Induced Aneurysm in Dog (for Sales Demo)

[AuburnPreVet]

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This was forwarded to me & I thought it may be of interest to some. 😱

<<Surgeon induces dog aneurysm in sales demo
A neurosurgeon used a dog with an induced brain aneurysm to
demonstrate a medical device to salespeople, hospital said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16593488/from/ET/

This does not sound good.
I am sure the veterinary profession is outraged by such a thing. And
the Cleveland Clinic, where the procedure took place, has quickly
distanced itself from the event.>>

 

[mom2jnc]

I'm not sure why the clinic okay'd the aneurysm to be induced but not the use of the device itself? They make it sound like it's fine to induce potentially fatal conditions in animals but you need permission to use a device that might help them. What kind of sense does that make?

And I'm emphatically against the destruction of animals for the sake of making a sales pitch. Am I being closed-minded and there are actually situations where this is the only option? Please, any enlightenment would be much appreciated!

 

[Cheska]

I am disappointed in those who were involved in destroying a dog in the name of money. I guess it shows how driven for sales people can become. I back research and experiments that will do some good for animals and people in the future. But that is my soap box, and who knows- the article may not have all of the facts? I assume that they could have made a video of the procedure during their research and not had to repeat it yet again? I don't know how convinced I would be to see this technique work, then opt for euthanasia, and not see a successful recovery.

I completely agree with you Melissa- just for a sales pitch? But I guess that is why we are looking towards veterinary school.

I guess this is a good article for those with interviews to read, it is a great ethics/welfare discussion and a current event.

 

[cyrille104]

I am disappointed in those who were involved in destroying a dog in the name of money. I guess it shows how driven for sales people can become. I back research and experiments that will do some good for animals and people in the future. But that is my soap box, and who knows- the article may not have all of the facts? I assume that they could have made a video of the procedure during their research and not had to repeat it yet again? I don't know how convinced I would be to see this technique work, then opt for euthanasia, and not see a successful recovery.

I completely agree with you Melissa- just for a sales pitch? But I guess that is why we are looking towards veterinary school.

I guess this is a good article for those with interviews to read, it is a great ethics/welfare discussion and a current event.

ah, good point

 

[Orthonut]

Also important to note that this is not the veterinary research department of that school but the human arm.

And it did go through the committee, which is odd...I'm willing to bet one of the only reasons it even GOT reported (they reported themselves) is because of the veterinary staff involved (they tend to be very proactive and protective of their research animals-the research animals are EXTREMELY valuable and not "throw away" as some people would have you believe)

 

[TurboVet]

I've worked in the field of surgical research for a while, and I've seen lots of animals used once for a tiny procedure or to demonstrate a device to a group of doctors (by a company as a sales pitch) and then euthanized. I've attended several clinics where many 300 pound pigs were used to demonstrate a device to doctors, the procedure took 15 minutes, and the animals were euthanized. A company can set up an IACUC approced protocol with a research institution, and thereby order animals, and demonstrate their techniques. Sometimes a modification to the protocol is not necessary if the devices being tested are related or fall under the same treatment category. There are obviously more complex variables involved in this story. Plus a "sales demonstration" can easily be reworded into "exploring less invasive techniques" etc.....

 

[kate_g]

And I'm emphatically against the destruction of animals for the sake of making a sales pitch. Am I being closed-minded and there are actually situations where this is the only option? Please, any enlightenment would be much appreciated!

The article actually seems to say that it was a demonstration for 20-25 salespeople, and not a demonstration "sales pitch" to doctors. (My interpretation of this is that it was a training exercise - these salespeople are supposed to go out and sell this device, and it's important that they've seen it work and have some amount of technical knowledge in order to be able to answer doctors' questions and effectively sell the product.)

I'm not sure that makes it 100% OK, as I would think the salespeople could have watched a video made during the test procedures that would have to be done during the actual research & development of the device (as Cheska suggested above). But a training exercise for a bunch of sales people who are going to go out and describe the procedure seems somewhat better than the traveling dog-killing sales show some of us were imagining...

 

[Cheska]

Thank you research people for your posts! Whether we all 100% agree on the subject or not, I appreciate seeing the different points of view.

I definitely got caught up in the headline on the article when I read it, and found it hard not to rant about it at home (i.e. kate_g's "traveling dog-killing sales show" -great way to put it, cracked me up!).