The complainant says that she has had two dogs in her entire life and was truly shocked
by her experience at BluePearl. She believes that it's unconscionable that BluePearl is
taking advantage of emergency situations. She tells us that her dog got into a tussle
with other dogs and that his ear was hurt so she took her dog to BluePearl. They took
her dog to the back and she didn't hear anything for an hour and a half. At that time
she says a staff member comes running in and tells her to grab her things and come along.
She's led outside and wonders if her dog died but they were afraid to tell her inside
the clinic. It was at that time she was told her dog had escaped their clinic into the
dark of night. After standing in the dark calling for her dog for ten or fifteen minutes
he showed back up and she was able to call him into her van. He was bleeding all over
the place. The staff gave her a loop leash and told her to get the dog. She was asked
to leash the dog a second time and at some point a staff member tried to drag the dog
out of the van. The dog's taken to an exam room with the complainant and one of the
staff members introduces himself as Lapa, the veterinarian. She says that from several
feet away Lapa told her that he couldn't really see the ear wound but told her that he
would need to anesthetize the dog for 40 minutes and do surgery to fix the wound. She
said that was uncalled for and notes that in other situations her dog had been sedated
rather than run the risk of general anesthesia. She was eventually given an estimate
for $2139.03 for surgery so she asked about other options, but none were forthcoming.
She left with a $105 bill and no treatment, then tried to fix up the wound at home.
She took the dog to Grand Paws and saw a veterinarian (Johnson) who did an exam, gave
the dog some antibiotics, and put two staples in for the wound without anesthesia or
sedation. The bill was $114.16. She says that BluePearl is a scam.
Lapa gives us some information about the dog coming into BluePearl. The fun part
begins when he explains how a nervous, scared dog manages to outwit him and other
BluePearl employees and run out of the exam area into the lobby and finally out the
swinging doors. He notes that the dog made a speedy getaway down Peoria Avenue, and
really, who can fault the dog? Not I. He also explains his recommendation for surgery
stating that the dog would not have been a good candidate for sedation given his
nervous and fractious nature at the time. He says that the complainant never mentioned
any concerns about anesthesia risk during their conversation and didn't know she was
unhappy until he learned of a negative Yelp review.
The Investigative Committee said that mistakes happen and animals escape but were
concerned that nobody wrote down that the animal escaped. They also said, much like
the complainant, that the estimate provided seemed overkill for a minor ear wound.
However, the only violations the Committee found were two related to not writing
down that the dog escaped and not writing down why Lapa didn't re-examine the dog
after the escape. The Board rounded that down to a single recordkeeping violation.
Lapa got a Decree of Censure on his record. (Basically, it went on his permanent
record but has no real effect.)
ARS 32-2232 (12) as it relates to AAC R3-11-501 (1) failure to provide professionally acceptable procedure by not documenting the dog's escape in the medical record;
ARS 32-2232 (21) as it relates to AAC R3-11-502 (L) (4) for failure to perform an examination on the dog following the escape or document in the medical record the reason an exam was not performed.
Result:
Passed
Board Motion: Offer consent agreement with modified conclusions of law
A.R.S. ยง 32-2232 (12) as it relates to A.A.C. R3-11-501 (1) failure to provide professionally acceptable procedures by not documenting the dog's escape in the medical record or the subsequent assessment.
Penalties:
Decree of censure
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.