Vet reprimanded for ‘serious lapses’ in care 

A vet has been reprimanded for “serious lapses of clinical judgement” in her treatment of a dog which died five days after undergoing emergency surgery.

But an RCVS disciplinary panel also concluded there was no need for a tougher sanction on Sylwia Kalisz because of what it termed a “negligible future risk to animal welfare”.

The case relates to a 10-month-old cocker spaniel, named Stella, which was presented at the Buchanan Vet Group practice in Urmston, Greater Manchester, on 15 July 2020.

Although her owners had been advised Stella was pregnant, she was six days beyond her due date at the time she was taken to the practice, at a time when Dr Kalisz was the most senior vet on duty.

Emergency caesarean

A report of the case said that having elected to perform an emergency caesarean section, Dr Kalisz found no signs of pregnancy, but did discover and remove a piece of wood that was entangled with some grass from her colon.

Although the operation initially appeared to have gone well, and Stella was discharged, she was returned to the practice on two separate occasions in the following days.

Her condition subsequently deteriorated further and an out-of-hours vet carried out an operation for peritonitis on 19 July. She died early the following morning.

Nine charges, containing a total of 41 separate clauses, were subsequently brought against Dr Kalisz.

She admitted 29 of them, including failing to properly interpret examination results, undertaking surgery without sufficient need, failing to advise the owners that a colotomy had been carried out or obtaining informed consent for it and failing to refer to the colotomy in clinical records.

She conceded that her actions amounted to serious professional misconduct and apologised both to the committee and Stella’s owners when giving evidence.

Mitigating factors

But the panel found there were also several mitigating factors in the case, including what the report described as the “exemplary level of insight” Dr Kalisz had developed since the incident and her youth and inexperience at the time.

She had earlier told the committee she had received “limited on-the-job surgical training”, while the reports showed she and another witness said the COVID pandemic had exacerbated existing weaknesses in the practice’s training and support.

Panel chair Paul Morris said: “The committee found that this was a single isolated incident, which involved serious lapses of clinical judgement.

“It was therefore concluded that, despite Dr Kalisz’s actions being reckless, the extensive mitigation, the testimonies of colleagues and the high level of insight, coupled with steps taken to avoid repetition, meant that there was negligible future risk to animal welfare.

“The committee did not consider it necessary to issue a warning to Dr Kalisz about her future conduct, on the basis that the committee has concluded that there is little risk of repetition, so considered that a reprimand would be an appropriate sanction in this case.”