moment :cry: Thankfully you are their puppy breeder and have compassion and a hugely generous heart and so their pain may be somewhat assuaged by your care and support.

Your boys Harley and Tig are such stunning creatures. I wonder if Tig has any sense of Harley having been at these people's home?

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Thank you DD :) I went over for a visit last night for a few hours and got a lovely message this morning of how much better they are feeling that they could share this experience with someone like me and really are grateful more than they can ever say. They are very much looking forward to welcoming Tig into their home and I am sure they will enjoy a wonderful life together :)

I on the other hand am not looking forward to farewelling my beautiful Tig.....but I know in my heart it is a great match and a wonderful home :)

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Pockets, are you sure about letting Tig go?

Did you mean to keep him forever?

Its a big call, and i know you want to do the right thing, but you are hurting too, don't forget about yourself in all of this. :(

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Actually I did read the whole thing.

The VET was still in the room and for a non sterile surgery, is available to render what ever assistance is needed.

It is unfortunate and very sad for the owners and breeder and no one is saying anything else

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Actually I did read the whole thing.

The VET was still in the room and for a non sterile surgery, is available to render what ever assistance is needed.

It is unfortunate and very sad for the owners and breeder and no one is saying anything else

I suggest that as the dog is dead then that seems to have been a bit of a fail then.

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Guest donatella

The vet is busy with the procedure, the nurse should be monitoring the airway, obs and medications. Is this vet supposed to have 4 eyes?

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The vet is busy with the procedure, the nurse should be monitoring the airway, obs and medications. Is this vet supposed to have 4 eyes?

Maybe the vet did try and help, but since she wasnt the one solely monitoring the dog it was probably too late. I can't imagine 1 person being enough for a procedure that involves GA, there is only so much one person can physically watch at the one

time.

The vet, being young and inexperienced probably didn't want to say anything about being left alone, whereas Maybe an older one would have said something (assuming there is a process in place).

Oops, sorry Don, I meant to quote kirty. My reply still kind of makes sense lol

Edited by minimax
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In my opinions the Practice Manager is responsible for the conduct of the staff, you leave a dog in a place to get help, they make you sign a disclaimer and advise of the risks of anaesthetic, we all know its risky, so why leave a patient unmonitored? and How a Vet notices the patient has stopped breathing is beyond me :(

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Was there an anaesthetic chart? If no charting was done I would suggest a case could definitely be made to the board. But also, it would be stronger if an autopsy was done to be sure there were no abnormalities.

I think there could be a couple failures here... no charting of the anaesthetic (? - don't know how you can chart if you leave the room), plus the combination of an inexperienced vet with no support - but it is normal for a young vet to be independently doing anaesthetics such as these to start off with as a stitch up is generally short and simple procedure). But there is the possibility here that even if the nurse was present this could still have been an anaesthetic reaction where they may not have been able to revive the pup.

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I also originally asked the owner, did the vet do a pre-anaesthetic blood test, the owner was not aware of any such test being offered so he asked the vet who replied "Vet *** did not do a pre-anaesthetic blood test as this is not part of the process and incurs an additional cost to the owner"....the owner replied that he was not advised of the options of either pre-anaesthetic testing nor the additional fluids after surgery.

I know this may not have anything to do with it, but if there may have been something wrong, this MAY have been picked up with a simple blood test, had it been offered to the owner.

I am not saying it would have or it wouldnt have.

There was a chart of anaesthetic done, but how honest do you think it is as an after occurance? I would hope it is factual, I could not read it, but it was not explained to me and the owner was obviously in great shock at the time.

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I doubt that pre-anaesthetic bloods would have shown anything related to this unfortunately. Dropping heart rates and respiratory rates are relatively common during anaesthetics but that is why someone should be watching the monitor and the patient at all times. If you notice it happening you can act on it quickly and usually rectify if. *touch wood* I've been working at my current clinic for several years and we've never lost a patient in that time. We routinely perform surgery on high-risk patients (very old, very young, airway problems, etc) but we have procedures in place to manage these patients.

I still can't pm you pockets and don't want to post it here.

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You need to make a report to the relevant state veterinary practitioners board.

They are the authority best able to determine whether the death was preventable or this dog was one of the very small percentage of healthy animals that die under general anaesthesia during routine or minor procedures for no apparent reason.

It is surprising that they didn't offer a post mortem examination by an outside source for free and that they actually admitted the dog wasn't being monitored by a second person.

Given this information, i think you have more than enough reason for the board to investigate the matter further.

Good luck, my heart goes out to the family who lost the dog in such shocking circumstances. We also lost a young dog to an anaesthetic during a simple procedure and it is very hard to come to terms with. We accepted the vets reason at the time but looking back I wish we had taken it further.

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I hope you get some answers :(

Regarding the human case, it was a GA for a varicose vein stripping procedure. Was in a small private hospital (not a big public teaching hospital) but they accepted students, possibly because there's not a lot of other hospitals for students to go in that part of Victoria

Ever since that day I have been SO preoccupied about patients regaining consciousness during anaesthetic I haven't enjoyed assisting on surgeries much. Every little spontaneous twitch a patient makes sends me into a panic. Means I make a great impression with the surgeons.... :(

I have, however, never again seen an anesthetist leave a patient unattended without someone in his/her place that knows what they're doing

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