• Pitfalls in Veterinary Surgery offers a candid examination of real-life mistakes and mishaps encountered while operating on veterinary patients.

    • Describes a range of mistakes and mishaps encountered by a veterinary surgeon with 30+ years of experience
    • Provides an honest examination of the reality of operating on pets
    • Offers the opportunity to learn from an experienced surgeon’s mistakes
    • Discusses mistakes in a wide range of situations, ranging from commonplace to unusual
    • Presents a realistic view of veterinary surgery, including how to live with mistakes

  • Notes on Contributors vii

    Acknowledgments ix

    Preface xi

    1 “Can’t You Do Anything Right?”: The Shocking Realization That I Was Not Perfect 1

    2 Beastly Bellies 5

    3 The Friday Night Special: Or Why Do Patients Become Critical Just Before the Weekend? 15

    4 Between a Rock and a Hard Place: When to Refer and What Do You Do When Referral Is Not an Option? 27

    5 Courage, Mystery, and Awe: The Intangibles of Being a Veterinary Doctor 39
    Julie M. Meadows

    6 Placed on Earth to Test Us: The Not]So]Humble Spay 43
    Catherine F. Le Bars

    7 “Oops!”: Not a Good Word to Hear During Surgery 47

    8 Learning the Hard Way: Student, Resident, Teacher 57

    9 “But I Don’t Want to Look Stupid …”: How to Let Others Help You 65

    10 “It Didn’t Look Like That on Paper!”: When Textbooks Let Us Down 73

    11 “It Will Be Interesting to See Whether That Works”: How to Be a Creative Surgeon 83

    12 When the Unthinkable Happens: Mishaps, Mis]steps, and Medical Errors 95

    13 Things Went South – Now What? 103

    14 “There’s Got to Be a Morning After”: Things Went Wrong – Now Live With It 111

    15 One Leg Too Many: Patients Who Lost Limbs 121

    16 Reconstruction Rescue: When the Hole Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger 133

    17 “Why Is Sam Straining?”: Iatrogenic Strictures and Stray Oddities 143

    18 “An Alien in My Waiting Room”: Everyday Occurences of the Unexpected and Unbelievable 155

    19 Rewind: What Would I Do Differently If I Had the Chance? 167

    Index 171

  • Geraldine B. Hunt, BVSc, PhD, FACVSc, is Emeritus Professor at the University of California at Davis, California, USA.

Veterinary Clinics of North America
info