| Complaint: | Complaint 21-78 |
|---|---|
| Respondent: | Karyn Carlson |
| Premises: | Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson |
The complainant says her dog was having problems breathing and she brought the dog to VSCOT immediately as they recommended. The dog was taken inside and hours later Carlson called to say the dog had pneumonia and would be given antibiotics. She also said x-rays showed an enlarged heart. She says that she told Carlson to do whatever was needed and specifically told her she would pay; she doesn't understand why these conditions were not handled better. She said that after 12 hours was unable to breathe and died at home once discharged. She relates that she waited hours and hours at VSCOT with no news and even suggested the dog be allowed to wait with her in the car to avoid additional stress. She also points out concerns in delays in the care provided to the dog including the outsourced radiology services. Her sister is an x-ray technician for humans and pointed out that in emergency situations x-ray results are expedited; she also said that when she spoke with another vet tech days later they asked why they didn't give the dog some blood thinner or Lasix given the symptoms. Instead the complainant says her dog was left to get worse in slow motion; she relates that at one point it appears VSCOT staff thought she had left rather than sitting out in her car waiting. She said that there was no sense of urgency so she even called other emergency clinics from her car and was told by them to stay there and wait; she wonders how VSCOT could be so unprepared since we don't live in a Third World country. She apologizes for taking so long to write all this down and says most people don't go to the trouble of writing a complaint; she relates that when she mentioned what happened to others in the community they also had bad experiences with VSCOT (indeed, VSCOT veterinarians have at least 11 complaints that we have records for). The complainant also wonders if she was ignored, in part, because she is Hispanic. She also says that nothing she was told suggested the dog was in such bad shape as to die. She asks the veterinary board to look out for the animals so more of them don't go to VSCOT and die.
Carlson says that she triaged the dog because the dog was having breathing problems. She determiend the dog to be stable so she put the dog in a kennel in ICU; we're told the dog's breathing problems and heart rate improved after a few minutes. She said that communication with the complainant was somewhat delayed because the clinic was swamped with cases due to the coronavirus. She says that the x-ray had heart enlargement and lungs that didn't look consistent with congestive heart failure so she wanted the x-rays sent off for radiologist review. Pneumonia was viewed as the most immediate problem and suggested subsequent follow up for other problems. She said that the complainant began getting upset with the delays and just wanted to get the dog home; she relayed that in the long term the dog should be seen by cardiology but there weren't any in all of Tucson. She also says that VSCOT has a diverse team and that the complainant wasn't ignored just because she's Hispanic; instead she says that she just didn't understand how busy they were inside because they usually send all the clients home after the pets are in the building. She also regrets the complainant didn't bring the dog back when the dog got worse at home.
The Investigative Committee said that complainants on the outside can't tell how hard the people on the inside are working, so they don't understand wait times in the coronavirus era. Some Committee members (we don't know who) had concerns that the wait time was excessive for a sick dog with a serious heart murmur and breathing problems, while others felt it was fine. They also concluded that the dog had to be in bad shape from something no matter what because healthy dogs never come down with pneumonia. The Committee said that while things could have been done differently it wasn't anything that they need to get involved with.
The Veterinary Victims League was able to reach out to the complainant in this case. The individual relates that the dog began trouble breathing. The dog also had a previously diagnosed heart murmur since he was a puppy but had not experienced any known issues from it and had not been suggested to have any heart problems by the family veterinarian; he also had arthritis that was not severely limiting.
Her dog began experiencing breathing problems that came on suddenly, and based on veterinary advice, took her dog to VSCOT. She relates that VSCOT gave the impression of being severely understaffed with few doctors; other critical patients were arriving in the parking lot including one dog taken in having convulsions and subsequently euthanized. Her dog was taken in and the veterinarian suggested pneumonia as a diagnosis. The complainant states that she agreed to pay for expedited x-rays but the results took at least two hours to arrive; her sister, an x-ray technician in human medicine, met the complainant in the parking lot and related that in human medicine this delay would not be tolerated in such an ill patient.
The dog remained in the facility for hours and the complainant notes that she began to grow quite concerned about VSCOT. She called other emergency clinics in the area but they advised her to remain at VSCOT as she was already in line there. She was not able to enter the facility with her dog because of COVID concerns and eventually asked to have the dog brought out to wait with her; VSCOT initially opposed this but later agreed, with the dog being returned to her in significantly worse condition, not walking right and falling over. The complainant also went to get a humidifier for the dog following the veterinarian's recommendation, but her sister was quite concerned that the dog's condition was significantly more serious than the vet was aware of. The vet eventually recommended that the dog see a cardiologist at some point but noted there were none available in Tucson; the vet recommended the dog follow up with the family vet on Monday.
After waiting yet another hour for the veterinarian to enter final records and charges into the system, the complainant was allowed to drive home with the dog (they had already been waiting in the lot). The dog suffered for the remainder of the night as he died at home; the complainant didn't know where else to take him under the circumstances. She states that she was not made aware that the dog was thought to be in congestive heart failure, as if she had known she would have looked into taking the dog to Phoenix immediately or having him euthanized. She cannot understand why VSCOT would not inform her of this concern, also wondering if the veterinary profession has become so desensitized to death that they simply no longer care.
Like many complainants, she also believes that the overall process with the board showed bias against the complainants. Her experience with the investigative committee did not leave an overall positive impression; she correctly noted that literally none of the people who showed up for their Investigative Committee hearings that day had investigators vote in their favor. She was unable to travel to Phoenix for the follow-up meeting because of serious family issues developing at home.
She also relates that she's heard similar criticisms about both VSCOT and veterinarians in general, but that in Tucson they don't really have a lot of options. She also relates that many people simply don't bother to file complaints, but she believes it's important to try and change things.
| Source: | June 6, 2021 PM Investigative Committee Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Karyn Carlson | Respondent |
| Roll Call: | |
| Adam Almaraz | Aye |
| Amrit Rai | Aye |
| Robert Kritsberg | Aye |
| Result: | Passed |
| Source: | July 7, 2021 Board Meeting |
|---|---|
| People: | |
| David Stoll | Respondent Attorney |
| Proposed By: | Robyn Jaynes |
| Seconded By: | Darren Wright |
| Roll Call: | |
| Darren Wright | Aye |
| J Greg Byrne | Absent |
| Jane Soloman | Aye |
| Jessica Creager | Aye |
| Jim Loughead | Aye |
| Nikki Frost | Aye |
| Robyn Jaynes | Aye |
| Sarah Heinrich | Absent |
| 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.