Referred to as ""Old-School"" by another vet, the technique used in pain management on our kitten, after major surgery (the manner in which the surgery was done also had been referred to as ""old-school""), left her in such pain and suffering, to the point that it did not allow tissue to properly heal. This eventually left us with thousands of dollars in charges for follow-up care and repair surgery at other facilities.\r
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If this is a concern to you, my advice would be to go elsewhere. There are a lot of good, state-of-the-art practices out there. After all, this is 2016 and not 1980.\r
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(Update: Spirit Mountain will say that they give you, the pet owner, the option to decline pain medication, or use your own. What veterinary clinic would ever expect the client to know what is proper pain control for any given procedure? Pet owners go to professional veterinarians and rely on their judgment as they are the ones who have been trained in veterinary practice, not the client! \r
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When I had confronted Dr Greene regarding the severe medical issues that our kitten had been experiencing, caused by the lack of proper pain management while in her care, she told us that we had signed a form denying pain medication. They sent me all of the records and I can't find it anywhere where I had denied pain medication. And, of course, I wouldn't have found it as I never would have denied a kitten of pain medication after a painful, major surgery.\r
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The VCPR, which is the veterinarian-client-patient-relationship, states that ""the veterinarian assumes responsibility for making medical judgments regarding the health of the patient and the need for medical treatment"". \r
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A veterinarian would NEVER give the owner the option to decline pain medication for a major surgical procedure that is known amongst all veterinarians to be very painful. \r
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There is NO option on Spirit Mountain's form, that we signed, that states that we declined pain medication. Our kitten had been given a 24 hour pain injection after surgery as the doctor's choice of pain management. We relied on her knowledge and judgment for that choice of pain management.\r
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We brought our kitten back to Spirit Mountain, two days after we originally picked her up from having her ""major"" surgery, because of several concerns that we had. We had described to the doctor of how the kitten was hiding and drooling. It is documented in the kitten's records that nothing was recommended for pain at this second visit either, only to bring her back if she gets worse. She's was ""drooling""! How much worse should she have to get? That is negligence on the part of Dr Greene! \r
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We took the kitten to an emergent care clinic the very next day and she was found to be severely dehydrated and with a fever. She spent the next two nights at this facility and received proper pain management and care which would allow the tissue to start healing properly, but by this time it was too late. Further surgery was necessary to repair damaged tissue.)
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