Our Tragic Metro Veterinary Hospital Experience

I TRULY REGRET TAKING MY BEST FRIEND TO THE Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Akron
I had very bad experiences with internist Dr. Greg Chambers and the surgeon Dr. Sheldon Padgett.

THE INTERNIST DR. CHAMBERS DID NOT FULLY COMMUNICATE THE SERIOUSNESS OF MY DOG'S CONDITION THROUGHOUT MOST OF OUR INTERACTIONS.

THE SURGEON DR. PADGETT WAITED 3 DAYS TO DO AN EMERGENCY SURGERY & THEN UNFAIRLY COERCED US VERY HARD TO EUTHANIZE OR JUST LET OUR DOG DIE.

I HAVE LOST TRUST IN THEM BOTH.

Total cost over $3,800 and losing of my*best friend ever.

** On July 29. 2015, Dr. Chambers initially diagnosed my dog with two small lesions on the spleen & one 5cm lesion on the liver . He said that it is common for older dogs to have benign lesions on the liver & spleen & there was a 50% possibility of the lesions being benign or malignant. He recommended surgery but also said that because my dog was 12 yrs. old I might not want to spend the money on surgery. That thought never entered my mind. He also suggested that I might consider seeing a holistic vet who is associated with the Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital.

He said to think about the surgery and schedule an appointment to come back in six weeks for a re-evaluation. (within six weeks a fast growing lesion can grow allot )**I was reluctant to have my dog’s spleen removed because he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and the spleen is an important part of the immune system. I thought that follow up examinations with Dr. Chambers would be a good course to follow to monitor the status of the lesions.

HE DID NOT MENTION THAT LESIONS ON A DOG'S SPLEEN CAN BE LIKE A TICKING TIME BOMB WITH A HIGH RISK OF BLEEDING OUT AT ANY TIME.
HE DID NOT MENTION THAT A VERY RAPID GROWING CANCER OFTEN STARTS ON THE SPLEEN IN SOME DOGS.
HE DID NOT MENTION THAT WAITING TO SURGICALLY REMOVE THE SPLEEN AFTER IT BLEEDS PRESENTS A MUCH HIGHER RISK OF DEATH.

IF HE WOULD HAVE EXPRESSED THE FULL POTENTIAL GRAVITY OF THESE CONDITIONS EARLY ON I WOULD HAVE REQUESTED SURGERY FOR SKYLER EARLY ON.

* *Sept 10, Thursday night, 5 weeks later, I had to rush my dog into emergency as I thought the spleen bled when my dog collapsed & had very bad diarrhea. Dr. Chambers evaluated my dog and with ultrasound and x-rays diagnosed my dog’s condition as arthritic inflammation in the rear leg hock joints and a possible intestinal virus. My dog previously never showed any signs of lameness from arthritis in the hind legs. I now know that my dog's symptoms at that time were consistent with internal bleeding. Dr. Chambers said he found no sign of internal bleed at that time. He did not mention any changes in the size of the spleen and liver lesions. He said to come back in ANOTHER six weeks for another follow up. He did not mention anything about again considering removing the spleen or lesions on the liver. If he would have told me at that time that the condition with the lesions was worsening or precarious I certainly would have asked to go ahead with the surgery to remove them.

During the following 3 1/2 wks I had difficulty getting Dr. Chambers to respond to my calls in regard to my dog's worsening conditions of loss of appetite and fluctuations of fatigue. I FEEL DR. CHAMBERS WAS PURPOSELY WITHHOLDING INFORMATION ABOUT MY DOG' HEALTH FROM ME.

**Oct. 4, Sunday afternoon, 3 1/2 weeks later- MY DOG COLLAPSED AGAIN & WAS OBVIOUSLY BLEEDING INTERNALLY.
He wouldn't get up and his gums were pale and skin was cold. I rushed him to the Akron Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital.*and ASKED THEM TO PERFORM SURGERY TO STOP THE INTERNAL BLEED.
HE WAS HELD IN ICU FOR THE FOLLOWING THREE DAYS .

**Oct. 5, Monday, An examination and ultrasound by another internist, Dr. Corothers, detected more small lesions on the liver and an increase in the size of the larger lesion on the liver from 5cm to 7cm. Dr. Corothers advised against surgery because she said my dog “most likely” had a fast growing incurable cancer and that the surgeon couldn’t remove all of the small lesions on the liver.
I now suspect that she was mostly quoting the opinions of the surgeon. She recommended that I take my dog home and give him an anti bleed chinese herb and let him die at home. She said that I didn’t have to make a decision right away and to think about it overnight. No other lesions showed up on x-rays or ultrasounds in any other areas of my dog’s body except for on the liver and the spleen. I thought that this was important in considering whether or not to proceed with surgery.

* *Oct. 6, Tuesday, The next morning, Dr. Chambers said the same things that Dr. Corothers said. He tried very hard to talk me out of going with surgery. I told him I wanted to proceed with surgery. I told him I wanted to talk with the surgeon. He said the surgery would have to be postponed to Wednesday afternoon, Oct 7 and the surgeon would talk to me before that.

I HAVE SINCE READ THAT WITH INTERNAL SPLEEN BLEEDING IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO TREAT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND NOT WAIT TO SURGICALLY *STOP THE BLEEDING. MY DOG WAITED IN THE ICU FOR ALMOST 3 DAYS FOR WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN EMERGENCY SURGERY. IT'S UNLIKELY THAT THE SURGEON TRULY CONSIDERED GOING FORWARD WITH THE SURGERY TO HELP MY DOG IN THE FIRST PLACE !


* Oct. 7, SCHEDULED FOR SURGERY AT NOON*

Dr. SHELDON PADGETT WAITED UNTIL THE FINAL*MINUTES BEFORE THE SCHEDULED SURGERY TO TALK TO US. OUR DOG WAS BROUGHT OUT TO SEE US BEFORE SURGERY WHILE IN THE THROWS OF A NEAR DEATH & EVEN MORE SEVERE INTERNAL BLEED THAN WHEN WE FIRST BROUGHT HIM IN 3 DAYS EARLIER !

I WAS IN SHOCK!

Dr. Padgett ASSUMED that our dog had a terminal incurable cancer. He stressed his opinion about malignant cancer as though it was a matter of fact and described a very bleak outlook for my dog’s ability to survive a few days or weeks after surgery. He did his best to exaggerate a most horrible prognosis possible minutes before the scheduled surgery.

He said that his basis for making his determination was from his viewing of ulta-sound readings and his 19 years of experience as a surgeon. He ASSUMED*that multiple small nodes on the liver indicated metastasizing masses. He gestured with his hands that the size of the 7cm lesion on the liver as being extremely large. He also gave us a 50% chance that our dog might not even make it through surgery at all. This is after our dog had been in the ICU for CLOSE TO 3 DAYS with multiple tests and observations incurring costs of close to $3,000. I had repeatedly asked Dr. Chambers to have this surgeon contact me to discuss my dog's condition for a full day before the surgery yet the surgeon waited until these last very*stressful*minutes to lay out his bleak outlook on me while my dog was in severe distress.

IF IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE A LESION MALIGNANCY BY ULTRASOUND WHY DO SO MANY SURGEONS SAY YOU CAN'T?
IF SO, WHY WASN'T THIS ALSO DETERMINED IN THE ULTRASOUND DONE JUST 3 WKS. EARLIER?

I WAS IN A STATE OF EMOTIONAL SHOCK AND HAD DIFFICULTY THINKING CLEARLY.

I STILL SAID TO PROCEED WITH THE SURGERY. I STILL HAD SOME HOPE FOR A CHANCE THAT SKYLER COULD BE HELPED & THE CHANCE THAT THE SURGEON MIGHT BE MISTAKEN.

THIS IS NOT WHAT DR. PADGETT WANTED TO HEAR. HE HAD AN OBVIOUS BIAS TO EUTHANIZE.*HE PERSISTED AND THEN TURNED TO QUESTION MY 90 YR. OLD MOTHER WHO WAS ALSO PRESENT. My heart sank when she answered him saying if Skyler couldn't be cured we should put him to death now.

I FELT PRESSURED & BADGERED TO MAKE DECISIONS WHILE HIGHLY EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED. I was not ready to let my friend go and he was not ready to go. PRIOR TO & IN BETWEEN THE EFFCTS OF THOSE BLEEDS SKYLER WAS VERY ACTIVE, UPBEAT & WAGGED HIS TAIL ALLOT.

I STARTED TO FEEL VERY DEPRESSED.*I felt that if I continued to persist with the surgery with Dr. Padgett's mind set that he & his team might even euthanize my dog before the surgery began. I broke down and gave in to the decision to just take my dog with me and let him die on his own from the internal bleeding.

I asked the surgeon to prescribe an anti-bleed herb, Yunnan Baiyao, so I could just take Skyler home to die on his own. He died on the way home in my vehicle about 20 minutes later.

( Why wasn't the anti-bleed herb, Yunnan Baiyao prescribed when my dog was first brought in to the hospital? )

I TRULY REGRET THAT DECISION THAT I MADE UNDER SUCH EXTREME *COERCION AND DURESS !

I TRULY REGRET TAKING MY BEST FRIEND SKYLER TO THE METROPOLITAN VETERINARY HOSPITAL.


**(TRUE FACTS; IT IS COMMON FOR OLDER DOGS TO HAVE LESIONS ON THE LIVER & SPLEEN THAT ARE BENIGN.
BENIGN LESIONS CAN ASLO BLEED. The only way to be certain that lesions on the liver and spleen are malignant is to remove them and study them in a lab. In*about 50% of the cases with bleeding nodes on the liver and spleen they are found to be benign. There was never any type of biopsy or lab test done that proved a malignant form of cancer in our dog.
SOME VETERINARY SURGEONS WARN THAT SOMETIMES A SURGEON WILL MISTAKENLY DECIDE THAT LESIONS ARE MALIGNANT AND EUTHANIZE A PATIENT WHILE LATER LAB RESULTS SHOW THE LESIONS ARE BENIGN! )
(See below)
"Is It Cancer? Never Assume "
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/October-2012/Is-It-Cancer-Never-Assume/

Hemangoisarcoma; About the Diagnosis
http://robinsonvet.com/documents/Hemangiosarcoma.pdf

Expert Vet “Splenic Tumors”
http://www.expertvet.com/articles/splenic-tumors

P.S. If your dog is having an internal bleed from a lesion on the spleen or liver there is a high likelihood that the surgeon, Dr. Padgett, and staff at Akron Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital will try to talk you into euthanizing your dog even before any testing is done. Even if you choose to go ahead with testing and surgery it’s also likely that the hospital’s surgeon, Dr. Padgett, will wait till the last minutes before surgery to try and convince you into not going through with the surgery. This is what he did with me while my dog laid with his head in my lap while bleeding internally

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