Dear Susan Gordon-Garcia, DVM, Jan 26, 2019
It has been four days now since you have euthanized Gizmo, and our experience with you has still been weighing heavy on our hearts. We feel you need take a few minutes to read our letter about our experience with you, and think seriously about what we had to deal with.
Our experience with you on Tuesday, was the must unprofessional veterinary services that we have ever witnessed. We did appreciate the few dollars discount for Karen being in the same profession. We understood exactly what should have happened on Tuesday, Karen is a Veterinary Technician, and she has seen many dogs been euthanized, and this by far was the worst she had to witness, and unfortunately it was on our dog.
Let us recap here. It first began with you fumbling around through your medical supply cases, as if you had no idea where everything was stored, and as if these supplies were rarely used. Next, you proceed to administer the sedative haphazardly randomly pulling up different spots of his skin, after poking him the first time, missing, and then forcefully poking him again where he shot up to his feet in pain. Gizmo has always been very calm for shots, Karen herself even administering some, never with this reaction. This should have been our first sign, and we should have stopped right there.
Next, as we wait for the sedative to kick in, you prepare the euthanasia solution and needles. First off, it should not matter which leg you picked to administer the euthanasia. From the first miss, and blowing out the vein on the first leg, and all the "I'm sorry's", we were distraught. It was so clear that this was an amateur working on our precious family member. From you not having a technician with you as an assistant, to you actually asking us if we had any alcohol, it was so evident that this was not a professional business. Also, you may have not even realized, but you almost poked yourself with the euthanasia needle as you were fumbling around on the floor as you had the needle just lying there on the floor. In addition, Karen having to remind you to use a fresh needle for trying a different vein, and her having to shave a spot on his leg where there was a vein visible, we were just appalled at every next step you took. A professional would have been much more organized than this.
This should have been a peaceful transition to the afterlife for Gizmo, yet he was poked like a pin cushion, and turned into a horror story for us. With you saying, "he doesn't feel it because he was sedated" is not an acceptable response. No one deserves to be poked and prodded like he was with you trying to find a vein. We wanted to do this at home to make this as comfortable on Gizmo as possible, yet it turned into a much different situation with it looking like a student fumbling around and learning how to find a vein for the first time. The "old dog" excuse is not acceptable, Karen has dealt with many old dogs, and never has she seen something like this.
We write this letter/review, with the main goal being that no one else has to go through what you put us through. Out motive is not monetary nor revengeful, but merely making it clear to others on what we experienced so that no one else has to go through this. We are obviously heartbroken that we had to make the decision to send our family member to heaven, but by far the worst decision we made was picking Susan Gordon-Garcia, DVM to euthanize Gizmo. read more
