Luke was a great a Pyrenees. A gentle giant who adored people and never met a stranger. He loved
animals: dogs, cats, squirrels, chipmunks. He got in trouble one day trying to make friends with a
bumblebee. The bee took exception and Luke was shocked by it’s violent rejection of his friendly
advances.
The sofa became Luke’s throne. To say he was a couch potato is to understate the case. He would
saunter up to the sofa, throw one paw over the armrest and ease his hips onto the cushions. Then with
a push and a shake he would settle in for the duration. We watched TV together while his house-mate
Megan guarded the yard.
Luke was always smiling, tongue hanging from his mouth and eyes bright. His fur was as soft as eider
down and all he asked was to get his ears scratched. His favorite thing was food. He loved to eat.
When he wasn’t on the sofa, lounging like a king upon his throne, he was in the kitchen whenever I
was. He knew good things came from the refrigerator and the stove. Lying on the floor he was close
enough to snap up any tidbits that might fall from the counter or a pitiful look might encourage me to
give him a nibble.
I have been giving displaced dogs a home for twenty years, and each has been unique in their own way,
but Luke was extra special. You see Luke had a hobby; he sang. Some people set great store in singing
dogs, but I have never been one of them. Still, Luke’s singing always brought a smile to my face. He
enjoyed his songs so much I could not help encouraging him. When Luke first began to try out his
voice he sounded woefully sad. I thought at first he had become very unhappy. I did not understand
what had changed. I worried, but could think of nothing to do to lift his spirits. Finally, one night, a
swell of music came over the TV and Luke began his first song. I will never forget that it was the
introduction music for ABC World News. Having launched his career he continued to seek out
appropriate accompaniment. He liked commercials. They are short, they repeat, and they are
catchy. He would work out the sounds until they were pleasing to his ear, then Luke would rise to his
feet, point his nose at the ceiling, and like Pavarotti, sing his heart out. No actor on any stage had
more presence than Luke in my living room. Luke doesn’t sing anymore. He died at Carolina
Veterinary Specialists, in Charlotte, North Carolina on 25 October 2008.
To say that he died would leave the impression that his was a natural death, it was not. Someone did
not do his intubation properly and he aspirated during a myelogram. The neurologist, Dr. Peter
Brofman called me on a Friday morning to tell me Luke was suffering from aspiration pneumonia. He
died twenty-four hours later. I was allowed to visit Luke twice before he died. He suffered. He died a
miserable, unnecessary death.
There is a terrible, aching silence in my home and my heart that nothing can fill. Luke does not sing to
his commercials anymore. He is not in the kitchen begging nibbles. The sofa we shared is empty, and
his happy smiling face and bright eyes are gone forever. I have neither a grave to visit, nor ashes to
treasure. All I have left of Luke are the tags he wore around his neck. Now I wear them on a chain
around my neck, and with every beat of my heart and breath that I take I think of him. It’s all I have
left.
I have not told you of Luke’s life and his death simply to tug at your heart strings. There are things
that we who have companion animals, and love them dearly, need to know about veterinary medicine.
There is no good way to learn these things unless those of us who have suffered through our own
personal tragedy’s share our experiences. I have learned some things from Luke’s death, but they
have come to late in my life to do me much good. Hopefully, something I can share will help someone
else avoid the untimely death of a beloved pet. It has taken me months to come through enough of the
storm of grief to put words together for this memorial.
I will say this, I demanded that everything that could humanely possibly be done to treat Luke, once
his condition was brought to my attention, was done. It was all to no avail. Once aspiration occurs, in
either animals or humans, their chances of survival are minuscule. Did this clinic care about how
unique Luke was? That he sang and enriched the lives of every person who met him? Of course not,
they were not interested. Did they care that his untimely death stole from me a dearly beloved
member of my family, leaving it broken and incomplete forever? Certainly not, I was just a stranger
who represented a pay check. If Luke had been a human being his death would have been a clear case
of malpractice and legally actionable. Because he was an animal, no one will ever be held accountable.
The whole purpose of intubation is to prevent aspiration. When done properly, intubation prevents
saliva or any foreign material from being sucked into the lungs while the patient is unconscious during
a medical procedure. Millions of people and pets are put under general anesthesia every year and in
almost all cases their lives are saved because of intubation. This is the case only if the tube is placed
properly, because under anesthesia the patient cannot swallow properly or cough if something
bypasses the tube and enters the lungs.
In twenty years I have had a number of companion animals die in my care, but they died of natural
causes. Sometimes, I had to authorize euthanasia, but always they died in my arms and were buried in
their yard. I grieved for each, and every one, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that even
stars must die. Luke’s death shook me to the core of my being because I have never had a companion
animal killed as the result of a mistake made by a veterinary clinic. At the time, I kept saying that it
was incompressible that something like this could happen. Sadly, it is not. Most of us trust our
physicians and veterinarians. We don’t think that anything major can go wrong from a simple
diagnostic test. Once it does however, we may live to bitterly regret that we placed our trust so
casually. Does your pet really need anesthesia to get his or her teeth cleaned? Is it worth the risk to
have Fluffy’s teeth shiny? Is that diagnostic test really going to help your companion animal get
better, or could it be the cause of their death? No one wants or needs the kind of call I got about Luke.
Ask questions about the worst possible outcome for Tuffy if something goes wrong, and ask what are
the things that can go wrong. Think before you give permission. It is far better to walk back into a
clinic and say I changed my mind even if you feel foolish doing so. Unless your pet is surely going to
die without intervention, err on the side of extreme caution. Then, in all circumstances, ask yourself
the most important question of all. Am I prepared for his or her death? Because you may have to face
that dark angel, smashing down the door to your heart and you life when you are least prepared.
I have always believed in adoption, because there are so many animals that desperately need homes.
After I recovered enough from the death of my Doberman Giselle, I adopted Luke and Megan, as I
have others, and came to love them. I would have done anything I humanely possibly could for either
one of them. So, when Luke’s back problem could not be addressed locally, I took him to a clinic that
came highly recommended by an orthopedist in Asheville, NC.
What we who share our lives with companion animals fail to properly appreciate is that veterinary
medicine is a business, and in some cases it is a big business depending on the volume necessary for a
clinic to make a substantial profit. If you have a local veterinarian who is compassionate and
concerned about both you and your pet consider yourself very fortunate, and treasure this gift as you
would a rare jewel. There are many people who are not so fortunate. The greatest danger you may
face is leaving your local veterinarian’s practice and going to a large facility where no one knows you
or your companion animal. They have no idea how much Fluffy or Tuffy or Cubby means to you nor,
in many cases, do they care. All too often the beloved member of your family is nothing more than a
warm piece of meat and you are a paycheck. Keep in mind that whether your companion animal
leaves better, or worse, or dead in the trunk of you car, you will pay the bill. In fact, you will have to
pay your bill before you can get your pet’s body released. I know I did.
You may not be aware that many, if not most, veterinarians make as much as physicians. Has it ever
occurred to you that you pay more for the veterinary care of your pet than you do to the pediatrician
who treats your child? There are reasons for these differences.
Number one; veterinarians in the state of North Carolina carry what physicians would consider limited
malpractice insurance. Even when a veterinarian does carry malpractice insurance he or she pays
nothing like what a physician must pay. If a physician enters a speciality such as pediatrics his or her
malpractice insurance expenses jump dramatically. This is not true for veterinarians, since they are
rarely sued, and equally rarely are such suits effective, they find little reason to spend money on
malpractice insurance beyond limited coverage and minimal expense.
Number two; most people have some type of insurance to help defray the costs of treating their
children. Not so pet owners. Most of us pay cash up front, whether it be check or debit card or credit
card, and it all spends the same for the veterinary clinic. These funds provide an instant cash flow for
the business with no need to hire people to file insurance. Physicians must pay staff to handle
Medicaid, Medicare, HMO’s, and all the other insurance instruments that federal, state, county, and
private enterprise may contract for to help defray the health care costs of their employees, retires, etc.
Number three; to my knowledge, there are no federal, state, or county agencies reviewing
veterinarians practices for the required standard of care. On the other hand, physicians are constantly
being monitored by federal, state, and to some degree county agencies. From the research I have done
it also appears that veterinary boards of medicine do not even investigate 80% to 90% of the cases of
malpractice or wrong doing referred to them. Although Veterinary Boards of Medicine have a
mandate for oversight for veterinary practices, it seems no one else does, and they do a very poor job.
Veterinarians do not have the overhead expenses that physicians must factor into their practices
before they can make a profit. Are you beginning to understand what I have learned to my sorrow? If
no one is looking over their shoulders for the required standard of care, vet’s can do pretty much what
ever they want to do. If veterinary boards of medicine do not hold them accountable how can we? If
money is a motivator, and volume produces more money, can greed be far behind? If greed cannot be
reined in by hitting egregious malfeasance in it’s well endowed bank account, how do we seek justice?
Do the laws of our states allow us to seek punitive damages? In most cases, absolutely not, because
after all they are only animals. A handbag, or a pair of shoes, or perhaps a cell phone is worth more in
the eyes of the law than a beloved member of our family, because they are only property. Suit for
punitive damages would allow us to redress the pain and suffering caused by their death due to
veterinary malpractice. There are occasionally cases when punitive damages may be available in
certain circumstances with aggravated conduct, but these are rare. How do you put a price on a child’s
grief at the loss of their best friend? If we could sue for punitive damages we could at least tell
ourselves and our children that yes the vet made a mistake and killed Cubby, but the court said that it
was wrong and made the vet pay for all the sadness and pain we suffered. Justice for Cubby and the
family who loved him is important. It is important for us but it is perhaps most important for our
children to know that those professionals to whom we turn for life giving assistance are held to a
higher standard. The attitude of the law seems to be that companion animals are fungible. If that one
died just go get another one, since there seem to be so many of them. Where do I go to get another
Luke? There was only one in all the world.
I don’t know where Luke is now. Some people speak of the summer lands, others of the rainbow road,
and some believe that our pets will be in heaven with us. All I know is I am not where Luke is. Will
Rogers once said, “If there aren’t any dogs in heaven I want to go where they are.” I know what he
meant. I want justice for Luke. He deserves justice. His death was unnecessary and untimely. He didn’
t deserve to suffer and die the way he did. He deserved so much better than a miserable death because
someone made a careless preventable error. This memorial is the only way his death will not go
unremarked. He deserves at least this much, to have someone who loved him speak for him. He was
the gentlest of creatures who have ever walked the face of this earth. I know Luke would have
forgiven a person anything because he loved people and he could not believe anyone would ever hurt
him. He did whatever anyone ever asked of him and believed it to be the right thing no matter the
consequences to himself. Even as he lay dying on the floor of that clinic, I believe he trusted and loved
the people who were responsible for his death. Luke may have been forgiving, but I will no longer be
silent and shed my tears in private. I want the world to know Luke’s life and his death, because one
without the other is meaningless.
Comments and Notes
I think it important to comment on the necropsy I had done on Luke’s body. In the state of North
Carolina necropsy’s are not done by practicing veterinarian’s, except as a very special favor to the pet
owner if the companion animal dies in the veterinarian’s care. Do not expect this of your veterinarian.
The granting of such a request is very rare indeed. Nevertheless, let me state for the record, that
getting a necropsy is the only way you can ever hope to know what really happened to your pet.
Regardless of the poor results in my case, I would recommend to anyone who has any doubts about
why their companion animal died under a vet’s care to get a necropsy. The state provides a veterinary
diagnostic laboratory system for the purposes of determining the cause of death for animals of all
sorts including livestock and pets. The fee for the necropsy of a small animal is $40.00. Given the
wide variety of animals the diagnostic labs handle, it is unlikely that a pathologist would be trained to
seek reasons that malpractice might have occurred. The laboratories provide a basic service and their
primary interest is to determine if an animal died due to a communicable disease. For this reason, I
presume, any remains consigned to the lab’s cannot be reclaimed for burial. In the interest of
preventing the spread of contagion all remains are cremated in a large communal crematory. Thus it
is also impossible to collect the ashes of your companion animal.
The pathologist who did Luke’s necropsy, Dr. Drum, determined that Luke died of a massive heart
attack. For this reason his death was considered natural. I believe that what Dr. Drum failed to take
into consideration was that Luke had a temperature of anywhere from 104% to 107% in the twenty-
four hours prior to his death. Fever is not a precursor to a cardiac event. It is a symptom of infection.
Dr. Drum said he found no aspirant in Luke’s lungs, but the report never said what he did find in the
lungs. What Luke’s clinic records show is that he spiked a fever on the Friday morning after his
myelogram on Thursday, and X-rays showed his lungs beginning to fill with fluid. Dr. Brofman told
me, on that Friday morning, that Luke had spiked a fever, a rather high fever. When I asked the
reason for the fever he said Luke had pneumonia. When pressed about how this had happened, he
finally admitted that Luke had probably aspirated. I will always believe that the diagnosis of aspiration
pneumonia was correct. In Dr. Drum’s report he uses a rather curious wording when he refers to “a
left heart failure, which would certainly mimic an aspiration pneumonia.” Though I am not a
veterinarian, it’s seems to me that the word “mimic” leaves room to finesse a diagnosis. I have also
discovered, since consulting with an attorney, that to file a law suite in the state of North Carolina for
veterinary malpractice, I would have to find another veterinary who would be willing to testify against
the veterinarian I was suing. This opens an interesting question. If a forensic pathologist, employed
by the state of North Carolina in the diagnostic laboratory system discovered a cause of death which
strongly suggested veterinary malpractice, how would he or she write up these finding? Because if the
findings were written up to strongly suggest veterinary malpractice the pathologist could be
subpoenaed into court to testify against a colleague. I have no answer to this question. What I have
asked myself, many times, after reading the necropsy report was, “What do you get for forty bucks?”
Apparently, not much. What is abundantly clear is that a necropsy stands as the last word in the eyes
of the law. Since it cannot be repeated, as the remains have been destroyed, there is no way to get a
second opinion. As the state lab’s are the only ones authorized to do this kind of determination, I have
no recourse to argue what I believe to be an incorrect diagnosis.
It does not surprise me that Luke’s heart failed given the massive stress on his entire body. With his
lungs filling up with fluid and unable to provide oxygen to his heart and brain could heart failure be far
behind? It does not appear to me that the clinic did anything specific to support his heart, though it
should have occurred to someone that heart failure was the likely end result. I’m glad Luke was on a
ventilator and receiving morphine when he died, so that at least at the end he was not suffering and was
unaware of his death. Such is the small consolation to be eked out of this tragedy.
In regard to Carolina Veterinary Specialists, several things became clear over time. While Luke may
have received the minimum required standard of care after the mistake that placed him in critical
condition, this was only because I demanded that everything that could be done to give him a chance
of survival was done. The clinic began treating him very aggressively on that Friday morning because
they could not reach me until the third call. Had they not begun such care and allowed him to
deteriorate, they would have been libel. Dr. Brofman had no intention of admitting that the procedure
caused Luke’s condition, there by accepting responsibility for his impending death and the liability
that would cause for the clinic. On the other hand, all the employees of the clinic, involved in
treatment, knew that Luke would not survive. Though no one was willing to tell me the truth, they,
resented having to care for him. After all, why waste time providing care for a dead dog. They had
better things to do than waste their time on such a fruitless endeavor. Since I would not authorize
euthanasia I was slowing down the assembly line.
All things considered, it is sad to say that Luke received better treatment than I did. I was treated like
a bag lady who wandered in from the street and was making inappropriate demands, but rather than
call the proper authorities to expel me they placated the crazy lady. It was obvious that Friday night
that the front desk did not know what was going on in the treatment area, and in the treatment area the
employes had no clear understanding of what was happening out front in the waiting room. We were
first told that we could not go back because surgery was on going. Next I was told that rounds were
being done in the ICU and I would have to wait until treatments were completed. The attitude of the
first young woman who approached me was so outrageous it boggles the mind. Instead of saying, “I’m
sorry, I don’t know you, could you tell me a little bit about why you’re here and I will be glad to help
you, she launched into a spiel about appointments and visiting hours. I had been unable to reach Dr.
Brofman directly before I left home. The best the clinic could do for me, was give me his voice mail.
Whether he checked his messages or not I can’t say. If he did get the message I left in voice mail hell,
he certainly did not leave any information about my expected arrival at the front desk. Initially, as far
as they were concerned, I was in the wrong place. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic, since I
was the one paying the bill.
Which brings me to the next point; monetary considerations. On the morning of Saturday, October
25, 2008, Dr. Brofman called me at the motel to give me an update on Luke’s condition and tell me that
his care was costing between $800.00 and &1,000.00 a day. I was outraged. I could not have been
more enraged if the man had slapped me in the face and called me a slut. The bill that was accruing was
the result of the failure of Brofman and the clinic employees to preform a relatively simple procedure
correctly. My view, at the time, was they broke it and they damed well better fix it. I would worry
about the financial fall out later. Luke was dying. As long as he was alive I had no room to consider
anything else.
As time has passed, it has become abundantly clear to me that these large veterinary businesses make
their money on volume. They are run from an assembly line mentality. If the line stops or slows down
God help the person or persons responsible. Quality control consists of discarding the flawed product,
i.e.. euthanasia. There is no compassion, empathy, sympathy or consideration given or offered to the
person whose heart is being torn from their living body. The answer to this lack seems to be that they
have no people or social skills. There is an old story about why some people go into veterinary
medicine rather than becoming physicians. As physicians they would have to interact with human
beings. Some who choose to become veterinarians realize they are uncomfortable dealing with people,
to say the least, so they choose animals instead. Animals can’t talk, call them on the phone and ask
awkward questions or complain about treatment or the lack there of. Pets don’t know whether they
are being treated for their betterment or being killed. All to the good as far as some veterinarians are
concerned. Unfortunately for these veterinarians they find that they do have to deal with people,
because we are the ones who bring our companion animals to them, and we are responsible not only
for the bill but for the well being of our pets.
For those of us who have committed ourselves to the happiness, health, and well being of our
companion animals, it is unacceptable that anyone, including veterinarians, should be able to hide
behind a lack of legal remedies in the interest of forestalling justice. What is justice in these cases?
For instance, can you put a price on a child’s anguish? What do you tell Steven or Tiffany about why
Fluffy died? Do you tell them the vet made a mistake and that’s why Fluffy died? Or do you opt for the
white lie and tell them Fluffy was just too sick? Is this the same white lie you tell yourself when your
gut says to you someone screwed-up, made a mistake, and that’s why Fluffy died. Sometimes it’s so
much easier to pretend that nothing bad really happened, instead of standing up and shouting, ”I know
you did something that caused Fluffy’s death.” What you tell your child may depend on their age.
Older children sniff out lies with great facility. What you tell yourself is perhaps the most important of
all. If you believe your companion animal has been the victim of malpractice and he or she has died,
they were the first victim. If you do nothing except complain to your friends and family you have
become the second victim. Actually, you are twice victimized because your companion is dead, and
you’re stuck with the bill. If you like those horse apples I can assure you there are lots more for
supper, because the chances are you are not the only victim. As is the case with child molesters, there
is always more than one victim. If we are continue to be victimized one at a time they will always win.
I wish I could tell you there is a formula, if you do this, this, and that, in a certain order, your
companion animal will be safe from veterinary malpractice. Sadly, the only thing that stands between
the good or bad veterinary treatment your pet gets is your own best judgement. If you feel intimated
by this responsibility, the only consolation I can offer is you are not alone. Having taken your
companion animal to a veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment, do not become complacent. Ask
your veterinarian when you should expect to see the treatment begin to work. If Tuffy doesn’t seem
to be getting better in the given time period call your vet. back and be very clear that something else
needs to be done. You need a commitment to prompt and effective care. If that doesn’t happen, RUN,
don’t walk to another veterinarian. Maybe you have been with a particular veterinarian for a number
of years and you feel he or she might be insulted if you seek a second opinion. If a veterinarian is so
insecure that a second opinion offends them, you need to change to a new vet. as soon as possible; as in
right NOW. It’s possible that you really like your veterinarian and you think maybe someone with
specialized training might be able to find the problem, if so, ask for a referral. In the case of an
overwhelming fear of alienating your regular veterinarian, take your pet to a vet who doesn’t know
you and tell them you recently accepted the responsibility to care for this pet and you have no
records; all you know is what you have been told. It will cost you more that way because you can’t ask
for records to be faxed to the new veterinarian you will be consulting, and if the new doctor provides a
better diagnosis and more effective care, you will need to change doctors anyway.
Laws change slowly. As people in communities and states change their attitudes, they consult their
elected officials and insist that the laws reflect their new values. Some states such as New York and
California have begun to view companion animals in a different light and their laws are changing to
reflect this new attitude. There have been cases in the states of New York, Florida, and Hawaii where
“damages have been explicitly awarded for an owners emotional distress, but the cases have been so
isolated that this cannot be called a trend. Where the case involves injury to an animal rather than
death, courts will routinely require a defendant to pay the entire veterinary bill even though it greatly
exceeds the animals market value. In doing so, they tacitly recognize the animal as unique and adopt
as the measure of damages the sum it will take to restore his or her condition before the injury, not the
amount required to replace the animal.” * Unfortunately, when a pet suffers an untimely death the
courts, generally, do not allow claims based on loss of companionship nor do they recognize emotional
distress for loss of property. In 1979 a court in New York found that “a pet is not just a thing but
occupies a special place somewhere in between a person and a piece of personal property - to say it is a
piece of property and nothing more is a repudiation of our humaneness.” * There is a wonderful quote
I would like to share with you by Anatole France, “Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul
remains unawakened.” The human-animal bond has undergone significant scientific research, and has
proven to have beneficial effects for us. Blood pressure slows down when one pets an animal, and
coronary survival has been to shown to be greater for pet owners. The presents of pets also decreases
anxiety, reduces depression, and seems to lower the rates of mortality. Senior citizens who have
companion animals, generally, are more active if they have dogs, since they walk them, thereby
getting some much needed exercise. They also stay involved in providing food, water, brushing and
bathing their companion animal. The positive effects of the human-animal bond cannot yet be fully
quantified, but for those of us who love our companions, we need no scientific proof. We feel it in our
hearts and our souls have been fully awakened. Our relationship with our companion animals is
symbiotic. They give us love, loyalty, affection and we are less lonely. We give them food, shelter,
attention, affection, veterinary care, and all the love our hearts can imagine. My dogs do cute things
and I laugh more often as well as feeling things much more deeply. Simple things take on more
meaning and I know that my companion animals assuage my loneliness.
I would like to thank Attorney Calley Gerber, of Gerber Animal Law Center. I retained Ms. Gerber to
represent me in the investigation of Luke’s death. She did everything she could to help me.
Unfortunately, the necropsy made it impossible to find a cause of action against Carolina Veterinary
Specialists. Nevertheless, she was kind, compassionate, and understanding. She offered support when
my world was collapsing around me. Something the employees of the Charlotte facility never
considered doing. For those of you who have heard the term, “blood sucking lawyers,” let me assure
you it does not apply to Ms. Gerber. Ms. Gerber limits her practice to animal law, and she is the only
person I know of who does so. Thank you Ms. Gerber for your deep, heart felt love of animals and
your willingness to seek justice for them!
An acquaintance of mine told me recently that she would like to see a website that people could visit to
see the history of complaints against each vet. This information is extremely difficult to get at this
time. I think that is a wonderful idea. However, since such a site does not exist now, I am willing to
post information concerning complaints on this website for as long as I can. If you wish to contact me
my email address is
*See internet; “Laws and Paws: The Legal Path to Justice for Animals.” By Marianna
J. Burt, J.D.
animals: dogs, cats, squirrels, chipmunks. He got in trouble one day trying to make friends with a
bumblebee. The bee took exception and Luke was shocked by it’s violent rejection of his friendly
advances.
The sofa became Luke’s throne. To say he was a couch potato is to understate the case. He would
saunter up to the sofa, throw one paw over the armrest and ease his hips onto the cushions. Then with
a push and a shake he would settle in for the duration. We watched TV together while his house-mate
Megan guarded the yard.
Luke was always smiling, tongue hanging from his mouth and eyes bright. His fur was as soft as eider
down and all he asked was to get his ears scratched. His favorite thing was food. He loved to eat.
When he wasn’t on the sofa, lounging like a king upon his throne, he was in the kitchen whenever I
was. He knew good things came from the refrigerator and the stove. Lying on the floor he was close
enough to snap up any tidbits that might fall from the counter or a pitiful look might encourage me to
give him a nibble.
I have been giving displaced dogs a home for twenty years, and each has been unique in their own way,
but Luke was extra special. You see Luke had a hobby; he sang. Some people set great store in singing
dogs, but I have never been one of them. Still, Luke’s singing always brought a smile to my face. He
enjoyed his songs so much I could not help encouraging him. When Luke first began to try out his
voice he sounded woefully sad. I thought at first he had become very unhappy. I did not understand
what had changed. I worried, but could think of nothing to do to lift his spirits. Finally, one night, a
swell of music came over the TV and Luke began his first song. I will never forget that it was the
introduction music for ABC World News. Having launched his career he continued to seek out
appropriate accompaniment. He liked commercials. They are short, they repeat, and they are
catchy. He would work out the sounds until they were pleasing to his ear, then Luke would rise to his
feet, point his nose at the ceiling, and like Pavarotti, sing his heart out. No actor on any stage had
more presence than Luke in my living room. Luke doesn’t sing anymore. He died at Carolina
Veterinary Specialists, in Charlotte, North Carolina on 25 October 2008.
To say that he died would leave the impression that his was a natural death, it was not. Someone did
not do his intubation properly and he aspirated during a myelogram. The neurologist, Dr. Peter
Brofman called me on a Friday morning to tell me Luke was suffering from aspiration pneumonia. He
died twenty-four hours later. I was allowed to visit Luke twice before he died. He suffered. He died a
miserable, unnecessary death.
There is a terrible, aching silence in my home and my heart that nothing can fill. Luke does not sing to
his commercials anymore. He is not in the kitchen begging nibbles. The sofa we shared is empty, and
his happy smiling face and bright eyes are gone forever. I have neither a grave to visit, nor ashes to
treasure. All I have left of Luke are the tags he wore around his neck. Now I wear them on a chain
around my neck, and with every beat of my heart and breath that I take I think of him. It’s all I have
left.
I have not told you of Luke’s life and his death simply to tug at your heart strings. There are things
that we who have companion animals, and love them dearly, need to know about veterinary medicine.
There is no good way to learn these things unless those of us who have suffered through our own
personal tragedy’s share our experiences. I have learned some things from Luke’s death, but they
have come to late in my life to do me much good. Hopefully, something I can share will help someone
else avoid the untimely death of a beloved pet. It has taken me months to come through enough of the
storm of grief to put words together for this memorial.
I will say this, I demanded that everything that could humanely possibly be done to treat Luke, once
his condition was brought to my attention, was done. It was all to no avail. Once aspiration occurs, in
either animals or humans, their chances of survival are minuscule. Did this clinic care about how
unique Luke was? That he sang and enriched the lives of every person who met him? Of course not,
they were not interested. Did they care that his untimely death stole from me a dearly beloved
member of my family, leaving it broken and incomplete forever? Certainly not, I was just a stranger
who represented a pay check. If Luke had been a human being his death would have been a clear case
of malpractice and legally actionable. Because he was an animal, no one will ever be held accountable.
The whole purpose of intubation is to prevent aspiration. When done properly, intubation prevents
saliva or any foreign material from being sucked into the lungs while the patient is unconscious during
a medical procedure. Millions of people and pets are put under general anesthesia every year and in
almost all cases their lives are saved because of intubation. This is the case only if the tube is placed
properly, because under anesthesia the patient cannot swallow properly or cough if something
bypasses the tube and enters the lungs.
In twenty years I have had a number of companion animals die in my care, but they died of natural
causes. Sometimes, I had to authorize euthanasia, but always they died in my arms and were buried in
their yard. I grieved for each, and every one, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that even
stars must die. Luke’s death shook me to the core of my being because I have never had a companion
animal killed as the result of a mistake made by a veterinary clinic. At the time, I kept saying that it
was incompressible that something like this could happen. Sadly, it is not. Most of us trust our
physicians and veterinarians. We don’t think that anything major can go wrong from a simple
diagnostic test. Once it does however, we may live to bitterly regret that we placed our trust so
casually. Does your pet really need anesthesia to get his or her teeth cleaned? Is it worth the risk to
have Fluffy’s teeth shiny? Is that diagnostic test really going to help your companion animal get
better, or could it be the cause of their death? No one wants or needs the kind of call I got about Luke.
Ask questions about the worst possible outcome for Tuffy if something goes wrong, and ask what are
the things that can go wrong. Think before you give permission. It is far better to walk back into a
clinic and say I changed my mind even if you feel foolish doing so. Unless your pet is surely going to
die without intervention, err on the side of extreme caution. Then, in all circumstances, ask yourself
the most important question of all. Am I prepared for his or her death? Because you may have to face
that dark angel, smashing down the door to your heart and you life when you are least prepared.
I have always believed in adoption, because there are so many animals that desperately need homes.
After I recovered enough from the death of my Doberman Giselle, I adopted Luke and Megan, as I
have others, and came to love them. I would have done anything I humanely possibly could for either
one of them. So, when Luke’s back problem could not be addressed locally, I took him to a clinic that
came highly recommended by an orthopedist in Asheville, NC.
What we who share our lives with companion animals fail to properly appreciate is that veterinary
medicine is a business, and in some cases it is a big business depending on the volume necessary for a
clinic to make a substantial profit. If you have a local veterinarian who is compassionate and
concerned about both you and your pet consider yourself very fortunate, and treasure this gift as you
would a rare jewel. There are many people who are not so fortunate. The greatest danger you may
face is leaving your local veterinarian’s practice and going to a large facility where no one knows you
or your companion animal. They have no idea how much Fluffy or Tuffy or Cubby means to you nor,
in many cases, do they care. All too often the beloved member of your family is nothing more than a
warm piece of meat and you are a paycheck. Keep in mind that whether your companion animal
leaves better, or worse, or dead in the trunk of you car, you will pay the bill. In fact, you will have to
pay your bill before you can get your pet’s body released. I know I did.
You may not be aware that many, if not most, veterinarians make as much as physicians. Has it ever
occurred to you that you pay more for the veterinary care of your pet than you do to the pediatrician
who treats your child? There are reasons for these differences.
Number one; veterinarians in the state of North Carolina carry what physicians would consider limited
malpractice insurance. Even when a veterinarian does carry malpractice insurance he or she pays
nothing like what a physician must pay. If a physician enters a speciality such as pediatrics his or her
malpractice insurance expenses jump dramatically. This is not true for veterinarians, since they are
rarely sued, and equally rarely are such suits effective, they find little reason to spend money on
malpractice insurance beyond limited coverage and minimal expense.
Number two; most people have some type of insurance to help defray the costs of treating their
children. Not so pet owners. Most of us pay cash up front, whether it be check or debit card or credit
card, and it all spends the same for the veterinary clinic. These funds provide an instant cash flow for
the business with no need to hire people to file insurance. Physicians must pay staff to handle
Medicaid, Medicare, HMO’s, and all the other insurance instruments that federal, state, county, and
private enterprise may contract for to help defray the health care costs of their employees, retires, etc.
Number three; to my knowledge, there are no federal, state, or county agencies reviewing
veterinarians practices for the required standard of care. On the other hand, physicians are constantly
being monitored by federal, state, and to some degree county agencies. From the research I have done
it also appears that veterinary boards of medicine do not even investigate 80% to 90% of the cases of
malpractice or wrong doing referred to them. Although Veterinary Boards of Medicine have a
mandate for oversight for veterinary practices, it seems no one else does, and they do a very poor job.
Veterinarians do not have the overhead expenses that physicians must factor into their practices
before they can make a profit. Are you beginning to understand what I have learned to my sorrow? If
no one is looking over their shoulders for the required standard of care, vet’s can do pretty much what
ever they want to do. If veterinary boards of medicine do not hold them accountable how can we? If
money is a motivator, and volume produces more money, can greed be far behind? If greed cannot be
reined in by hitting egregious malfeasance in it’s well endowed bank account, how do we seek justice?
Do the laws of our states allow us to seek punitive damages? In most cases, absolutely not, because
after all they are only animals. A handbag, or a pair of shoes, or perhaps a cell phone is worth more in
the eyes of the law than a beloved member of our family, because they are only property. Suit for
punitive damages would allow us to redress the pain and suffering caused by their death due to
veterinary malpractice. There are occasionally cases when punitive damages may be available in
certain circumstances with aggravated conduct, but these are rare. How do you put a price on a child’s
grief at the loss of their best friend? If we could sue for punitive damages we could at least tell
ourselves and our children that yes the vet made a mistake and killed Cubby, but the court said that it
was wrong and made the vet pay for all the sadness and pain we suffered. Justice for Cubby and the
family who loved him is important. It is important for us but it is perhaps most important for our
children to know that those professionals to whom we turn for life giving assistance are held to a
higher standard. The attitude of the law seems to be that companion animals are fungible. If that one
died just go get another one, since there seem to be so many of them. Where do I go to get another
Luke? There was only one in all the world.
I don’t know where Luke is now. Some people speak of the summer lands, others of the rainbow road,
and some believe that our pets will be in heaven with us. All I know is I am not where Luke is. Will
Rogers once said, “If there aren’t any dogs in heaven I want to go where they are.” I know what he
meant. I want justice for Luke. He deserves justice. His death was unnecessary and untimely. He didn’
t deserve to suffer and die the way he did. He deserved so much better than a miserable death because
someone made a careless preventable error. This memorial is the only way his death will not go
unremarked. He deserves at least this much, to have someone who loved him speak for him. He was
the gentlest of creatures who have ever walked the face of this earth. I know Luke would have
forgiven a person anything because he loved people and he could not believe anyone would ever hurt
him. He did whatever anyone ever asked of him and believed it to be the right thing no matter the
consequences to himself. Even as he lay dying on the floor of that clinic, I believe he trusted and loved
the people who were responsible for his death. Luke may have been forgiving, but I will no longer be
silent and shed my tears in private. I want the world to know Luke’s life and his death, because one
without the other is meaningless.
Comments and Notes
I think it important to comment on the necropsy I had done on Luke’s body. In the state of North
Carolina necropsy’s are not done by practicing veterinarian’s, except as a very special favor to the pet
owner if the companion animal dies in the veterinarian’s care. Do not expect this of your veterinarian.
The granting of such a request is very rare indeed. Nevertheless, let me state for the record, that
getting a necropsy is the only way you can ever hope to know what really happened to your pet.
Regardless of the poor results in my case, I would recommend to anyone who has any doubts about
why their companion animal died under a vet’s care to get a necropsy. The state provides a veterinary
diagnostic laboratory system for the purposes of determining the cause of death for animals of all
sorts including livestock and pets. The fee for the necropsy of a small animal is $40.00. Given the
wide variety of animals the diagnostic labs handle, it is unlikely that a pathologist would be trained to
seek reasons that malpractice might have occurred. The laboratories provide a basic service and their
primary interest is to determine if an animal died due to a communicable disease. For this reason, I
presume, any remains consigned to the lab’s cannot be reclaimed for burial. In the interest of
preventing the spread of contagion all remains are cremated in a large communal crematory. Thus it
is also impossible to collect the ashes of your companion animal.
The pathologist who did Luke’s necropsy, Dr. Drum, determined that Luke died of a massive heart
attack. For this reason his death was considered natural. I believe that what Dr. Drum failed to take
into consideration was that Luke had a temperature of anywhere from 104% to 107% in the twenty-
four hours prior to his death. Fever is not a precursor to a cardiac event. It is a symptom of infection.
Dr. Drum said he found no aspirant in Luke’s lungs, but the report never said what he did find in the
lungs. What Luke’s clinic records show is that he spiked a fever on the Friday morning after his
myelogram on Thursday, and X-rays showed his lungs beginning to fill with fluid. Dr. Brofman told
me, on that Friday morning, that Luke had spiked a fever, a rather high fever. When I asked the
reason for the fever he said Luke had pneumonia. When pressed about how this had happened, he
finally admitted that Luke had probably aspirated. I will always believe that the diagnosis of aspiration
pneumonia was correct. In Dr. Drum’s report he uses a rather curious wording when he refers to “a
left heart failure, which would certainly mimic an aspiration pneumonia.” Though I am not a
veterinarian, it’s seems to me that the word “mimic” leaves room to finesse a diagnosis. I have also
discovered, since consulting with an attorney, that to file a law suite in the state of North Carolina for
veterinary malpractice, I would have to find another veterinary who would be willing to testify against
the veterinarian I was suing. This opens an interesting question. If a forensic pathologist, employed
by the state of North Carolina in the diagnostic laboratory system discovered a cause of death which
strongly suggested veterinary malpractice, how would he or she write up these finding? Because if the
findings were written up to strongly suggest veterinary malpractice the pathologist could be
subpoenaed into court to testify against a colleague. I have no answer to this question. What I have
asked myself, many times, after reading the necropsy report was, “What do you get for forty bucks?”
Apparently, not much. What is abundantly clear is that a necropsy stands as the last word in the eyes
of the law. Since it cannot be repeated, as the remains have been destroyed, there is no way to get a
second opinion. As the state lab’s are the only ones authorized to do this kind of determination, I have
no recourse to argue what I believe to be an incorrect diagnosis.
It does not surprise me that Luke’s heart failed given the massive stress on his entire body. With his
lungs filling up with fluid and unable to provide oxygen to his heart and brain could heart failure be far
behind? It does not appear to me that the clinic did anything specific to support his heart, though it
should have occurred to someone that heart failure was the likely end result. I’m glad Luke was on a
ventilator and receiving morphine when he died, so that at least at the end he was not suffering and was
unaware of his death. Such is the small consolation to be eked out of this tragedy.
In regard to Carolina Veterinary Specialists, several things became clear over time. While Luke may
have received the minimum required standard of care after the mistake that placed him in critical
condition, this was only because I demanded that everything that could be done to give him a chance
of survival was done. The clinic began treating him very aggressively on that Friday morning because
they could not reach me until the third call. Had they not begun such care and allowed him to
deteriorate, they would have been libel. Dr. Brofman had no intention of admitting that the procedure
caused Luke’s condition, there by accepting responsibility for his impending death and the liability
that would cause for the clinic. On the other hand, all the employees of the clinic, involved in
treatment, knew that Luke would not survive. Though no one was willing to tell me the truth, they,
resented having to care for him. After all, why waste time providing care for a dead dog. They had
better things to do than waste their time on such a fruitless endeavor. Since I would not authorize
euthanasia I was slowing down the assembly line.
All things considered, it is sad to say that Luke received better treatment than I did. I was treated like
a bag lady who wandered in from the street and was making inappropriate demands, but rather than
call the proper authorities to expel me they placated the crazy lady. It was obvious that Friday night
that the front desk did not know what was going on in the treatment area, and in the treatment area the
employes had no clear understanding of what was happening out front in the waiting room. We were
first told that we could not go back because surgery was on going. Next I was told that rounds were
being done in the ICU and I would have to wait until treatments were completed. The attitude of the
first young woman who approached me was so outrageous it boggles the mind. Instead of saying, “I’m
sorry, I don’t know you, could you tell me a little bit about why you’re here and I will be glad to help
you, she launched into a spiel about appointments and visiting hours. I had been unable to reach Dr.
Brofman directly before I left home. The best the clinic could do for me, was give me his voice mail.
Whether he checked his messages or not I can’t say. If he did get the message I left in voice mail hell,
he certainly did not leave any information about my expected arrival at the front desk. Initially, as far
as they were concerned, I was in the wrong place. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic, since I
was the one paying the bill.
Which brings me to the next point; monetary considerations. On the morning of Saturday, October
25, 2008, Dr. Brofman called me at the motel to give me an update on Luke’s condition and tell me that
his care was costing between $800.00 and &1,000.00 a day. I was outraged. I could not have been
more enraged if the man had slapped me in the face and called me a slut. The bill that was accruing was
the result of the failure of Brofman and the clinic employees to preform a relatively simple procedure
correctly. My view, at the time, was they broke it and they damed well better fix it. I would worry
about the financial fall out later. Luke was dying. As long as he was alive I had no room to consider
anything else.
As time has passed, it has become abundantly clear to me that these large veterinary businesses make
their money on volume. They are run from an assembly line mentality. If the line stops or slows down
God help the person or persons responsible. Quality control consists of discarding the flawed product,
i.e.. euthanasia. There is no compassion, empathy, sympathy or consideration given or offered to the
person whose heart is being torn from their living body. The answer to this lack seems to be that they
have no people or social skills. There is an old story about why some people go into veterinary
medicine rather than becoming physicians. As physicians they would have to interact with human
beings. Some who choose to become veterinarians realize they are uncomfortable dealing with people,
to say the least, so they choose animals instead. Animals can’t talk, call them on the phone and ask
awkward questions or complain about treatment or the lack there of. Pets don’t know whether they
are being treated for their betterment or being killed. All to the good as far as some veterinarians are
concerned. Unfortunately for these veterinarians they find that they do have to deal with people,
because we are the ones who bring our companion animals to them, and we are responsible not only
for the bill but for the well being of our pets.
For those of us who have committed ourselves to the happiness, health, and well being of our
companion animals, it is unacceptable that anyone, including veterinarians, should be able to hide
behind a lack of legal remedies in the interest of forestalling justice. What is justice in these cases?
For instance, can you put a price on a child’s anguish? What do you tell Steven or Tiffany about why
Fluffy died? Do you tell them the vet made a mistake and that’s why Fluffy died? Or do you opt for the
white lie and tell them Fluffy was just too sick? Is this the same white lie you tell yourself when your
gut says to you someone screwed-up, made a mistake, and that’s why Fluffy died. Sometimes it’s so
much easier to pretend that nothing bad really happened, instead of standing up and shouting, ”I know
you did something that caused Fluffy’s death.” What you tell your child may depend on their age.
Older children sniff out lies with great facility. What you tell yourself is perhaps the most important of
all. If you believe your companion animal has been the victim of malpractice and he or she has died,
they were the first victim. If you do nothing except complain to your friends and family you have
become the second victim. Actually, you are twice victimized because your companion is dead, and
you’re stuck with the bill. If you like those horse apples I can assure you there are lots more for
supper, because the chances are you are not the only victim. As is the case with child molesters, there
is always more than one victim. If we are continue to be victimized one at a time they will always win.
I wish I could tell you there is a formula, if you do this, this, and that, in a certain order, your
companion animal will be safe from veterinary malpractice. Sadly, the only thing that stands between
the good or bad veterinary treatment your pet gets is your own best judgement. If you feel intimated
by this responsibility, the only consolation I can offer is you are not alone. Having taken your
companion animal to a veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment, do not become complacent. Ask
your veterinarian when you should expect to see the treatment begin to work. If Tuffy doesn’t seem
to be getting better in the given time period call your vet. back and be very clear that something else
needs to be done. You need a commitment to prompt and effective care. If that doesn’t happen, RUN,
don’t walk to another veterinarian. Maybe you have been with a particular veterinarian for a number
of years and you feel he or she might be insulted if you seek a second opinion. If a veterinarian is so
insecure that a second opinion offends them, you need to change to a new vet. as soon as possible; as in
right NOW. It’s possible that you really like your veterinarian and you think maybe someone with
specialized training might be able to find the problem, if so, ask for a referral. In the case of an
overwhelming fear of alienating your regular veterinarian, take your pet to a vet who doesn’t know
you and tell them you recently accepted the responsibility to care for this pet and you have no
records; all you know is what you have been told. It will cost you more that way because you can’t ask
for records to be faxed to the new veterinarian you will be consulting, and if the new doctor provides a
better diagnosis and more effective care, you will need to change doctors anyway.
Laws change slowly. As people in communities and states change their attitudes, they consult their
elected officials and insist that the laws reflect their new values. Some states such as New York and
California have begun to view companion animals in a different light and their laws are changing to
reflect this new attitude. There have been cases in the states of New York, Florida, and Hawaii where
“damages have been explicitly awarded for an owners emotional distress, but the cases have been so
isolated that this cannot be called a trend. Where the case involves injury to an animal rather than
death, courts will routinely require a defendant to pay the entire veterinary bill even though it greatly
exceeds the animals market value. In doing so, they tacitly recognize the animal as unique and adopt
as the measure of damages the sum it will take to restore his or her condition before the injury, not the
amount required to replace the animal.” * Unfortunately, when a pet suffers an untimely death the
courts, generally, do not allow claims based on loss of companionship nor do they recognize emotional
distress for loss of property. In 1979 a court in New York found that “a pet is not just a thing but
occupies a special place somewhere in between a person and a piece of personal property - to say it is a
piece of property and nothing more is a repudiation of our humaneness.” * There is a wonderful quote
I would like to share with you by Anatole France, “Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul
remains unawakened.” The human-animal bond has undergone significant scientific research, and has
proven to have beneficial effects for us. Blood pressure slows down when one pets an animal, and
coronary survival has been to shown to be greater for pet owners. The presents of pets also decreases
anxiety, reduces depression, and seems to lower the rates of mortality. Senior citizens who have
companion animals, generally, are more active if they have dogs, since they walk them, thereby
getting some much needed exercise. They also stay involved in providing food, water, brushing and
bathing their companion animal. The positive effects of the human-animal bond cannot yet be fully
quantified, but for those of us who love our companions, we need no scientific proof. We feel it in our
hearts and our souls have been fully awakened. Our relationship with our companion animals is
symbiotic. They give us love, loyalty, affection and we are less lonely. We give them food, shelter,
attention, affection, veterinary care, and all the love our hearts can imagine. My dogs do cute things
and I laugh more often as well as feeling things much more deeply. Simple things take on more
meaning and I know that my companion animals assuage my loneliness.
I would like to thank Attorney Calley Gerber, of Gerber Animal Law Center. I retained Ms. Gerber to
represent me in the investigation of Luke’s death. She did everything she could to help me.
Unfortunately, the necropsy made it impossible to find a cause of action against Carolina Veterinary
Specialists. Nevertheless, she was kind, compassionate, and understanding. She offered support when
my world was collapsing around me. Something the employees of the Charlotte facility never
considered doing. For those of you who have heard the term, “blood sucking lawyers,” let me assure
you it does not apply to Ms. Gerber. Ms. Gerber limits her practice to animal law, and she is the only
person I know of who does so. Thank you Ms. Gerber for your deep, heart felt love of animals and
your willingness to seek justice for them!
An acquaintance of mine told me recently that she would like to see a website that people could visit to
see the history of complaints against each vet. This information is extremely difficult to get at this
time. I think that is a wonderful idea. However, since such a site does not exist now, I am willing to
post information concerning complaints on this website for as long as I can. If you wish to contact me
my email address is
*See internet; “Laws and Paws: The Legal Path to Justice for Animals.” By Marianna
J. Burt, J.D.
| DISCLAIMER All of the text I have written for this web site is based on my own personal opinion. Though I believe absolutely that what I have said is true, I cannot prove this by the preponderance of evidence in a court of law. I invite you to examine this site in it’s entirety with emphasis on the documentation I have provided, and reach your own conclusion about why Luke died. You may reach a different decision than I did. |
In Memory of Luke |