Vet cleared over pug’s death at Grimsby practice

A vet has been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with the death of a dog at a practice in North-East Lincolnshire.

David Hurley was accused of being dishonest and misleading over claims he had assured the pug’s owners that she would be kept under observation overnight.

But an RCVS disciplinary committee found the charges against him “not proven”, after deciding it could not discount the possibility of miscommunication or misunderstanding.

Newly published documents of the case, heard over several days last month, said the pug, named Niffler, was taken to the Abbey Veterinary Centre in Grimsby on 19 April 2022.

Telephone call

Although she showed signs of improvement following treatment by Dr Hurley that evening, she was found dead the following morning.

The case centred on a consultation at the practice and a subsequent telephone conversation where Dr Hurley was alleged to have discussed the monitoring of Nuffler’s condition.

One of her owners insisted he had told her the dog would be “monitored and under observation all night”, while the other claimed he had said they would “see how she’s getting on through the night”.

‘Made no sense’

In his own evidence, Dr Hurley apologised if he had not been “sufficiently clear” but denied telling Niffler’s owners she would be monitored and observed all night.

He said it would have made “no sense” for him to do so because the practice did not offer a waking night shift and insisted any comments he made about monitoring referred to the time he expected to spend in the practice that evening.

The committee stressed it acknowledged the “heart-wrenching impact” of Niffler’s death on her owners but said it had to be sure there had been no “misunderstanding or miscommunication” to accept the case against Dr Hurley.

The report added: “The committee was unable to rule out such a possibility.