B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit alleges dog was left with lasting injuries
A breeder of champion Rottweilers is suing a Vancouver veterinary clinic, two vets and a third employee, accusing them of injuring her award-winning dog, Laila.
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Pamela Boles alleges Laila, who’s full name is Von Braun’s Heavenly Star v Ravencrest and who is a Canadian and American champion, was injured while being treated at the Vancouver Animal Emergency and Referral Centre in east Vancouver.
She had brought Laila to the clinic, part of a Canada-wide chain whose parent is VCA Clinics, because she had an infection and the clinic specialized in emergency care, according to the lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
Boles brought the dog in on Jan. 15, 2024, for a suspected case of pyometra, which can be life-threatening, and left her there to be spayed, according to the lawsuit.
The clinic promoted itself as having a “team of highly trained specialists and skilled doctors” and offered the “most advanced diagnostic and treatment options.” It said its “critical care and emergency care teams are trained and equipped to handle all kinds of emergencies,” the lawsuit alleged.
Boles alleges the vets, Sherisse Sakals and Olivia Ciccozzi left Laila in the care of an “unqualified and/or incompetent and/or inadequately or totally unsupervised staff member,” whom the lawsuit calls Jane Doe. All three employees are named as defendants, as is the clinic’s parent company.
She also alleges the clinic didn’t immediately let her know that Laila had been injured by Jane Doe and alleged that medical procedures were performed without her knowledge or informed consent, including withdrawals of fluid from the chest cavity, the first of which was “incompetently undertaken by Sakals.”
Boles alleged Jane Doe had “forced pressurized gases into Laila’s body tissues and cavities” without allowing an exit through extubation, “subjecting her to excruciating pain by inhumanely inflating her like a balloon.”
Laila suffered “agony, catastrophic and near fatal” tissue damage caused by changes in air pressure, the lawsuit alleged.
The dog suffered secondary injuries when Sakals and Ciccozzi tried to remove the gases from Laila’s body, “causing even more suffering, torture and agony,” Boles alleged.
Laila also had X-rays and increased sedation without Boles’s knowledge or consent, she said.
The lag in disclosing Laila’s injuries delayed treatment and assessment at another clinic. She alleged she only learned about the “multiple secret procedures” when she reviewed the treatment record.
She says the injuries will be lasting and the dog’s “quality of life suffered significantly.”
Boles alleged the clinic failed to provide her with complete treatment records, and the information provided was inaccurate and misleading, and “appears to have been curated for purposes of insurance defence” and defending the employees’ professional responsibility concerns, the lawsuit alleged.
She is seeking undisclosed damages.
None of the allegations have been proved in court.
Boles declined to comment. A message left with VCA Clinics wasn’t returned.