Sample Client Complaint About Pet Cat Euthanasia Atrocity

 

 

This actual complaint was made using a character restricted field on a website. The space-saving steps and the resulting appearance have been retained. 

 

THE COMPLAINT

 

Subject: elderly feline companion. Complaint: provided atrocity instead of euthanasia. Definitions. "Euthanasia", death w/o pain. "Pain", mental or physical discomfort, "Mental discomfort", anxiety, fear, distress. Requested pre-procedure sedative at pre-home euthanasia conference at ____ ____ Clinic Fri. morning 5/3/2019, Declined pill & the use of force. Vet said "We'll work it out". Tech & vet arrive @ patients home @ 4:15 P.M. 5/3/2019 and as soon as emaciated, sick, trusting, weak patient is placed in accessible place, the tech attacks by grasping nape. Agonistic patient response. Euthanasia failed here & I failed to redirect. Haunted by sense of abandonment & complicity. After many similar attacks during incompetent diabetes treatment, patient had learned a greater pain would quickly follow; this time a painful IM sedative injection, resulting in extreme agonistic response. Cloth placed gently over her head followed by sub-Q sedative injection as per low stress handling may have salvaged procedure. Would've taken more time. We should've. Cost of failure indescribable. Patient released only to stagger dutifully alone down hall toward litter box until I ran to help & hold her for the last conscious act of her inspiring life; vomiting in the box from the drug &/or stress. She deserved painless, peaceful death after those many similar attacks & patiently recovering from the many treatment errors by myself and the vets. Made dissatisfaction v. clear to tech & vet before they left me w/ atrocity imagery & a house of horrors. Repeated same via phone call to co-owner several days later, Asked about low stress handling certification, he said we have "equivalent" as actual certification cost prohibitive. Doubt equivalency as low stress cert. staff don't use force or IM sedative Injection, esp. on emaciated patients, Said he had euth educ. in vet school, yet neither Cornell nor UW vet schools responded when asked if they teach euth protocol. After this failure, neither tech nor vet acted surprised or upset, indicating normality. Investigation confirms, (See "Pet Euthanasia Gone Wrong" online.) Seems minors could've been present to see their companion tormented before death. How many have seen that and what may they think of the profession? Sat, 5/11/2019 got letter of refusal of further services from ___ ___Clinic; not apology or even condolences, just "stay away". ___ ___Clinic changes its clientele rather than its unethical practice. This convinced me complaint in order. Have since politely asked ____ ____Clinic to consider Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy and Low Stress Handling University certification not only to benefit clients & patients, but vets and the profession. Seems entire animal euth system in dire need of reform. My response to this trauma has been to write letters to editors that name neither a practice or vet to warn potential clients plus letters to urge all accredited vet schools to add Low Stress Handling to their curriculum on a required basis.