| Complaint: | Complaint 19-19 |
|---|---|
| Respondent: | Kara Thomas |
| Premises: | Midwestern University |
| Related: | 19-20, 19-21, 19-22, 19-23 |
Note that this is a very complex situation and stretches across several related complaints. This pertains specifically to the complaint against Thomas.
The complainant's dog went to Midwestern for a dental with Bennett and Hofmeister. The complainant paid extra to have Hofmeister around as an anesthesiologist, but it appears he came and went during the procedure. The dog came out with breathing problems and Bennett suggested keeping the dog overnight. She picked up her dog the next morning and was given an internal medicine appointment with Carter. A month later the dog had a slight swelling on his throat and the complainant was given an appointment with Thomas. This had happened before and the complainant explained to the students (including a student named Alexis Kersting) that antibiotics had been given to resolve the problem. Kersting told her that Midwestern wouldn't give antibiotics without a test for Valley Fever and would also recommend aspirating the gland for testing. The complainant reluctantly agreed.
When she got her dog back after four hours, he was no longer able to stand and his back legs were crossed and buckled. Kersting is also said to be acting differently at this time and said the dog could be sent home with pain medication, which was initially incorrectly dispensed to the complainant. Thomas looked at the dog and allegedly said that the dog was very happy. The complainant asked why her dog could no longer walk at which time she was told that the dog could be seen by a neurologist, Evans. The dog continued to deteriorate but Evans concluded on follow-up that the dog was actually doing better. Thomas was able to coax the dog to walk a few steps. She said that the dog should see a cardiologist and that laser therapy or acupuncture might help the dog. The complainant apparently left messages with Thomas two more times indicating that the dog wasn't doing any better and the dog eventually died about a month later. She also learned that Kersting was unable to aspirate the dog and had another tech do it; the dog became so stressed he was placed in a kennel and left there for hours even though the dog's family was waiting at the clinic. Other records indicate that it was Thomas herself who finally performed the successful aspiration.
Barbara McCloud, Midwestern's attorney, gives us more or less the same boilerplate intro that you'll get used to when you see a complaint about Midwestern. Much of the information you'll see is broadly similar to what Thomas writes in her own response following this one. She notes that eventually Midwestern did give the complainant a refund for $470.04. She also says that the dog was an old dog and blames the complainant for not taking better care of her dog ("chronic conditions went undiagnosed and untreated for substantial periods of time by Owner"), ignoring that the dog had actually been treated with trilostane before a different veterinarian suggest she pursue other options. She notes that since the complainant didn't order a necropsy that there's no way to prove what the dog died of anyway.
Thomas writes her own response. Her writeup gives us some details on how things apparently work in back at Midwestern if you're so inclined. Given the large number of differential diagnoses despite the dream team at Midwestern working on the dog, an initial take might be that they had no idea what was going on, but they were very sure that it didn't involve anything they did despite most of it happening while the dog was under their care. It appears to have been fortuitous (in her view) that Evans was around for the neurology consult as he only has clinical duties some weeks (and he's also the only neurologist they have at the university).
The Investigative Committee found very little fault with this case. They appear to largely buy into the notion that the dog died from heart problems and that the dog's marked declines when he had procedures done at Midwestern isn't notable at all. There were some concerns with Thomas' communication regarding the dog's status and voted to find a violation on those grounds. The Board overruled and found no concerns whatsoever, not even a mere letter of concern to add to the file as they often do.
Thomas was a director in the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association at the time and appears to have been the secretary/treasurer around this time. She eventually moves on up to be the president of the organization. She also belongs to an elite few veterinarians who have been simultaneously represented by multiple attorneys during interactions with the vet board (McCloud and Stoll in this case).
Donald Noah is recused on this one as he was actually on the faculty at Midwestern. It's odd that all five of the complaints regarding this dog, as well as another complaint against a Midwestern veterinarian (19-32), all ended up assigned to the Investigative Committee that had a Midwestern University faculty member on it at the time.
A lot of this broadly rhymes with what happened when a cat went to Midwestern for surgery and burned through his nine lives getting passed around by top specialists; see 21-09.
| Source: | December 12, 2018 PM Investigative Committee Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| Barbara McCloud | Respondent Attorney |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Kara Thomas | Respondent |
| Roll Call: | |
| Adam Almaraz | Aye |
| Amrit Rai | Aye |
| Christine Butkiewicz | Aye |
| Donald Noah | Recused |
| William Hamilton | Aye |
| Violations: | |
| ARS 32-2232 (12) as it relates to AAC R3-11-501 (1) failure to provide courteous verbal interchange and professionally acceptable procedures for not communicating with the pet owner and provide timely updates on the dog's status on June 19, 2018. | |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | January 1, 2019 Board Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| Barbara McCloud | Respondent Attorney |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Kara Thomas | Respondent |
| Proposed By: | Sarah Heinrich |
| Seconded By: | Christina Bertch-Mumaw |
| Roll Call: | |
| Christina Bertch-Mumaw | Aye |
| Darren Wright | Aye |
| J Greg Byrne | Aye |
| Jane Soloman | Aye |
| Jessica Creager | Aye |
| Jim Loughead | Absent |
| Nikki Frost | Nay |
| Robyn Jaynes | Recused |
| Sarah Heinrich | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
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.