Zolly was a 4-year old doberman when her owner took her to Nevada veterinarian Maureen Adams for a spay. During the surgery, according to the Veterinary Board's letter of reprimand against Adams, "bleeding problems occurred . . . "
Later that night, Zolly's owners had to take her to an emergency hospital because of bleeding from her incision site.
Zolly "was taken into surgery and the primary bleeding was found to be at the left ovarian pedicle due to a slipped ligature" (a ligature is a filament or thread used to tie something). "A tear was present in the peritoneum cranial to the left kidney. A tear was also present in the mesentary."
(The peritoneum is the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity and covers most of the abdominal organs. The term mesentery "usually refers to the small bowel mesentery which anchors the small intestine to the back of the abdominal wall." See http://www.medterms.com/. So, this -- and the Board's findings -- lead me to believe that Zolly sustained these injuries during surgery. Poor Zolly.)
The Nevada Veterinary Board found "this conduct is a violation of Navada Administrative Code 638.045 negligence, a departure from the standard of care in that the licensee did not repair the tears in the mesentery and did not inform the client that the animal could require monitoring after release."
So, what did the vet board do in this case?
The issued a public letter of reprimand to Maureen Adams, and ordered her to pay investigative costs and board costs of $250.
$250 for this damage done to Zolly? Do you think that's enough? Because I sure don't.
