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Vet reprimanded after death of Newfoundland

Issue: 14/10/2016

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS)  reprimanded a Slough vet last week after he was found guilty of three charges of failing to provide adequate care for a dog.
Rahul Shah performed a castration operation on a Newfoundland dog called Shadow in June 2014. It was found that he discharged the dog to the care of his owner, Gemma Ballantyne, when he was not in a fit state to be so discharged. Secondly, despite receiving a telephone call from Ms Ballantyne where she outlined her concerns over Shadow's health he failed to advise her that the dog needed veterinary treatment as a matter of urgency. He also failed to inform her that out-of-hours care was available.
Tragically Shadow died but the committee did not take this into consideration as they said it was impossible to say whether he would have survived if Shah had acted differently.
Expert witnesses, Professor Williams and Mr Plumley, both agreed that the decision to discharge the Newfoundland at 6pm on the 20 June 2014, given the dog's condition, was inappropriate. It was felt that this was grossly negligent.
It was also found that his response to Ms Ballantyne's call was inadequate and he failed to fulfil his duty of care to his client. The same was true when came to informing her of the out-of-hours care available.
The committee did accept that there was no dishonesty on Shah's behalf and there was no aim of financial gain. They also accepted that he was acting in good faith at the time.
Ian Green, chairing the Committee and speaking on its behalf, said, 'Balancing all of the factors as the Committee must, it is clear that on this occasion Mr Shah's conduct fell far short of that which is expected and it therefore finds he conducted himself disgracefully in a professional respect.'
Furthermore, Mr Green said. 'In imposing the sanction of a reprimand, the Committee urges Mr Shah in the strongest possible terms to ensure that his future conduct by way of training and support systems within his practice are such as to avoid any possibility of a future incident such as this occurring in order to ensure animal welfare and public confidence in the veterinary profession. 
'The Committee notes that in her evidence, Emma Martin said that the working practices at the surgery have been changed and the Committee expects that all animals kept in the care of Mr Shah are fully monitored, examined and assessed in relation to their condition before being discharged.'


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