A vet has been reprimanded after a dog was left to die overnight despite having emergency surgery just hours before.
Kiwi, an 11-year-old German Shepherd – Wolfhound cross, was rushed to the vets by his owners Penny and Anthony O’Callaghan to have treatment from an urgent stomach condition.
They said they picked Riverside Veterinary Practice in Spalding, Lincolnshire, because it was advertised itself as a 24/7 operation.
At the time of the incident, the practice stated on their Facebook page: ’24 hour care is provided at OUR practice, with OUR vets.’
The vet, Elizabeth Law, successfully performed emergency surgery on Kiwi, but then left him to recuperate on his own for more than seven hours overnight.
Kiwi was found dead the following morning, leaving the Callaghans devastated.
In its decision, a disciplinary panel at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons said Miss Law – who has been a vet for nine years – had made a ‘serious mistake’.
However, the practice was cleared of dishonestly claiming it offered a 24/7 service after arguing that this simply meant vets were available to be called out at any hour.
The ruling has infuriated Mrs O’Callaghan, 41, who claims that the Riverside practice had been ‘let off the hook’.
She said: ‘We have been pet owners for 20 years and we know all the right questions to ask when we sign up to a surgery.
‘The crucial thing is that my pets can be offered 24-hour care.
‘Riverside advertised that they provide care 24/7, but Kiwi was left by himself after a major operation.
‘If a vet was there looking after Kiwi, he would not have died that night, he would still be here.
‘We trusted the vets completely and left our pet in their care, and they let us down. We were lied to.’
One expert witness, Professor John Williams, said that Miss Law’s decision to leave Kiwi alone ‘fell below the standards of a reasonably competent veterinary surgeon.’
The panel concluded: ‘It was unreasonable to leave Kiwi alone overnight.’
It decided a formal reprimand against Miss Law was the best sanction, as she was considered by colleagues to be an ‘excellent’ vet who was ‘devoted to the welfare of animals’.
The Royal College cleared Riverside owner Julia Creese of any wrongdoing surrounding the death, ruling that the practice had not advertised itself as offering 24/7 staffing.
A written statement by Mrs Creese said: ‘Although we do offer a 24-hour emergency service at this practice, rather than using a designated out of hours provider, we are not a hospital and don’t have staff on site overnight.
‘Details of the level of cover that we provide is available to read in the waiting room on our practice noticeboard.
‘We did not advertise the practice to have staff on site 24 hours a day and I do not know why the O’Callaghans thought this was the case.’
