Justice for Marley

My name is Utana, I recently started this “Go Fund Me” to help me with the legal expenses to legally fight a court battle against the veterinarians that misdiagnosed, mistreated, caused pain too, and finally caused the death, of my service dog Marley.

My goal is to expose how veterinarians at a local Animal Hospital in Riverside, CA abuse animals in their care and commit fraud. My legal actions taken against this organization and its doctors will hopefully keep other people and their pets from experiencing a tragic event like what happened to Marley and me.

You’d love to think that everything your veterinarian recommends for your pet was in your animal's best interests, right? Isn’t their pledge and code of ethics to help animals who come to them for care? Well, this is what I thought.

Marley was my service dog, a six-year-old Labrador Retriever. Marley went through extensive training to become my service dog. Not only was Marley a very good service dog he was a great companion. One day I noticed Marley started to limp. I took Marley to a local Animal Hospital to be examined and diagnosed by a veterinarian. The veterinarian determined Marley had arthritis and suggested medication and joint supplements.

After three days I noticed Marley’s limping seemed worse, so I took him back to the same Animal Hospital to be re-examined again. The same diagnosis of arthritis was made by the veterinarian regarding Marley’s leg. As Marley continued to worsen, I took him back to the Animal Hospital several more times over two months to see if they could find any other problems that would be affecting Marley’s leg. I felt something more was wrong with Marley besides arthritis.

I decided to get another opinion and I took Marley to another pet hospital for evaluation. This second opinion determined Marley did not have arthritis. Their findings were Marley had a torn cranial cruciate and treatment would be TPLO surgery.

I met with an orthopedic surgeon who would perform this surgery on Marley. The surgery would be performed at the local Animal Hospital since it was close to my home. This local Animal Hospital was also a place where the orthopedic surgeon had performed surgeries in the past.

The surgery was performed on Marley and his post-op medical care was to be provided by the local Animal Hospital. After ten days under the care of the Animal Hospital, I noticed Marley wasn’t healing and seemed to be getting worse. When I visited Marley, I noticed his wound was leaking along with sores and rash on his body. His kennel was very dirty. On another visit, Marley was wet and had feces on him. When I would express my concern regarding Marley’s poor medical care, I was told I couldn’t visit Marley anymore because he would get too upset after I was there.

The difficulty of coping with an animal companion’s injury or death is compounded when you suspect that the veterinarian’s negligence or abuse may be the blame. It broke my heart to see my loving companion in pain and see the results of his being mistreated.

I wanted to remove Marley from the Animal Hospital’s care. They made it exceedingly difficult for me to take Marley. They required I pay an outlandish amount of money stating I had a large balance due on my account. This was false as I had been paying each billing as it was given to me. They gave me fraudulent billing charges which I paid so I could get my dog released from their care.

I took Marley to another pet hospital. It was determined that Marley had a severe bacterial and staph infection. I found out that the original Animal Hospital did not give Marley the antibiotics prescribed by the orthopedic surgeon. A screw in Marley’s leg from the surgery was broken and there was a chipped bone which suggests something serious had happened to Marley while in the original Animal Hospital. Marley had to go through the surgery again. Marley’s infections were so severe he had to have his leg amputated.

After Marley had his leg amputated, I had a severe setback with my PTSD. Marley could not travel with me anymore. October is the month I took him in to check his leg. The following March, five months later, I lost Marley due to his organs shutting down from all the medications he had been given to fight bacterial and staph infections.

I have some great attorney’s representing me on this case. I have board-certified veterinarians as my expert witnesses. With all the evidence we have against the local Animal Hospital and its veterinarians, we are very positive we will win this lawsuit.

Despite my best efforts thus far and paying thousands of dollars from my funds for legal representation; I realize I need help going forward, to continue the fight to the end and pay for Marley’s attorney and the legal expenses.

Most people view their pets and animal companions as members of their family. Negligence and cruelty are unacceptable, especially from a medical professional who took an American Veterinarian Medical Board oath.

This is their oath:

“Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge. I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.”

I have read many stories of veterinarian mistreatment and malpractice of pets and it saddens me that current laws don’t consider the true value in the loss of an animal companion and pet. I am hoping my legal actions against Marley’s veterinarian abuse and loss of life will make a difference for other people going forward.

Please consider donating and also consider sharing my story with your friends—any amount donated to Marley’s cause will make a huge difference for us. Your support will be used towards all Marley’s attorney expenses in the current lawsuit against the local Animal Hospital and its two veterinarians, who were the cause of Marley’s suffering and death. My fundraising goal is $100,000 by April 15, 2023. Any donated funds remaining after my legal case is finalized will be donated to a non-profit organization benefiting animals.

Thank you in advance for your support!