| Complaint: | Complaint 18-11 |
|---|---|
| Respondent: | Melvin Pence |
| Premises: | North Phoenix Animal Clinic |
The complainant found a young male cat in the desert and adopted him as her own when she was unable to locate the owner. Wanting to save some money on neutering, she brought the cat to Pence at the North Phoenix Animal Clinic. Before he went in to the neuter, the complainant says the the cat was a normal happy little boy. When he came back, he suffered from a variety of ailments, beginning with lethargy, a painful backside, drooling, licking and biting his legs, and a swollen scrotum erupting with pus. Another veterinarian suggests perhaps that he may have been hit by a car before he was even adopted and begins suspecting neurological issues. The complainant thinks something went wrong during the neuter. She also says that Pence treated her with a lack of respect regarding the cat's health problems, being dismissive with her concerns; she states that Pence did actually call her back and said that she could have brought the cat back in again, but she wonders why she would do such a thing if she's going to be dismissed anyway. She also wonders how you can possibly give quality care when you're cutting on hundreds of animals a week.
Pence's response mostly gives some medical details about the anesthesia, the blood work, and the neuter procedure. We're told that at the time the cat was sent home, the cat was recovering well. He subsequently noticed that the complainant tried to call him, but he was unable to reach her when he returned the call. He says that he never saw the complainant or the cat after that day, so there was no way he could have treated her or the cat with disrespect on other occasions.
The Investigative Committee suggests that there's no way something went wrong with the neuter because everything Pence did was totally acceptable. Putting the pieces together from the official findings of fact and the Investigative Committee discussion, we're left with the following: The cat had been hit by a car before he was adopted, the anesthesia during the neuter made his jaw relax and pop out of place, and some kind of tethering injury (whereby the cat's tail was pulled away from the body and caused nerve damage) also just happened to show up around this time. It just looks like it all had something to do with the neuter procedure but it was just a whole bunch of wacky coincidences!
The veterinary board, however, did find that Pence didn't do a good job recording the drugs given to the cat during the anesthesia.
| Source: | October 10, 2017 PM Investigative Committee Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| Melvin Pence | Respondent |
| Roll Call: | |
| Adam Almaraz | Aye |
| Amrit Rai | Aye |
| Donald Noah | Aye |
| Robert Kritsberg | Aye |
| Tamara Murphy | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | November 11, 2017 Board Meeting |
|---|---|
| Proposed By: | Sarah Heinrich |
| Seconded By: | Darren Wright |
| Roll Call: | |
| Christina Bertch-Mumaw | Aye |
| Darren Wright | Aye |
| J Greg Byrne | Aye |
| Jessica Creager | Aye |
| Jim Loughead | Aye |
| Julie Young | Aye |
| Nikki Frost | Absent |
| Robyn Jaynes | Aye |
| Sarah Heinrich | Aye |
| Violations: | |
| ARS 32-2232 (21) Failure to document in the medical record | |
| ARS 32-2232 (21) Failure to document in the medical record | |
| ARS 32-2232 (21) Failure to document in the medical record | |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | November 11, 2017 Board Meeting |
|---|---|
| Proposed By: | Sarah Heinrich |
| Seconded By: | Darren Wright |
| Roll Call: | |
| Christina Bertch-Mumaw | Aye |
| Darren Wright | Aye |
| J Greg Byrne | Aye |
| Jessica Creager | Aye |
| Jim Loughead | Aye |
| Julie Young | Aye |
| Nikki Frost | Absent |
| Robyn Jaynes | Aye |
| Sarah Heinrich | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | Order 18011 (January 1, 2018) |
|---|---|
| Violations: | |
| A.R.S. § 32-2232 (21) as it relates to A.A.C. R3-11-502 (7) (a), (b), and (d) failure to document the concentration, amount and route of administration of ketamine administered to the cat on July 27, 2017. | |
| A.R.S. § 32-2232 (21) as it relates to A.A.C. R3-11-502 (7) (a), (b), and (d) failure to document the concentration, amount and route of administration of valium administered to the cat on July 27, 2017. | |
| A.R.S. § 32-2232 (21) as it relates to A.A.C. R3-11-502 (7) (b) failure to document the amount of ketoprofen administered to the cat on July 27, 2017. | |
| Penalties: | |
| License on probation (1 year) | |
| Continuing education (4 hours in medical record keeping) | |
| Civil penalty ($250) | |
The primary source for the above summary was obtained as a public record from the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board. You are welcome to review the original records and board meeting minutes by clicking the relevant links. While we endeavor to provide an accurate summary of the complaint, response, investigative reports and board actions, we encourage you to review the primary sources and come to your own conclusions. In some cases we have also been able to reach out to individuals with knowledge of specific complaints, and where possible that information will be included here.