Pet Dads: Remembering These Special Veterinary Victims on Father's Day and Always

 

"One More Day" -- video by Greg W. Munson

Read more about Stempy, Greg and Cindy after the jump. 

Of all of the veterinary victims who have lost their furkids to veterinary negligence and incompetence, there's something about a grown man fighting back tears that really gets to you. I don't know why. All I know is that my conversations and correspondence with men who have had to face what might possibly be the worst thing to ever happen to them―the loss of their beloved companion animal at the hands of a negligent vet―have been especially heart wrenching.

On this Father's Day, I recall breaking the news over the phone to my own dad about Suki's death.  After what seemed like forever, dad choked out one sentence--”She was a class act”--before breaking down and handing the phone to my mom, who could not speak at all after I told her. In fact, neither of my parents could set foot in my home for a full month after Suki's horrendous death from hideous mistreatment by an even more hideous quack. The thought of Suki―OUR Suki, our most wonderful, precious family member―taken so senselessly from her family was unbearable. For a man who had always been a dog person, remembering my dad finishing out Suki's little condo, bringing over a special “scratching log” and bowl of tasty homegrown grass, along with his camera to take pictures at Suki's little birthday parties, Suki's Christmas, Suki's Sitting Around, Suki's Everything, still makes me laugh. 

So to all of those wonderful Doggie Dads and Cat Pops, and all Pet Dads who have suffered the loss of their best friends because of a BadVet, you are in my thoughts today. Please know you are not alone. 

I can't let this Father's Day go by without a tribute to one of the most amazing Dog Dads I've ever known. Stempy the Shih Tzu―known as Daddy's Little Deputy―was the furkid of fellow Texan and consumer advocates Greg Munson and his wife Cindy.  

Tribute Site Spotlight: Mulan's Veterinary Horror Story

This is a first in a series that spotlights veterinary victims' Tribute Sites that go beyond the story of their own tragedy to help educate others on matters of public concern, health, and safety.

The site: http://www.petmalpractice.com/

Site owner: Cindy O' Malley

Veterinarian: William Schultz, DVM, Schultz Veterinary Clinic, Okemos, Michigan

The gauze that Schultz left inside Mulan during surgery

is surrounded by a growth the size of a cantaloupe. Photo:

Courtesy of Michigan State University.

Mulan's Story is a detailed, compelling site that takes the reader step by step through what happened to Alaskan Malamute Mulan at the hands of William Schultz, DVM, of Schultz Veterinary Clinic in Okemos, MI. This is a story that just goes from bad to worse and the pictures are devastating. Mulan lived, thanks to the efforts of veterinarians at Michigan State University, but is forever and irreparably damaged by the piece of gauze left inside her during surgery by Schultz (photo at left courtesy of MSU).

Among other things, two elements make this site powerful:

Suki's Safe Haven is One Year Old Today!

Suki, hard at "work" in our office all those years ago--and still
today serving as my guiding spirit to help as many people as possible
avoid the kind of BadVet who killed her. 

Suki's blog turns one today—the first of what I hope will be many years of helping people to become more informed veterinary consumers and most importantly, know what to do to keep their pets safe at the vet's and what to do to vets who don't.

I can't believe the thousands of page views the blog has generated in just a year. Of course we're nowhere near the numbers of our mother site, The Veterinary Abuse Network (VAN). Vetabusenetwork.com has been up in one form or another continuously since 2000 and has built an amazing following of bereaved and outraged pet owners and guardians eager for anything that would provide information about  BadVets and the systems that protect them. In 2012 alone VAN had 26,623 unique visitors; 40,761 visits; 106,216 pages viewed; and 369,613 hits. Add the previous eleven years and that's an awful lot of people searching for information and resources on everything from How to File a Complaint Against a Vet to watching out for "bargain basement" vets who practice substandard care in Beware of Dr. CheapVet, and of course the horror that started it all: my precious companion's fight for life in Suki's Story.

But Suki's Safe Haven is still a baby, and we're just getting started. I can tell you in our first year our most popular post has been Filing a Complaint With Your State Board: Why Do It. That tells me I need to do more posts that help people file complaints with their state boards. I know it's daunting to take on this huge, oppressive machine of vets (and their lawyers), state boards (and their lawyers), the state's Veterinary Medical Associations (and their lawyers), but the fact is that I always urge victims to file on their BadVets no matter how small the odds are that anything will be done. As a recent victim reminded me, it's about exposure—the bane of every lying, sneaky, manipulative, incompetent, negligent, malpracticing vet. Even one complaint can catch the worst of these creeps—and it just might be yours. Let's keep up the pressure on these boards to do their job and hold these BadVets accountable in ways serious enough to deter any other creep from doing the same thing. Period.

A post that surprised me with its popularity was the one on Gene Giggleman, DVM: “Think There Are No Cruel Vets?” Maybe that's because Giggleman was getting some pretty scary press elsewhere: Read about his other shenanigans in the excellent story by reporter Yamil Berard in the April 5, 2012 Fort Worth Star Telegram: “Grapevine veterinarian acknowledges issuing blank health forms for raided business.” 

And there's more...

Inhumane euthanasia? Coerced euthanasia? It happens—and more often than you'd like to think. Barbara Albright's Pocket's Story from New Hampshire illustrates the former, and there are a disturbing number of stories about the latter. Read Ken and Nonna Newman's horror story in  media coverage on their precious Trali. It happens.

Not surprisingly, our most popular page was The Lawsuit. If you haven't yet read how Edward J. Nichols of Crestway Animal Clinic came after me with three bottom-feeding lawyers in a bully SLAPP suit to try to take away my First Amendment rights with first a temporary injunction and then a permanent one (he failed at both), take a few minutes--you might enjoy the tail, um, tale of a cowardly  vet who waved the white flag the night before trial. I still smile every time I think of my attorney telling me when it was over: “Julie, you kicked his ass.” And now with Texas enacting anti-SLAPP legislation, it will be even harder for bully vets like Ed Nichols and Crestway Animal Clinic to use their wealth and the legal system to try to intimidate, threaten, or force a victim into silence. If you've been sued by a bully vet who doesn't want the public to know what he or she did to your pet and is willing to pay big bucks to tear your life apart, I want to know about it. The public has the right to know who and where these creeps are operating. 

The subject of “Vaccinations: What You Don't Know About Them Can Kill Your Pet” led to steady traffic for Texan Jena Gonzalez's fight to Educate Before You Vaccinate. Speaking of education, years after her death, Mattie's Story still touches many about what can happen when an arrogant vet ignores the principle of informed consent and decides to take matters into his own hands, in this case Dr. Bob Esplin of Sylvania Veterinary Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. Read Esplin's in-your-face quote and wonder how many other pets suffered Mattie's fate?

And so many, many more stories. Check out the archives of 2012 to see what you missed, and share this blog with all the animal lovers in your life. They need to know what can happen to their pets at a vet's office--and what happens when the vet gets away with it with the help of their staff, techs, other vets, their insurance companies, their lawyers, and the state board systems that are supposed to be protecting our pets, not the vets. Some of them even hire webmasters (or as I call some of them--spam-masters) to try to "bury" the rankings of negative reviews and web sites, too stupid to know how much trouble that will get them in, but then stupidity is rampant among BadVets. How stupid? Too stupid to know how stupid they really are. Which works in your favor. Believe it. 

To everybody who writes about and fights against BadVets, I cannot thank you enough for your work, support and encouragement. It's a whole new world of communication out there and it is growing exponentially as a true network of veterinary victims evolves into the next generation--savvy, smart, kick-ass, informed consumers to hopefully take the place of the old, tired, ignorant guard who thinks all vets love animals and none of them makes any money. BadVets cannot do what they do without your blind trust. Stop handing it over because they have a white coat and a stethoscope and they're so "nice" and "cheap." Do your homework.   I believe most vets are good in the same way I believe most people are good--but it's not enough. This is a profession that has enjoyed secrecy and protection behind closed doors for too long, and it's time to drag some of these vampires out into the sunlight and watch them shrivel up. 

Although I write alone, Suki is still hard at work as my guiding spirit, and we will always be a team. Without her strength and her will to live even through the most hideous and prolonged mistreatment imaginable, there would be no vetabusenetwork.com, no Suki's Story, no Suki's Safe Haven, and no future foundation that I hope to establish to help veterinary victims in real, tangible ways.  It is my dream to bring together enough people to get laws changed, policies improved, and most of all, transparency in the systems that have enjoyed their little secret, closed-door dealings to protect the worst of these monsters. 

In the meantime, Suki and I will continue to work hard to do everything we can to help keep people's pets safe at the vet. We can't do it alone. Keep writing, keep fighting, keep connecting, posting, sharing, tweeting, blogging, and spreading the message—especially the message that we will continue to send to every incompetent, negligent, sloppy, careless, lazy, arrogant vet who ever harmed or killed someone's beloved companion:

We will never forget. We will never be silenced.

Don't miss any posts! Subscribe by email in the box at upper right, under Suki's picture. Your address will never be shared in any way. 

For information on filing a complaint with your state board, go to Filing a Complaint Against Your Vet or contact me here: Suki's Safe Haven

Is Your Veterinarian Trying to Game Google? Watch for These Red Flags (and What You Can Do About It)

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The Internet is a mixed blessing. Never in the history of veterinary malpractice have veterinary victims been able to find each other, compare notes, offer advice and support, research veterinary malpractice cases and board complaints, and help one another get through the horrific process of sorting through the wreckage of their lives after an incompetent, negligent veterinarian has injured or killed their companions.

The Internet is a double-edged sword for BadVets. It makes it more difficult for the worst of them to fly under the radar; many veterinary boards post their state's disciplinary actions online; and searching for a vet's name and/or the clinic's name can often lead to a client or potential client finding out things the vet would prefer that nobody know about.

It's the "searching" part that provides BadVets with a silver lining: There are ways to manipulate the public in cyberspace in much the same way they do in real life; specifically, perverting SEO (search engine optimization) techniques and misusing links and aggregate sites to artificially increase their page rankings on Google. In short, gaming Google.This makes it more difficult for the average person to find anything negative about BadVets, because the first few pages can be dominated by the vet's manufactured trash specifically and deliberately designed to "push down" the rankings of sites that have negative information about the vet.  

If you recognize your veterinarian in any of the following, take note. Depending on how brazen, arrogant, or stupid they are, BadVets may be leaving a trail of evidence that you can gather, document, and use in filing a board complaint for unprofessional conduct, honesty and fair dealing, or similar statutes; or possibly even a lawsuit for things like false advertising and fraud (e.g.,In Texas, the statute of limitations for fraud is four years, so it's important to keep good records if you think a vet is or has been trying to game search engine rankings). Remember these involve two entirely different jurisdictions: 1) Check your individual state's Veterinary Practice Act for specifics on categories like honesty, fair dealing, false advertising, unprofessional conduct, and the like; and 2) consult with an attorney licensed to practice law in your state to discuss lawsuit options regarding fraud and false advertising. 

In the meantime, watch for any signs of the following:

On This Very Special Night, a Gift of Thanks from Suki and Me

Christmas Eve. For me it was always the most magical day of the year, especially as daytime turned to dusk, dusk turned to dark, and the dark would yield gloriously to twinkling lights everywhere, yummy aromas coming from the kitchen, and a friend stopping by for dinner and a movie. We would settle in for a night of wrapping presents, good food and conversation, hot chocolate, and – if Suki was very, very good, and of course she always was, even if her “help” at present-wrapping made more work for me – a tiny crumb of a Christmas cookie as a special treat. All was well with the world. 

Now that picture is like a yellowed image from an ancient, crumbling book, from a life I can barely remember anymore. The life “before” – as we who have been through this nightmare refer to it – our pets were lost to veterinary negligence, malpractice, incompetence, arrogance, stupidity, and yes, outright abuse, taking from us our pets, our trust, our money, our jobs, our peace of mind, our sense of safety, and in some cases, our futures. 

There is one tiny bright spot for me on this date. Guess what day Edward J. Nichols of Crestway Animal Clinic in San Antonio was notified by certified mail from the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners that he was under investigation in Suki's case? That's right – Christmas Eve. How's that for serendipity? I'd like to think one very special Siamese had a hand in that, with a little help from all the other defenseless souls harmed or killed by their own monsters. I think of that every December 24, and smile at Suki's last little gift to me for all those wonderful Christmas Eves that will be no more.

Of course I will think of Suki tonight, overseeing the decorating and cooking, yowling in the kitchen as she got a whiff of her special baked organic chicken, pacing in front of the oven, reminding me of those old Mervyn's commercials with a customer pressed against the glass saying “Open-open-open.” I'll remember her sitting in my lap, our eyes locked on each other's, with the Snow Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker Suite playing in the background. Remember this moment, I said to myself, etch this forever, take this picture. And of course, real pictures of her, countless of them, under the tree, by the tree, in the tree (Suki was a climber), sitting in her little condo, decorated with its own miniature tree and cat ornaments, cat toys, cat everything, everywhere. 

But most of all, tonight I will think of all the others I have met along the way, going through the same neverending nightmare – some for years, others just now arriving in a club that nobody would choose to belong to. I get sweet notes from them, these victims from everywhere. One writes, “Keep the faith. I will always have you and Suki in my heart.” Another says, “I am grateful to have you understand what it feels like to have your world shattered, your life forever altered and I do not feel so alone it in knowing you are out there.” And more, and still more. They keep me going on my darkest nights. 

I am so grateful for my longtime fellow advocates, plus a whole new wave of smart, savvy fighters putting up web sites, blogs, and Facebook pages to help make sure that someday, eventually, there will be no place for the monsters to hide. I started my site in 2000 so that nobody going through this endless hell would ever feel alone. I am here to tell you that you are not. Not ever. You and your precious companions – whose names would take up this entire blog – are always with me, every day, every night. Especially on this night. On this very Christmas night. 

Much love to you and your companions, and many thanks to all who work so hard to make sure that our stories are never forgotten.

Suki and Julie, our final Christmas Eve, 1998. Her tree was never put up again.

YouTube video: Christmas Canon - Trans Siberian Orchestra

The Secret Truth About Abusive Veterinarians

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"We dance around a ring and suppose but the secret sits in the middle and knows.”

“The Secret Sits,” Robert Frost

My friend and fellow advocate Barbara Albright has had this quote on her site, Pocket's Story from New Hampshire, for years, but it was only recently that I fully understood how it applies to incompetent, negligent vets. Here's how that happened:

At a public meeting of the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (TBVME) in Austin, Texas, one of the board investigators and I had a conversation I'll never forget: He told me that whenever you see a vet reprimanded for violating recordkeeping statutes, it's sometimes because there were other, more serious violations, but the allegations were in effect “plea bargained” down to recordkeeping. Because disciplined vets sign an Agreed Order – vets have to “agree” to be disciplined – they and their lawyers do whatever they can to get the final results to an outcome they can live with – a little slap on the wrist, an "informal" reprimand, a “stayed” suspension (meaning the vet doesn't miss a day of work), and/or a puny fine.

Of course this board employee wasn't telling me anything that I and my fellow advocates didn't already know. Even if vets have directly or indirectly caused or contributed to the death of a pet, or great harm was done, their goal is to obtain the least amount of discipline to save face. Vets are rarely, if ever, disciplined only for sloppy, shabby, incomplete records, never mind that such records are a giant red flag as to what kind of truly inadequate, deficient vet you're dealing with.

Here's to the Crazy Ones...

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I ran across this quote today -- part of an early Apple Computer advertising campaign, specifically a television commercial in 1997. It is reportedly a collaboration between Ken Segall and Rob Siltanen, with input and ultimate approval by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Being a longtime copywriter myself for my corporate clients, I recognize and admire it not only as a thing of beauty and an iconic mantra for innovators and entrepreneurs, but also as an inspiring message for anybody fighting seemingly insurmountable odds. 

For all of us who work every day to bring awareness and education to a largely unaware public that unknowingly entrusts its pets to some unethical, incompetent, and downright abusive veterinarians, and for all who have been consistently defamed, attacked, and ridiculed by those same vets, their lawyers, family, friends, and supporters pronouncing us mentally unstable, sick, and yes, crazy, I have only this to say: I'd rather be crazy than a liar. I hope this legendary quote reminds all of us that no matter how insane it sometimes seems to keep fighting, we can never, ever, ever give up.

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

- Apple Inc.