A sausage dog died in agony on the operating table after a vet botched a routine procedure in front of the pet’s traumatised owner, an inquiry has found.
Dr Leo Cantwell has been found guilty of five counts of serious unprofessional conduct following his surgery on seven-year-old Oska in Melbourne in 2022.
Oska’s owner, Sofie Giuiri, had taken her dog to Dr Cantwell for an enema, where liquid is flushed into the rectum, but after just 30 minutes Oska died on the table.
The enema was conducted so poorly that a ‘fast flowing gush’ of poo began streaming out of Oska’s mouth before he entered cardiac arrest, a formal disciplinary inquiry found, The Herald Sun reported.
Dr Cantwell had failed to give Oska any painkillers and persisted with the procedure even when he appeared ‘distressed and uncomfortable’.
Ms Giuiri lodged a complaint with the Veterinary Practitioner’s Registration Board of Victoria, which suspended Dr Cantwell’s registration in 2022.
Further action wasn’t taken until now after the Board fought to keep details of Oska’s death a secret.
‘My dog was my best, best friend. He was very active, he was very cute … and very, very loving,’ Ms Giuri told the Herald Sun.
Ms Giuri was in the room by her pet’s side as Dr Cantwell performed the procedure.
A three member disciplinary panel established in the wake of Ms Giuri’s complaint found Dr Cantwell’s conduct to be ‘a substantial departure’ from professional veterinary standards.
‘The departure was neither trivial, nor was it of momentary effect and it placed the health and safety of Oska at significant risk,’ the panel found.
Dr Cantwell only stopped the procedure after Ms Giuiri yelled at him because Oska had become unresponsive, the panel found.
It added that Dr Cantwell’s attempts to resuscitate Oska were unsuccessful and substandard.
He had also failed to properly communicate with Ms Giuri, obtain proper consent, and keep proper records of Oska’s death.
Dr Cantwell only told the panel that his record keeping ‘could have been better’ when asked for his explanation.
Ms Giuiri is now making sure that Oska’s story is heard by other pet owners after spending the last two years waiting for the Vet Board to publish its findings.
The Board spent approximately $25,000 in legal fees trying to prevent any documents about Dr Cantwell’s suspension from becoming public.
The Vet Board claims that it is an offence to it to release any information relating to Dr Cantwell.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will now determine if the Board acted lawfully by refusing to release documents relating to the case.
Dr Cantwell’s clinic has since been sold to new owners.