A Rhode Island pet owner is looking for justice after a veterinarian allegedly left a surgical tool in her dog's stomach for more than three years. Now, she's suing the vet clinic allegedly responsible.
The pet owner claims that her dog died from complications after a medical tool was left in its stomach. Kristen Breton was the proud owner of a St. Bernard puppy, Princess Freckles. In 2022, she took the pooch to Dr. Deborah Hirschmann at the Rhode Island Animal Medical Center. It was supposed to be a fairly ordinary procedure.
WPRI 12 reports the puppy was being spayed and undergoing a routine procedure on its stomach. Following the surgery, the dog started having stomach issues. However, the pet owner assumed it was something she ate.
"It started to dawn on me that maybe she was eating too much grass," Breton recalled. "Because they do that. You start to do the logical rule-outs: Is it a food sensitivity? Or is there something else going on?"
Pet Owner Sues Vet
However, as the years went by, the dog's stomach issues grew worse and worse. It got to the point where she would regularly vomit. Taking her St. Bernard to a different vet, Breton was shocked by what they discovered. X-rays showed a metal object in the dog's torso. By this point, the medical tool had also caused severe necrosis inside of the animal.
The vet told the pet owner that Princess Freckles would need an invasive procedure and that she likely wouldn't survive. The pet owner made the difficult decision to euthanize her pet.
"I was not expecting to put her down," Breton told the outlet. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was coming home without my dog."
"That was the domino that put the whole story together," Breton also shared. "I was furious that it was preventable, and she suffered the entire time."
Meanwhile,e the vet's attorney, Lauri Christensen, also released a statement.
"Hirschmann was unaware that she inadvertently left a piece of gauze and a pair of hemostats in the abdomen of Princess Freckles," she said. "It is Hirschmann's practice to inspect the abdominal cavity upon completion of the surgery prior to closing the incision."
