City Veterinary Care

Reviews 3

CL

Claire Silverman

Its been over 2 years since my dog died while treated by Corinna Lai, and I still havent recovered from the misinformation and outright lies which I discovered, and which were verified by notes I requested & documented by the technician. My 11.5 yr old chihuahua had advanced heart failure and was in distress when I brought her to City Vet. My regular vet at the office, Dr. Cloud, who always gave superlative care, wasnt in. Dr Lai was very reassuring that overnight care in an O2 cage plus meds would likely work. I asked to be kept informed about her progress, especially since my dog was very frightened by strangers and would be under a great deal of stress when not with me. I was able to check her progress at 4 pm (the last time I could call -- it was Saturday) and was told she was doing very well, was resting well, and that if I dont hear from them, it means everything is fine. I made it clear that since she was near the end of her life, I didnt want needless suffering and would opt for an alternative. At 8 am. Dr Lai called to say she died. When asked for details, she said she had been doing well and suddenly expired. Asked when it occurred, she said at 7:30 a.m. After further questions, she seemed to imply that she had been present all night overseeing her care. I was surprised at this and explicitly asked whether she was there. She said "yes" and that my dog didnt suffer. I thanked her profusely, since I assumed this was beyond typical care. There were some details which she offered which seemed evasive, so I asked the office for the progress notes on my dogs care and the notes of the overnight technician. I was astonished to learn that Dr Lai had never been there, that my dog was under a lot of stress, very uncooperative & trying to bite the technician, that they were unable to check blood pressure & temp during the night (with the last body temp at 97 --well below normal) and the cage she was in had a broken heater, so they added hot water bottles to try to keep her body temp up). She suffered horribly for many hours! My plan was for home euthanasia when it was needed. Instead, i am still reliving the nightmare that my pet suffered when she most needed comfort. Both Dr Kaplan and Dr Cloud spoke to me at length about the unethical behavior of Dr Lai, and agreed that it was totally unacceptable. I fully expected that she would no longer be on their staff. Sadly, shes there. I was moved to write this now because I read on Yelp that another patient was enraged that Dr. Lai lied about giving anesthesia to her aged dog. Its rare to catch such lies. How is one to know? Had I not asked for notes (most people dont) I would have assumed that there was just an unfortunate turn of events and thankful that at least a caring vet was there to do what she could and grateful for her efforts. The outrageous blatant lies I was told makes it clear to me that NOTHING this woman say is to be trusted. BE WARNED.

68

68lincoln

NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL! I brought my dog there for a dental procedure. After having blood tests and an exam prior to the dental procedure they determined that he was in good health for the dental procedure (Dr. Khan emailed me as such). The nightmare began when I brought him in a few days later for the procedure. At noon, the dental surgeon, Dr. Martel, called me and advised that my dog was "doing great" and the dental procedure would be completed in the next half hour and I could bring my dog home a few hours afterward. When I went to City Vet about three hours later the vet tech, Christine Lagonda, brought my dog out to me in a semi drugged state. I was immediately concerned and I also noticed that his breathing was labored. I told the vet tech I felt that my dog should have a post op exam. Her snotty reply was that his breathing was fine and she had a lot of experience in these matters, she said some dogs come out of anesthesia sooner than others and that I should take my dog home and he would be fine. She said it was not necessary for a DVM to examine his breathing as he had a pre exam and he would be fine as soon as he was less groggy. There were four employees of City Vet behind the counter and not one of them lifted a finger to help me and my dog or call a DVM from the back office when I was saying how concerned I was about him. I brought my dog home and he began to fail very soon. I called City Vet and they said to bring him there (the NERVE! We had just left there) or go to Blue Pearl emergency. I lifted my dog into my arms and before we got to the door he died in my arms. I WAS DEVASTATED. Rushed him to Blue Pearl and after ten minutes the DVM that worked on him said he could not be saved and had likely died in my arms twenty minutes earlier. My follow up calls to Dr. Kaplan at City Vet and Dr. Martel the dental surgeon at City Vet were met with decency but NO explanation of why my dog died from a dental procedure which they said was basically routine. I asked them DID SOMETHING HAPPEN DURING SURGERY/AFTER SURGERY? IN THE RECOVERY ROOM? DID MY DOG DEVELOP A TOXIC REACTION TO THE ANESTHESIA? DID ANY VET NOTICE THAT MY DOG WAS STILL SO GROGGY HOURS AFTER SURGERY? WHY WAS MY DOG RELEASED TO ME IN A SEMI DRUGGED STATE? They offered no definitive answers. My beautiful, loyal, loving dog died because of something they cannot or will not tell me about and so it remains a mystery. Believe me, this has wounded me deeply and I would NEVER again leave my dog in the care of City Vet. In fact, I would never again trust any vet tech anywhere that tells me to take my dog home when I am voicing my concern that something does not seem right.

A

A Private User

WARNING WARNING WARNING First of all, I find it extremely suspicious that most of the reviews are either disturbingly bad or very very good. The negative reviews are painful and seem honest, while the positive ones seem to be professional and fake. That said, my personal experience with Dr. Andrew Kaplan was horrific. All he cares about is his public image. HE KILLED MY THREE YEAR OLD PERSIAN CAT BY MISIDENTIFYING HER BLOOD TYPE (something that never happens anymore with competent physicians) AND GIVING HER THE WRONG BLOOD TYPE IN A TRANSFUSION. He did not even attempt to treat her for this in the two weeks she was under his care. I actually figured out what he had done through online research of her obvious symptoms (he never told me). After she had died, I took her body to another vet who confirmed what he had done and told me how obvious it was because her real blood type was in her records and did not match the blood type Kaplan gave her. Yes, you read right, she had records with her correct blood type but he never attempted to get them from her previous vet. Kaplan even had the nerve to continue to lie about what happened to my cat until it was proven that he gave her the wrong blood type through lab testing. Even then he tried to lie about who was to blame and what happened. He told me every day I went to visit my beloved pet and saw her clearly deteriorating condition that the transfusion was a great success and that she couldnt go home because she had a common cold but would be home any day. In her medical records you can see her lungs collapsing, her organs failing, basically everything I saw happening before my eyes but tried not to believe because of Kaplans assurances. She finally died when holes developed in her lungs. I repeatedly asked him why she was yellow, sluggish and couldnt breath. She was obviously dying. He knew it, knew he had messed up, and lied. Im sure he will write under this and lie again through his teeth, changing the events of what has happened to my cat Isabelle as a final insult to her. The incompetence is disturbing, but the callous choice to lie to me about her condition (so i didnt have the choice of ending her suffering) and not treat her for any of her symptoms (thereby robbing me of the hope of saving her) is more so. And all so no one would know what he did. Please, stay clear of this terrible man.