BluePearl Pet Hospital

I brought my dog in to the emergency room for a non-life threatening issue. She's an older dog and has to take many pills both day and night. When she started to turn her nose up at hard/crunchy food, I got concerned. She was still taking her pills in a pill pocket, but my fear was if something worse was wrong it could progress to her not taking her pills which would make matters worse. When we got there she was examined and they said everything looked fine physically. My dog had multiple issues that were all medically managed. She biggest issue was congestive heart failure, but again it was medically managed by this hospital and the cardiologist was amazed at how well she was responding to the medications. Anyways, they ran blood tests and said her kidney levels were high and there could be multiple reasons for that. The biggest reason could be the heart medications. However, they wanted to keep her overnight and give her some antibiotics in case it was a kidney infection and also put a tube in her to flush out her kidneys. At first I thought it was a bit much seeing as how I thought maybe she was just having dental pain, but I trusted them as I had so often before and relinquished bailey to them. This was the first time I had ever relinquished her without saying goodbye or kissing her which would turn out to be a mistake. The doctors called me in the morning to say they were worried about her because he gums were a muddy brown color indicating she wasn't receiving enough oxygen which was confusing them because she wasn't breathing abnormally. So, they needed to troubleshoot more, but they were worried for her. For the first time, I know because worried too. They said they would support her in whatever way they could and we hung up. 30 mins later the same doctor called me back with an update. She told me, "I'm going to be completely honest with you. Whomever put the tube in Bailey, put it in wrong. They put it in through the trachea. So, fluid has been leaking into to lungs. We are also concerned that since this was done incorrectly that bacteria could've been introduced into her lungs and she might get pneumonia which she may not survive from." I was in complete shock. I brought my dog in for a non-life threatening situation and now you've made it a life threatening situation. They said she was coughing up fluid which was good and they were going to up her dosage of antibiotics in order to stave off any possible infection and would then support her the best way they could. They also said they were going to use the tube to try to suck out some fluid from her lungs. Now, they said, they at least knew why her oxygen levels were low....it was the misplaced tube that was causing it. Now...I'm really worried. 30 mins later I get another call..."unfortunately, we have some bad news. We were attempting to remove the tube from bailey and she passed away. We tried giving CPR, but were unsuccessful in bringing her back." What?!? I was incomplete shock. I raced to the clinic to be with my baby girl one last time. While there, completely heart broken, I asked to speak to one doctor and one administrator. I told them both that I couldn't understand how I bring my dog here because she was having a non-life threatening issue and less than 12 hours later, she's gone. The doctor said that yes the tube was placed incorrectly but it was just a perfect storm of things that occurred that lead to her passing. The administrator said he was sorry and that even though they would never know for sure, that the tube misplacement was likely a contributing factor in her death. Contributing factor? I'm convinced had I not brought my dog to any clinic that night, she would still be here with me today. I was so completely heart broken by what had both happened and by what was said. "We are truly sorry. We are refunding all the payments that you made both last night and today." Thanks. That's great and all, but you can keep the $6,700. I'd rather have my bailey back.