Warning: Veterinary Cancer Care of Santa Fe

2001 Vivigen Way, Santa Fe NM

Description

On Tuesday Feb 1, 2022 I took my Aussie Shepherd Keara to Dr. Kelly of Veterinary Cancer Care, 2001 Vivigen Way, Santa Fe, NM to begin Chemotherapy for Mammary Cancer which had also invaded the skin on her abdomen. Dr. Kelly took full body x-rays showing what she described as a "mild Liver inflammation" caused by Prednisone she had prescribed during an earlier visit. An ultrasound and blood workup was done that allegedly showed all organ functions normal (I later learned the Liver was full of cancer and only functioning @10-15%, and the Heart, Kidneys, Lungs and Brain had cancer and could not have been functioning "normal") Within three hours of administering Doxorubicin arriving home my dog developed adverse reaction. Over the next two days her health rapidly worsened with labored breathing worsened and seizures developing which she never had before. I frantically called into Dr. Kelly's office on a daily basis beginning with the day after starting Chemo. "Lana" the lead oncology tech told me my dog was having an "allergic reaction" to the Chemo and instructed me on medication adjustments with Dramamine. ( I learned later allergic reactions to chemo happen during treatment and never last more than 24 hours, the problems my dog was having was not an allergic reaction) Dr. Kelly never called me back... My dogs skin cancer worsened to where it was dissolving her skin with extreme pain and no effective pain medication, prescribing only CBD oil to put on her skin! I called in every day pleading for help. Staff expressed surprised she didn't call, assuring me she got my messages that my dog was suffering terribly. By Monday night I feared my girl was dying, being so weak she couldn't walk without assistance just to go potty. Tuesday morning 2/08/22 I called the clinic and told them I was bringing her in as an emergency patient. Arriving for the appointment @1 pm Dr. Kelly ignored what I told her about the seizures, concerned only with the skin cancer that had grown so bad since Chemo was started a week before. She cleaned the skin, administered injections, then prescribed an emergency surgery to remove a regrown tumor for Thursday morning 2/10/22. I questioned whether my girl was strong enough to survive the surgery and was told she was. Dr Kelly handed me a cost work-up for the surgery and some kind of cancer vaccine she wanted to start my girl on, with total cost of $3300 on top of the $1800 she already charged me in the last week!! She sent us home without doing anything for the seizures, weakened by excruciating pain because Dr. Kelly still didn't give her anything strong for pain management. My dog was so weak she could not reposition herself on her bed to drink from her water bowl without my help every hour through the night. The following morning 2/09/22 found her the same. I watched as she died, at 10:30 am in her bed suffering a major seizure, and stopped breathing... Dr. Kelly didn't call me until five days after my dog died. In a recorded phone conversation she admitted ignoring my calls for help, and that she takes on more patients than she can properly care for by herself. She asked me to write a synopsis of my dogs daily symptoms during the last week of her life when Dr. Kelly ignored my calls for help, so she could send that to an internal medicine specialist and "get me some answers on why my dog died". (Later I learned my dogs Liver was full of cancer and only functioning @10-15%, the Heart, Kidneys, Lungs and Brain had cancer and could not have been functioning as "normal") Dr Kelly never called me with the promised information, and also withheld certain medical records that might help explain what caused my companions death. I feel she was deliberately trying to cover up her mistakes that caused the agonizing death of my dog. I had a Necropsy done and had another Oncologist and Internal Medicine specialist review Kelly's records. I learned my dog was already considered terminal the day Chemo was started. Chemo should not have been started, and doing so especially without powerful pain medication, both hastened and caused my dog to suffer a nightmarishly painful death. The expensive surgery and novel vaccine Dr Kelly wanted to perform on my dog a week later, Keara would not have survived. I believe Dr. Kelly was trying to sell me on expensive treatments she knew wouldn't help, and was motivated by profit over proper care of my companion. I know another dog parent who's pet suffered and died the same way as mine, and who was billed over $5000 in one week while being treated by Dr Kelly. If anyone reading this review knows someone who's pet has been harmed or died tragically while being treated by Dr. Kelly please write me. I'm documenting others experience to include in a formal complaint to the New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine (NMBVM.org) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF.org). If anyone knows a local attorney that would consider helping Pro Bono, my ultimate goal is to have the New Mexico Legislature enact laws to hold Veterinary Medical Professionals accountable for their mistakes while treating domestic companion animals. New Mexico ranks #50, last in the country for laws which protect our companion animals from medical malpractice. As the law reads now, in New Mexico Veterinarians are liable only for cost of medical expenses, cost to replace the animal harmed and attorney fees if the plaintiff prevails in a lawsuit. Under existing law, it would cost more to take a lawsuit through court for damages against a Veterinarian, than the cost of medical expenses, and most people can't afford that. And so there is little incentive for an unethical Doctor to take responsibility for their mistakes, knowing it's unlikely they will face consequences for their errors. All too often, as with my dog who suffered a horribly painful death, Dr. Jeanette Kelly who owns Veterinary Cancer Care simply ignored both mine and other pet parents request to at minimum, reimburse us for the thousands of dollars in fees paid to her for care that contributed to or was directly responsible for our dogs untimely painful deaths. Together we have to take action and stop Dr Kelly's reckless and dangerous behavior that has harmed or killed our beloved animals.