My dog Bailey
Current mood: 
sad
Category: Pets and Animals
This is the story of our beloved dog Bailey.
Bailey was a 2 year old English Pointer who loved to hunt grouse and woodcock. Bailey was more than just a pet and hunting partner, she was a member of our family. She loved to sit at the table in her chair while we drank our morning coffee. Never have we had a dog that captured our hearts like she did. On that fateful day, Bailey was doing what she loved ( hunting birds) with me. She went on point and the bird flushed on my approach. When she took off after it I noticed she was running funny. I called her to me and to my shock, I saw a stick protruding from her chest ( around her armpit ). It was about as big around as my middle finger and there was about 4" showing. We were over a mile from my truck and I made the snap decision that it would do more harm in her than if I pulled it out. I grabbed it and gave a hard yank and was horrified to find that 6" of the stick was inside her! There was no bleeding, just a big hole in her chest. I carried her as far as I could and she walked the rest of the way to the truck. Once we were on the road, I flew home and picked up my wife and we flew to the Emergency vet clinic in Brewer. ( it was a Sunday and the Emergency vet is all that was open). I explained what happened to the vet and showed her the stick I had pulled out. They examined her and took an X-ray and stitched her up with a drain. The vet told us that she was a "lucky girl, the rib cage did it's job and that the stick had not penetrated her chest cavity". We were very relieved to hear this. We took her home w/ anti-biotics and pain medication and were told to get her to our vet in 3 days for a follow up and to have the drain removed. For the next 3 days we treated her as prescribed. She was in a lot of pain was vomiting and did not eat at all. On the 3rd day we took her to our vet. She examined her and removed the drain. She changed all her meds and added famodidine to help with her nausea. She told us if she was not " siginficantly better in 48 hours, to bring her back". In fact she got worse in 48 hours and now was having trouble breathing. Still she ate nothing since day 1. When brought her back, the vet ordered chest x-rays because she was having trouble hearing heart and lung sounds. The x-ray revealed massive amount of fluids in her chest (pleural effusion) and immediately tried to evacuate it with a syringe. Unable to do so, she put in a chest tube. They extracted 2 liters of fluid. We were told that she needed to stay because they would have to drain the chest every 2 hours & that Bailey would have to go back to the Brewer clinic after they closed. The next day ( day 6 post accident ) we went to our vet to visit her and the she told us that the fluid level had reduced to the point where they felt Bailey could stay at they're facility that night. I spoke up and told her that Bailey did not like kennels (She had almost killed herself once breaking out of a plastic one at our home). The vet felt Bailey was so weak that she would be ok for the 5 hours that no one would be there. Reluctantly we agreed. The next morning (day 7), I went to see Bailey. She was so happy to see me. She still had not eaten a thing and was very weak. They gave me an exam room to visit w/ her and I tried to get her to eat something. She actually tried! but whenever she took a bite from my hand it would just fall out of her mouth. I told the vet this and she did an oral exam. Overnight, Bailey had broken her own jaw trying to get out of the steel kennel! It has been over 3 years now and it still brings me to tears to tell her story. So now she had to be put under, as weak as she was, so they could wire her jaw. Her chest fluids had increased as well. It was now clear to the vets that Bailey could not be left alone, so that night she went back to the Brewer E clinic for " LEVEL 3 CARE" or constant observation. The next morning ,Sunday( day 8 ) my wife went to see Bailey at the Brewer clinic. They informed her that Bailey had pulled out her chest tube! Right under they're "level 3" care noses! So once again the poor dog had to be put under to replace the tube. All this time the vets had a wait and see attitude towards Bailey's recovery. We had had enough. That day we demanded something more be done. This wait and see was going to kill her. Her breathing was very weak and she was really struggling to breath. You can imagine how weak she was by now. The Brewer vet said that maybe they could send her to a 3rd vet for an ultra sound. We said YES! Do IT!. So the next day (day 9 ) we took her up to the new vet. They examined her and told us that she was way too weak and stressed to under-go the test so they took a series of x-rays and sent them down to some specialist office in Boston. It took a day for the results to come back ( day 9 ). The report from Boston was that something was going on inside Bailey's chest and they recommended a thoracotomy. ( exploratory chest surgery). Another night at the Brewer clinic and the surgery was done the next day (day 10) After the 3 hour surgery, the surgeon came out and told us that they found 3" of the stick still inside her chest up against her diaphram & lung! The stick HAD penetrated her chest! All we could hope for was that she was strong enough to handle the very invasive surgery. We were told that had they gotten her sooner, her chances would have been much better. Bailey was taken back to Brewer for the night and I went to see her. When I got there they had her in a glass box pumping oxygen into it. When she saw me she tried to get up and wagged her tail. She was so happy to see me. She wanted out of that box. The vet told me I should leave because it was up setting her too much. I went home around midnight and told my wife how terrible she looked. At 3am the phone rang. Bailey had died in that box. The surgeon and brewer vet told us that wood is notorious for not showing up on x-ray. WHY THEN DID THEY RELY ON IT? If they had ordered the ultra sound right away, they would have seen the stick in her chest and she would have been so much stronger for the surgery. The final outrage was when we went to pick up her body. The Brewer Maine Veterinary Clinic put her in a freezer and would not release her body till we were paid in full! I was so mad I was headed there to walk right in and take her out of there. Try and stop me!. My wife had the sense to call the Brewer police to tell them what I planned and they said I'd be arrested for trespassing if I tried. 2 months later I appealed to the head of the board of vets that make up the Brewer clinic. She just so happened to be Baileys surgeon. She was un aware and appalled at the fact Brewer hadn't given me Bailey's body and told me to go right down there and get her. I buried her frozen body that day. I blame both the Brewer vet and my vet for the death of my dog. To date I have not paid a cent to either. My vet is not billing me anymore but the Brewer vet bill continues to climb and is now up over $7000. I want to pay the surgeons bill because it was not they're fault we lost Bailey. I will go to my grave with the Brewer bill. I tried finding a lawyer to help me. Clearly there was negligence and mal-practice at hand. Most of the lawyers said, it was just a dog, you'll get no where! One lawyer did say since Bailey was a hunting dog and I am a guide and used her in my work that I might have a case.
We filed against the vets insurance and was turned down. My lawyer tells me that unless I can find another vet ( not involved ) to look at the case and determine that mistakes were made, there was nothing else he could do. To date I have not found a vet that will do that. I even called a veterinary school but they wouldn't look at it either. Pets are more than pets these days and always have been I feel. With all the things they have for pets now like doggie day care etc. I think they deserve a little more recognition in the courts. I think if I could get before before a jury, this story would win them over, but I cannot afford to do so. Vets charge big money for care and they should be held more accountable for mistakes they make. We will miss Bailey forever....
Anyone who has an idea or thought. I'd love to hear from you.
matt.whitegiver@gmail.com
thanks for reading.......
