Incident Post GA

[Xtra]

Hi
I am posting for a friend who is looking for more information on something that happened to one of her horses.

She had a 14 month old colt breed unknown (sire unknown!) but of a TBx type.

he was taken in for a routine op for an umbilical hernia but when he came round from the GA he was paralysed from just behind the saddle area and had no feeling or abililty to move.

She sat with him while he was PTS and says he was not distressed and had not sweated etc during the op and after.

The vet has suggested Spinal Malacia but appears to neither know anymore or be particularly interested in finding out so someone suggested posting on here to see if anyone had experience with this.

Her concerns are also that she still owns the mare and would not want her bred from if this is likely to occur again.

Think I have included all the information if you need anymore please let me know and I can check with her.

Thanks

 

[_jetset_]

Did they do a PM on the colt?

 

[Xtra]

No vets advised it would cost her £1000 and likely be inconclusive.

 

[genie]

This the same vets that did the hernia op????....and a post mortem would be inconclusive????what good vets these are.they must have x ray vision or something......didn't know post mortems were that expensive.last one I had done didn't cost any where near as much as that and was very conclusive.......

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
No vets advised it would cost her £1000 and likely be inconclusive.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would personally ask them to look in to why the foal woke up paralysed, and ensure that this was done their expense.

If they are still unwilling to do so - a little prod via a solicitor may help.

 

[genie]

how tactful and diplomatic..couldn't have said it better myself...I think along the same lines you do re this.

 

[stranger1612]

I am sorry for the loss of your yearling . Spinal cord malacia is a rare but invariably fatal complication of general anaesthesia in the horse and can develop under short and uneventful anaesthetics, affect animals are unable to stand but many will dog-sit without apparent pain. It is thought to be related to to poor perfusion of the spinal cord but would not be apparent until the horse regains consciousness. A post mortem would confirm the diagnosis but in-order to do this properly the vertebral column would need removing and then be sectioned with a band saw- in other words a full pm provided by one of the teaching hospitals or the AHT, unfortunately, they are not cheap and around £1000 would be about right for an adult horse. This cost would have to be bourn by the client and it is unlikely to be included in most standard insurance policies.

Like most dealings with animals, things can go wrong and suggesting reaching for a solicitor are generally unhelpful. It does, however, seem to be the modern way.

Your friend is entitled to ask for an independent post mortem but the advice she has received from her own vet seems sensible (nothing will bring her horse back), she should expect to pay for this independent advice, and if the pm reveals a cause of death that can be demonstrated as negligent then by all means sue till her hearts content. The likelihood is that her vet's initial diagnosis is correct and she will be left with dead horse, the fee for the pm, the fee for solicitor and bad feeling with her vet who may well feel unable to continue providing care for her other animal in such circumstances. My advice would be to chalk it up to experience.

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
Like most dealings with animals, things can go wrong and suggesting reaching for a solicitor are generally unhelpful. It does, however, seem to be the modern way.

[/ QUOTE ]

Suggesting a solicitor is not in anyway unhelpful - if it can get answers.

I would suggest that if the veterinary practice had given the owner of this horse the kind of detailed response you have given, then she would have felt much better about it. After all a full explanation of what went wrong was all she was after.

You don't just go to a solicitor to aportion blame - you can also go to get answers to a question that no one seems willing to answer.......

 

[stranger1612]

Unfortunately in my experience involving a solicitor for animals of low financial value, generally (although not exclusively), ends up with legal fees which outweigh the initial value of the horse and not a lot else. There do seem to be an awful lot of posts on this site where recourse to the law is suggested.

Whilst it is an avenue open to clients they must be committed and have the financial muscle to see it all the way and be prepared to loose. Most of the time people just want a clear explanation of what went wrong. The first thing a vet will do when faced with contact from a solicitor is shut up shop and contact their, usually bigger and better paid solicitors! Avoid redress to the law and sort things out with a face to face chat rather than bouncing lawyers letters off each other.

 

[Xtra]

Thanks for all your replies. I think she is, although very upset, accepting that it is one of those things with horses and does not blame the vets in anyway. It was just the lack of information provided (the vets only seemed to have limited knowledge too) on what had happened.

Her concerns were the mare and any future foals in case they are more likely to suffer from this.

I might be being thick here but can you clarify on "poor perfusion of the spinal cord"

Thanks

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all your replies. I think she is, although very upset, accepting that it is one of those things with horses and does not blame the vets in anyway. It was just the lack of information provided (the vets only seemed to have limited knowledge too) on what had happened.

Her concerns were the mare and any future foals in case they are more likely to suffer from this.

I might be being thick here but can you clarify on "poor perfusion of the spinal cord"

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

Perfusion is simply a term to describe the process of nutritive delivery of arterial blood to a capillary bed in the biological tissue. The word is derived from the French verb "perfuser" meaning to "pour over or through."

This condition is not fully understood - it may simply be an accident associated with the way the horse lies during surgery (compressing blood vessels and starving the area of blood) or there might be a pre-existing circulatory problem that only causes problems during prolonged recumbency.

On the basis of current knowledge, there is no reason to believe the mare or future foals would be at risk.