|
Akira (Tokoeka's Akira the
Wise Man) came from Tokoeka chows.
BIG thanks to those who decided to take the overwhelming grief my family
suffered through this event
to try and hurt me at the dog shows - shame on you, shame on you for
hurting my daughter!
Akira Video 1
Akira Video 2
He was a big boy, 110 pounds and as furry as they came. He was as smart as
a chow could be, with an extensive vocabulary, and a love for playing!
He was a regular at the Toronto International Center's All About Pets
expo!
When Akira was two, we decided to have him neutered at a vet which we gave
near a decade of business to. After taking him to Waterloo West Animal
Hospital in Waterloo Ontario, he was released paralyzed, and the vet had
left for a meeting with her contractor about her new clinic, while he lay
with no life support on the clinic floor with me as his only caregiver. He
never had his heart rate, oxygen, temperature or vitals taken while he lay
on the floor unable to move. He
was released (brought to the car on a stretcher and dumped in the back of
a convertible), and never stood again, he died three hours later at our
house in front of our daughter.
We called the emergency pager, and got her partner instead
who couldn't come right away because all the kids were sleeping and the
vet had left without the emergency pager, we
never saw the vet again until we took her to court. All our appointments
were broken, and none of our calls returned by her.
She went so far as to tell
the court and the CVO that while her husband was at our house pronouncing
Akira dead (with no legal right to since he has no medical
qualifications), I was at the Royal Bank (in her clinic complex) taking
money out of our account to bounce her cheque.
I was in such a state of
utter break down I couldn't walk let alone drive to the bank. We provided
bank statements showing that there was enough money to withdraw the cheque
several times over, and no transactions had been made that day. She told
the court and the CVO that her RVT confirmed we had done this with the
bank the following day. Royal Bank states that they would not have
released any such information to them, let alone to me, since it was not
my account. They did provide us with statements showing we had not been at
the bank or the ATM that night and that the account balance was enough to
cover the incoming cheques.
We lost due to a technicality the wording of one sentence in the College
of Veterinarians final findings, after a lengthy
8 month investigation.
The judge said that we needed to prove three burdens of proof. Lack of a
standard of care, and she said we excelled at proving that. She said that
it was an outstanding compliment to have before her honor, not only our
side of the case, but the vet's side, as well as a judgment of her
performance by her governing body and peers. She said we need to prove a
loss had happened and she said there was no question in her mind that we
had a loss, and a substantial loss at that. She said the final burden of
proof was to prove the events of the vet killed Akira. The CVO findings
said "Had Dr X DVM conducted herself appropriately, they didn't know if it
she could have prevented Akira's death." She said that it didn't say she
was or wasn't responsible. Just that Akira died, and the vet did
not conduct herself properly.
The judge agreed and sighed, and said to the lawyer and the vet. You are
winning this on a technicality. She said it was horrible that one CVO
sentence stopping just short of saying what it needed to say, and is what
caused us to lose the case. With those three burdens of proof we could
have easily won and prevented her from hurting anybody else's loved pet
She said it was unfathomable that the vet sat on
this case for as long as she did, and that she couldn't believe it wasn't
settled before and even more so after her peers found her to fail the
provincial standards of veterinary care. She expressed her sincere
sympathies for our having to go through this as far as we did. She in a
nutshell told the vet she had some nerve carrying out the case like she
did. She went on to say several other things that brought tears to my
eyes. She went on about what I should have been able to expect, what I
should have gotten.
She then paused and said
she would now discuss damages. The lawyer jumped up and said he offered to
settle the case for $100 which would have been more than what we won that
day. He stumbled over his words about the amount he offered us, and said
he knew it was at her discretion. She looked at it, laughed and threw it
down on the side of the desk, she said I will have no part of that and am
awarding no costs to you or your client. She went on to say how much of a
slap in the face it would have been to us, and to the proceedings to award
them monies on top of her conduct.
Below contains exact quotes, (publicly available information through the
provincial courts of Kitchener) from their findings. In court, she was not
awarded any lawyers or court fees.
 
College of Veterinarians of Ontario findings are as follows:
(Note her lawyer tried to have these denied as evidence and the judge
overruled)
|
PAGE 11
The College of Veterinarians of Ontario Complaints Committee conducted
a review of the Mrs. X DVMs actions. The committee concluded that Mrs.
X DVMs care of “Akira” failed to meet the standards expected of
Veterinarians of Ontario.
|
PAGE 7
The committee concluded that Mrs. X DVM medical records, lacked
specific dates, journal entries lacked user identifications, and other
errors and inconsistencies. |
PAGE 11
The committee concluded that Mrs. X DVM failed to perform an adequate
physical examination of Akira during his rapid deterioration. The
committee is of the view that in light of Akira’s rapid deterioration,
Mrs. X DVM should have performed and documented a pulse rate,
capillary refill time, chest auscultation, abdominal palpation, and
some form of musculoskeletal and/or neurological evaluation to
facilitate forming as accurate an assessment as possible of his
condition.
 |
PAGE 11
The committee concluded that Mrs. X DVM failed to document her
assessments of Akira’s condition including a list of diagnostic rule
outs, and her diagnostic and treatment plan. Under the circumstances,
the committee is of the view that it was imprudent of Mrs. X DVM to
have left the hospital when she did for a meeting with her contractor. |
PAGE 11
The committee concluded that Mrs. X DVM did not communicate to her
staff, her intentions with Akira on that day.
 |
PAGE 11
The committee concluded that despite her concern, Mrs. X DVM failed to
document in her medical records, the Plaintiffs taking “Akira” home
against her advice and did not document her stated attempts to contact
Ms Reyn when she returned from her meeting and found Akira has been
released from the hospital.
(Note Akira was released - not taken home against anybody's advice -
the pulled him out and dumped him in the car off of a stretcher with
no physical ability to move and said he would be better at home) |
PAGE 12
The committee concluded that Mrs. X DVM appeared in her statement to
recognize that Akira’s sudden inability to stand was indicative of a
potentially serious problem, but failed to take appropriate action.
 |
PAGE 14
The committee informed Mrs. X DVM that it would be inappropriate for
her husband, Mr. X, to be acting on her behalf at any time. |
PAGE 16
The committee concluded that it was clearly evident that Mrs. X DVM
was not “adequately accountable to the complainants for her actions in
the professional care she provided to Akira”.
 |
PAGE 16
In the course of its review, the committee finds no evidence that
subsequent to the night of Akira’s death, Mrs. X DVM communicated with
Ms Reyn or Mr. Vilon at all regarding her professional care of Akira.
Mrs. X DVM’s medical records document that two calls were received
from Mr. Vilon (April 29 2002, May 2 2002) but there is no
documentation of any attempts to return these calls, nor is there any
documentation of any other attempts she made to contact the
complainants. |
The
committee concluded that the Mrs. X DVM should have taken whatever
measures necessary to show up for scheduled meetings, one of which
mentioned May 14, 2002, which she did not.
 |
|
The committee concluded
that the Mrs. X DVM made an inadequate effort to communicate in a
timely manner with the Plaintiffs so their concerns about her care of
Akira could be addressed. |
NUMEROUS
TIMES IN THE FINAL DECISION the committee concludes lack of
documentation of attempts to contact us, or to take medical findings
and records. This is confirmed by Mrs. X DVM several times.
Also surgery notes and such were dated for three days before he was
even at the clinic, RVT / accountant statements dated for a year
ago and so on.
 |
|
PAGE 21 and on The
committee provided documentation of Mrs. X DVM’s educational program
she was sent to, and that she needed to provide medical records for
review. |
Wendy
tried to serve the Mrs. X DVM on February 23, 2004 with their
Statement of Claim. Mrs. X DVM refused to see Wendy & called the
police to come to charge them with harassment, the police said it was
a joke, but a common tactic to avoid getting papers, and told us to
hire a professional bailiff and sue for his costs.
February March 3, 2006, rec’d OFFER TO SETTLE for $100 Dates Feb 28th,
2006
We promptly refused the offer.
 
We miss you Akira. |
You can get a transcript of
this court proceeding by contacting the Provincial Court in Kitchener
Ontario.
|
