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VETERINARY surgeon Mr Martinhus Ryk Botes told a client that he would monitor her dog as it recovered from treatment after a road traffic accident. But he broke his promise to set up a webcam link so that he could observe the animal after he went home for the evening, and the dog died overnight.
At a four-day hearing of the rcvs Disciplinary Committee from June 16 to 19, Mr Botes was found guilty of disgraceful professional conduct in failing in his duties towards the client, Miss Carol Keeling, owner of the two-year-old male Yorkshire terrier, Defor. The Committee directed that his name should be suspended from the rcvs Register for a period of six months.
Mr Botes was on duty at the Companion Care veterinary surgery, Westwood Road in Broadstairs, Kent, when the dog was brought in by the client's mother, Mrs Denise Keeling, on Friday, April 20, 2007, after it was hit by a car while she was taking it for a walk with two other dogs. He found no signs of hard tissue injury on x-ray and inserted a drain to remove blood from the dog's chest cavity.
Mr Botes accepted that, once the dog's condition had stabilised, he had failed in his duty to provide ongoing assessment. He also admitted failing to provide overnight monitoring and, when he realised that the proposed webcam link was not working, failing to inform the owner. However, he denied one element of the charge alleging that he did not make adequate clinical notes on the case.
Mr Botes graduated from the University of Pretoria in 1990. He registered with the rcvs in 1998 and has since taken British citizenship. In 2003, he entered into a joint venture with Companion Care in premises leased from the Pets At Home supermarket chain. He appeared before the Disciplinary Committee alongside his former employee, Mr Marius...