Dr. Brad Minson (Bad Guy) - Advice Needed Please

I'm new here, but need help pretty badly. Hopefully, I've spent enough time studying the rules and previous threads so I do this correctly!

My problem isn't from a reptile transaction - it's a malpractice and gross negligence claim I have against Dr. Brad Minson - a self-proclaimed reptile vet practicing at Oasis Animal Clinic in Chandler, Arizona. I took Tazzie, an adult bearded dragon, to him on July 7, 2003 for a mild case of constipation that wasn't responding to soaks and "home remedies". He wasn't seriously ill. I loved him dearly and didn't want to risk waiting until he was really sick before seeing a vet. Dr. Minson said Tazzie needed an enema and took him into a back room to do the procedure. I later learned that he somehow managed to puncture Tazzie's colon during the enema, but he claims not to have realized he did it.

What happened after he botched the enema is what elevates this from a "simple" mistake or malpractice issue to a horrible case of gross negligence (IMO). When he brought Tazzie back to me, he appeared unconscious - almost dead. His eyes were closed, his body was limp, and he was completely unresponsive. I immediately became gravely concerned and asked what had happened. He laughed off my concerns, pointed out Tazzie's black beard and told me that Tazzie was just "pissed off" from the unpleasant procedure. I was very upset - crying and insisting that something was horribly wrong, but he refused to take my concerns seriously. After about 15 minutes of trying in vain to get him to listen to me and help Tazzie, he made me leave with my still unconscious dragon.

Within an hour, Tazzie was slipping in and out of consciousness, having convulsions, writhing about in obvious agony and gasping for air. His belly was hard and bloated. Despite the fact that it was now around 6:00 pm and Oasis Animal Clinic didn't close until 8:00 pm, they refused to let me bring Tazzie back to get help. They told me to find an emergency animal hospital. Sure... there's just so many emergency animal hospitals open after hours with a qualified reptile vet on staff! I finally found a place to take him and the suffering he was experiencing during the ride to the clinic was absolutely horrific. The clinic visit didn't go well, but by then, it was too late anyway. The on-duty vet tried to get Dr. Minson to come in and try to save Tazzie, but he refused. Tazzie died a couple of hours after arriving at the clinic.

I've had a horrible time dealing with this - with depression, post traumatic stress disorder, severe nightmares, panic attacks, and more. I talked to the owner of Oasis Animal Clinic the day after Tazzie died and explained what happened. He offered to reimburse me for my vet bills, but that never happened. I've tried to resolve this since then, but it's such an emotionally charged issue, I just couldn't go through with it. Finally, I made an appointment and met with the owner of the clinic on December 16, 2003. I gave him a letter I had written that detailed what I had gone through because of Dr. Minson's actions and I asked for a $6000 payment as compensation. He balked at the amount, refused to even discuss an alternative amount that he found acceptable, and took back his offer to reimburse me for the vet bills and necropsy.

A few days ago, I got a letter from Dr. Minson's malpractice insurance carrier. They say "it is unclear on what basis you are asserting a claim for malpractice. We request you provide our office with a written veterinary professional opinion to support your contention that the care and treatment rendered by Dr. Minson was below the standard of care. Upon receipt of this information, we will review and advise of our position of liability."

What do they want? Sure... I can get a copy of the necropsy report sent to them to prove that my Tazzie died because Dr. Minson punctured his colon. But how do I "prove" what happened afterward? If Dr. Minson doesn't know the difference between an angry beardie and an unconscious beardie, he obviously is not a qualified reptile vet and shouldn't be treating reptiles without additional training. Sending an unconscious animal home after a minor procedure doesn't seem to be anywhere near a responsible "standard of care". What do I do now? Can anyone please help me understand what I need to do next? I cannot afford a lawyer. I talked to one a while ago and he explained that animal malpractice cases are difficult and rarely result in damage awards more than the actual amount of damages suffered because animals are considered "property". He said that sending him home unconscious however, elevates this to another level and makes it more likely that I would prevail on pain and suffering type damages. Even if I had the money for a lawyer, however, I don't really want to keep re-living this tragedy during a long, drawn out legal battle.

I don't mean to sound like I am trying to just get a lot of money out of this. It isn't about the money and it isn't about trying to take advantage of anyone. It's about holding this butcher accountable for what he did and trying to prevent it from happening again. He took several years of happy memories and replaced them with horrible visions of those last few hours - helplessly cradling my baby while he died an unnecessary, unimaginably painful death. Any help or advice will be sincerely appreciated.


I really appreciate your time. I know this is long and believe it or not, I've cut out a lot and tried to be brief! If anyone has any questions or wants to know any of the details that I cut out, please let me know. If necessary, I can get a copy of the necropsy report. I haven't wanted to see it - it's so very painful - but if it would be helpful, I'll have them send me a copy and I'll post it.

Thanks again,
Lisa Arnold
Scottsdale, AZ
azwebdevs@go.com

Well not meaning to sound uncaring but unless you have the funds to tackle a insurance carrier by obtaining a lawyer who would even take the case the best thing to do is make sure people know what happened and let it go. You most likely would never get $6k in damages on a reptile esp no offense a low dollar amount beardie.Even if you did have the funds to secure a lwayer you would spend IMo more then $6k in fees as the insurance carrier/ vet would most likely drag the case out for years with the foresight that a average person wouldnt be able to fight that long or either go directly to court and have it dimissed by saying your husbandry was the casue for the needed treatment that caused the ruptured colon.I recently had a $650.00 snake killed by a vet and truley wanted to persue legal actions but took a step back and relized my fight would be futile in pursuing legal actions since the cost to do so would outweigh the rewards if any i got ... a lawyer would only take a case like this out of pure ignorance on a % basis and would want full payment up front meaning if they said $2k to take the case and it went 6 months - 1 year they were paid wether you won or lost the case ...

so i would say to you let this be ahard learned lesson and just dont give the vet any more repeat buisness find a new vet and keep on trucking .. sorry for your loss but the battle at hand would be like David VS Goliath

if what you are saying is true,maye you can contact a news station , theres a local guy around here call the troubleshooter, who goes around and trys to fix things like contractors takeing money and not doing there job, pretty much helps people whos backs are against the wall. it couldnt help to try, troubleshooter , problem solvers somthing like that. and send the insurance place the statement saying that the first vet basicly killed your beardie. and wouldnt help you after. theres alot of money to be made by falsely saying your a pro herp vet, maybe you should ask him what exaclty makes him a reptile vet. and call a lawer, most of the time they will give you a free concilation. and alot of lawers will take a case and not recive payment if they fail to win. you have alot of options, try and find people who have been threw a similar problem

I would have to agree with Alan. Its completely unfair in this case. However, the best thing you can do is find another more reputable reptile vet rather than pursue an uphill battle. Even then, you may find that you know more about certain things than even your vet. You are within your rights to question each procedure and assess the risks. If you do not feel comfortable with the prognosis, you can refuse that treatment.

Hope this helps. Sorry for your loss.

Jeff Craven
www.houseofserpents.com

Take him to small claims court and represent yourself. call up the animale planet court show, you cant just sit there and eat this! he killd your dragon, who knows if you didnt bring him to the vet your beardie might have been better off. and just becuse it wasnt worth much as retail value if you cared anough about it to take it to the vet , it is a dear pet to you. dont take this lieing down. go to the vet office and set up a meeting in person, if he refuses stand out front by the door with a sighn saying
"Dr. Minson killd my pet" that will get you some attention. if i where in your area I would go stand out front with you

if he refuses stand out front by the door with a sighn saying "Dr. Minson killd my pet" that will get you some attention

That would most certainly get attention , but with a badge and handcuffs.

I admire your intent but you have to look at the situation with open eyes . Yes the procedure may have very well caused the ruptured colon.If you really want to be of help i wouldnt advise someone to do something that will surely have them jailed or fined heavily. Im not adoctore but i dont know if there is a distinguishable difference between a Vetenarin degree and one for reptiles , ALOT of vets practice on reptiles by choice because they have a interest in them and want to help. Just becasue there a Vet doesnt mean that they cant legally practice medicine on reptiles.Possibly by getting a news reporter involved may do more harm then good i dont know i highly doubt the vet in question is just going to say " oh im sorry let me pay you an absorbent amount of money for your lizard.it would likely just inforce why there are so few truely knowledgeable vets that work with reptiles and cause problems of another kind with news media involved as to help promote vultures like PETA to get involved and say SEE THATS WHY REPTILES SHOULD BE BANNED in the wild that animals would have not been subjected to medical treatment to cause that problem .
again i am truely sorry for your loss but i think education is best and lessons learned are the best way to deal with a future incident. i mean we have to ask and im not goingto re read the entire post to find it but what was the substrate? could it have been impaction ? and the enema caused a impacted substrate to rupture the colon? how long was the lizard constipated ? many things can be looked at here but surely the best is to learn from it

If you are confident that your vet's negligence caused the death of your bearded dragon and your necropsy report supports this then I would consider filing a formal complaint with the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Board. I don't doubt your claims but before you go after someone's livelihood just make sure you are dealing with facts and not just emotions.
http://www.vetbd.state.az.us/complaints.html
Most small animal veterinarians make the majority of their income treating dogs and cats. Some decide to accept reptile clients without doing any continuing education in reptile medicine. I think that some view reptiles as disposable pets (like a hamster or hermit crab) that aren't really worth investing the time and money to learn about. At the very least, maybe you'll give this guy enough headaches so that he stops accepting reptile clients altogether.

I dont know, do what you wish, but if this "dr" killed my pet I would do everything i can. and as far as peta THESE ARE CAPTIVE BORN REPTILES, when the hell was there ever an imported bearded dragon in the last 10 years. sounds like you are backing up this vet who is at fault for killing the beardie. I know maybe you should just live and learn right? thats crazy! you took your pet to the vet becuse it was sick, and the vet ended up accidently killing it! if it was a dog or cat this vet would be shelling out money till the cows came home, and would want to keep it under wrapes so his credibility would not suffer, go to the vet, ask only for a date that you two can sit down and discuss everything, get all your paper work in order and meet with him. and if he refuses to meet tell him you have no other choice but to contact the news, and or a lawer about it. This kind of stuff doesnt happen everyday. and like i said if you took you dog in for constipation and later that day it was dead due to the fault of the vet they would burn the office to the ground, how is this differnt

I'm sorry your beardie died. However, the most I could see you hoping to get from an insurance claim of malpractice is the fair market value of the animal plus whatever out of pocket expenses you incurred. I sincerely doubt you are going to get any punitive damages, or anything for you "emotional distress."

Quite frankly, there isn't a jury in the world that is going to understand your attachment to a reptile, and it only hardens the hearts of those who otherwise might be sympathetic to you, when they hear you speak of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as if it were an actual disgnosed situation with which you are now dealing. If you were diagnosed with PTSD from the death of a Bearded Dragon, I would think you might have a better claim against your Psychiatrist than your vet.

Beyond all of this, with all due respect to you and your pet, there is no way I could justify giving PETA and the other groups like them an avenue to attack the herp community over the loss of a dozen individual animals, let alone just one. So, I would not do anything to attract media attention. If there are not civil avenues available to you to collect your specific out of pocket expenses, I'm afraid I would just chalk it up as a lesson learned and try to see the big picture.

Sorry again about your loss, though!

I agree, You should not look to profit from this event. get you money of the pet and the cost of the vet bills. theres no argument about it , the vet needs to pay those amounts.