Pet owner speaks out after LSU Vet School makes a surgical mistake
BATON ROUGE - One pet owner is furious after she says the LSU Veterinary School made a mistake that essentially cost a life.
At the age of 6, "Hotstuff" was a carefree and loving Weimaraner. Cassandra Tynes adopted him 5 years ago.
"I thought to myself, man. He's just a biggest old hunk of hot stuff, so I named him Hotstuff," said Cassandra Tynes.
However, after a few years Hotstuff started losing sight in one eye and was diagnosed with endothelial decompensation in his right eye, so Tynes took him to the LSU Vet School to have it removed in December of 2014. However, a grave error in the operating room occurred, and an LSU ophthalmologist removed the good eye instead essentially leaving the dog blind.
"It kind of put me in shock and I was like can you put it back? No, you can't put it back," said Tynes.
The LSU Veterinary School declined to do an on-camera interview, but they did send a statement stating that they've reviewed and strengthened their operating room procedures based on this case.
However, it comes a bit too late for Cassandra Tynes. While her dog did have other health issues, she decided that her dog's blindness was too much, so she put him down.
"I would hold him and pet him, and he would still act the same way," said Tynes. "He would still moan and do everything even though I was still right there. I couldn't make it better."
The LSU Vet School also stated that they're striving to make sure all polices and procedures are followed in the future.
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Tynes hopes that the veterinary school and other institutions like it will consider a preoperative checklist to avoid mistakes from happening.