DO ANIMALS REALLY HAVE RIGHTS?

For those of you who don't have Facebook and didn't read my status over the weekend, our cat, Attila, was admittedly killed by a veterinarian in Philadelphia this weekend and I'm pretty pissed off about it. So, time to unleash here in my Buzzkill Ramblings.

So, to give you a little background on the situation, our little guy, Attila, who used to wake us up every morning with his meowing and meowed when he wanted to eat our food and let's not forget that he terrorized every visitor we had because that's just what he did, was diagnosed with a lymphoma in his intestines only last week. In other words, he had cancer. Mind you, Attila was a 12-year-old cat, but what do you do when one has cancer? You find a way to treat them. 

Originally, our vet suggested for him to just live out his days and let him die naturally because he was such a terror when it came to vet visits. I'm not even kidding! His folder had stickers all over it saying, "Will Bite" and "Handle with Caution", which puts a smirk on my face just thinking about it. We opted to have him treated, so she referred us to an Oncologist at UPenn Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia. So, we had him brought in for what was supposed to be a quick analysis to see if he was even able to go through chemo therapy treatment, which we were going to start administering when we came back from Las Vegas. Well, apparently, while I was at work, the Oncologist told Laila that Attila would have to come once a week, but we'd have to give him pills four times a day, which would be no easy task knowing his temper, but the Oncologist said he needed to start it right away since the cancer he had was progressing. So, Laila decided to start it and have her brother give him the medication while we were away. Little did we know, we'd never see Attila again. 

I received a phone call, not even an hour later, with a panic in the administrator's voice telling me that they we sorry, but the wrong medication was injected into Attila, which has led to an overdose to our cat. They injected our little cat with a chemo treatment meant for a dog! How does this happen? I was told on the phone that the person administering the injection had two viles next to them and accidentally administered the wrong injection. Was this person drunk or high? How can they not read the label before injecting something into someone? I was then told that Attila was put into ICU and under a dialysis to get the toxins out of his blood. Now, I appreciate the fact that they tried to get the poison out, but seriously? All we got were a bunch of "I'm sorry! This should not have happened!" But the bottom line is that it did happen and they won't do anything disciplinary to the person who administered this lethal injection because they have no other history of doing this any other time. So, they are basically saying, you can make a mistake and kill someone's pet and all you will get is a slap on the wrist for it. What kind of hospital is this?

I took Laila away on our planned trip to Vegas. We never saw this coming and it cost too much to already switch our flights. The doctors stayed in touch with us throughout the trip giving us updates on Attila's status until Saturday, when we received a call saying that his lungs started to fill up with fluid. My heart sank. I didn't tell this to Laila, but I knew this was the end. After trying to put him on a ventilator for a few hours, I received another call from the doctor saying that he passed. I was furious and seeing red! My poor fiancée had her heart ripped right out from her. We were originally told that the chemo treatment was to help him live for another six to nine months, but because of this lethal accident by UPenn, our little guy left us in three days! We wanted justice!

Upon coming home, I hit the Internet scouring for a lawyer to sue for veterinary malpractice. Would believe that no lawyer will take this case because I was told by every single lawyer that by law, no matter how loved or how much a part of the family your pet is, they are viewed as just a property. Therefore, by suing, all we will get back is the value of the cat, which means the lawyer's bills will cost more than what we would get back from the hospital. So, basically, the cat that was part of Laila's family for 12 years had no rights because he was no more a piece of property than a car. That is so messed up! To be honest, we seeked a lawyer, not for monetary gain, but for justice so that no one else has this happen to their pet. It pisses me off that no one is willing to help us on this, so I'm spreading the word about it the only way I know how and that's through my blog. I hope all of you will share this story so that no one ever brings their pet to UPenn Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia because apparently, if they mess up and your pet dies, it's okay. And just know that when it comes to lawyers, your pet is just property and not worth enough for them to take you on as a client! What a greedy f'ing society we live in today!