Malpractice Case Newspaper Article on Sudbury Veterinarian Lori Kreidberg Stirs Controversy

Dec. 30, 2011 - PRLog -- A recent article in a Massachusetts online current events service, the Middlesex Daily News, regarding ongoing litigation and licensing complaint actions against Sudbury veterinarian Lori Kreidberg, has generated an emotionally charged reaction from readers.

Kreidberg has been sued in Framingham District Court by Boston area songwriter and editor Paul Edward Yalen for breach of contract, and is being investigated by the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure for malpractice, negligence and deceptive business practices, after Kreidberg substantiated in written correspondence with the composer that she had provided his German Shepherd dog only half the possible dosage of pain medication for six months prior to his death while erroneously informing Yalen the maximum dosage had already been reached.  The medication, Gabapentin, was the dog’s primary pain relief for hip dysplasia arthritis.

“Mr. Yalen’s one and only goal was to provide his dog an excellent quality of life for as long as possible, and then give him a merciful euthanasia to prevent any suffering,” court documents assert. “The litigation and licensing complaints contend that Dr. Kreidberg prevented that by giving Mr. Yalen the wrong Gabapentin dosage information for six months, and by misdiagnosing the animal’s increasing lethargy as comfort rather than pain, all the while telling him the pet was doing well. Mr. Yalen trusted this charming, persuasive doctor and is now left with the legacy of realizing his beloved dog may well have been in pain for that entire period, despite all of his best efforts. It will always be a huge emotional burden for him. Had he been properly informed, he would have opted to increase the Gabapentin pain medication and if that didn’t work, to euthanize the dog sooner, so that it would never suffer.”

Court records indicate that Yalen had rescued the dog in 2001 from a violent gang affiliate who was chaining the animal.

The songwriter had then spent the next decade doing all he could to provide the cherished pet a happy life, hiring Kreidberg in late 2009 to visit the dog at home as its arthritis progressed so as to spare the canine stressful trips by vehicle to his former veterinary clinic.

When Yalen learned shortly after his dog's death that Kreidberg had repeatedly misinformed him on the correct Gabapentin dosage range and on his dog’s actual pain status, he consulted with other veterinarians, who told him that Kreidberg’s treatment of his dog would have been considered insufficient at their own clinics.

Reader reaction to the Middlesex Daily News article was both swift and strident.
A comments page following the story quickly filled with explosive tirades from both sides of the issue, to the extent that the page was closed down by the publisher.

Composer Paul Yalen has frequently reiterated his position that veterinarian Lori Kreidberg of Sudbury, Massachusetts, owner of MetroWest Mobile Vet, is entitled to a fair trial and licensing investigation of the malpractice, negligence and breach of contract complaints that have been brought against her.