Killing of beloved sausage dog by dodgy vet wrongly suppressed by government officials

A dodgy vet that botched a simple operation and put a beloved daschund into cardiac arrest was protected for years in a government secrecy campaign costing tens of thousands of dollars.

A string of bureaucrats, government lawyers and the state’s Freedom of Information watchdog wrongly suppressed the horror death of a family’s sausage dog, a tribunal has found.

The killing of seven-year-old dachshund Oska by a dodgy vet was the subject of a years-long state government secrecy campaign costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Oska died a painful death following what should have been a routine medical procedure performed by Dr Leo Cantwell in 2020.

The vet was found guilty of five counts of serious unprofessional conduct by the state veterinary regulator.

Oska died after a vet performed a routine medical procedure incompetently.

Yet for years, the Veterinary Practitioner’s Registration Board of Victoria and Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, which regulates FOI requests, argued documents detailing Dr Cantwell’s conduct should be kept secret.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week ordered an end to the secrecy campaign, ruling details of Oska’s death during a botched enema procedure be released.

VCAT member Neill Campbell disagreed with the vet board that information related to Dr Cantwell’s conduct was subject to a “secrecy provision” protecting its release to the public.

Mr Campbell said it was important vets across the board were aware of the punishment associated with bad medical practice.

“For general deterrence to be effective, information must be available about the proven conduct, the findings of the Board or Tribunal and the outcome imposed on the practitioner,” Mr Campbell said.

“Other practitioners cannot be deterred from engaging in similar conduct, if they are unaware of the conduct for which the determination was imposed.”

Olivia Giuiri with Oska, whose death was the subject of a years-long state government secrecy campaign.

The vet board also failed to convince the tribunal that revealing details of Dr Cantwell’s conduct would prevent other vets from being candid in response to allegations put to them in disciplinary hearings.

“The tribunal is not satisfied that the disclosure of the disputed document would or would be reasonably likely to prejudice the enforcement or administration of the Veterinary Practice Act,” Mr Campbell said.

Dr Cantwell killed Oska by performing a routine medical procedure so incompetently a “fast flowing gush” of poo came out its mouth and it went into cardiac arrest.

Sofie Giuiri lodged a complaint over the botched procedure on her beloved pet. Picture: David Caird

His grieving owner, Sofie Giuiri, lodged a complaint over the botched procedure, which was found by a three member disciplinary panel to be a “substantial departure from accepted standards for the veterinary profession”.

Dr Cantwell was suspended by the vet board, which racked up an estimated $25K in legal fees trying to prevent the release of documents about the case to the Saturday Herald Sun under Freedom of Information laws.

Those legal fees were paid to the state government’s in-house law firm, the Victorian government Solicitor’s Office, and to a high-billing private law firm, FOI Solutions, which represents governments in FOI disputes.

The legal fees accrued in attempting to keep details of Dr Cantwell’s conduct a secret far exceed the $12,928 the Vet Board spent on the hearing.

Originally published as Killing of beloved sausage dog by dodgy vet wrongly suppressed by government officials