There regulations are completely missing the point.

It does not matter who is monitoring the animal, what matters is that they have the critical thinking skills to understand if the animal is having a problem following anesthesia.

And that VA needs to establish a reasonable standard of care for vets that will protect our pets.

Take Molly Mittens case

Molly had a routine spay procedure with anesthesia and her surgery ended at approx. 1130 AM

At 1:30 PM, I was told the surgery went fine and Molly was waking up well

At 4:40 PM, a licenses that lacked any critical thinking ability notes Molly is unresponsive.  This vet does nothing.  She does not call the owner to report the change, she does not assess Molly or do any vital signs or notify a vet with some intelligence.  Instead, she turns off the lights and leaves a sweet innocent 6 month old kitten alone in the dark.  I was never notified or given the opportunity to transfer Molly to a 24 hour vet.  It gets worse.

At 9 PM, a tech checks on Molly and notes she is unresponsive.  Again the tech does nothing.  No call to me, no call to a vet.  The tech again leaves Molly alone in the dark.

In the morning, MOLLY IS FOUND DEAD.  Then i get all kinds of phone calls, work, home and cell.  Too little, too late to save Molly.

Now to add insult to injury.  I filed a complaint with this Board.  And the Board which has the mandate to ensure vets follow a reasonable standard of care, finds this lack of care to be completely appropriate. The vet and tech did nothing wrong.  It is Molly's fault that she is having a reaction to the anesthesia. Of course, that was why she was at the vets so that they could assess her for any problems post anesthesia and then TREAT HER.  How do you blame a kitten for her own death, when the vets failed to do anything for her and try to find out what was wrong or at least do a set of vital signs or check her oxygen levels.  Maybe consider reintubation until she is more awake.  Maybe give a reversal agent.  Those are the kinds of efforts that I as an RN would make if my human patient was not waking up well after surgery.  If I failed to take those actions, I would be negligent.

So the problem is not who monitors the animal, the problem is that this Board has set the care in Molly's case as ACCEPTABLE veterinary care in VA.  There was no wrongdoing.  It is fine to leave a kitten that you have documented twice is non responsive after anesthesia all alone to die and not even call the owner until the kitten is dead.

If the board does not hold vets to a higher standard than this, it is completely irrelevant as to who monitors the pet.  Bring the janitor in or the groundskeepers, they would have done better than Kristen P, licensed vet in VA. Practicing in Front Royal.

If anyone doubts the above facts, please email me at MollyMittens7@gmail.com.  I will be happy to share poor Molly's records and this board's lack of accountability, in my opinion.

Respectfully submitted,

Molly Mittens' Mom, RN, JD