Deborah W. Kemmerer, DVM
West End Animal Hospital
103 SW 140th Terrace
Newberry, FL 32669
(352)332-4357
 
The answer to Pam's question of whether adrenal surgery is really that hard
to do is not so simple.
 
For me personally--no, a left adrenalectomy is not hard to do.  Then again,
I've spent ten years and hundreds of adrenal sugeries learning how.  I
think that's worth something.  When someone works hard to develop special
skills and invests in expensive equipment to make the surgeries safer and
faster, should that person be penalized by being paid less because they
can do the procedure faster and better?
 
I can still remember when a left adrenalectomy took me two hours--there
were only about five vets in the whole country who were doing them.  What
you seem to consider "simple" now is based on lots of pioneer work done by
a very few people.
 
Something else to consider: if a vet offers to do an adrenalectomy (for an
individual) at an extremely low price, it's probably because he/she does
not have much experience doing it and wants to get some.  That's great,
as long as the owners understand that.  Some people would rather not have
their ferret used for practice.
 
On the other hand, Pam's point is well-taken.  I DO think shelters should
get a discount, and they DO at my hospital.  I treat the shelter ferrets
for Gainesville Ferret Meisters, South Florida Ferret Rescue (Jacksonville
Branch), Brevard Ferret Rescue, and Okechobee Ferret Rescue.  They get a
straight across-the-board 40% discount on everything.
 
A comment on the doctor who offered free adrenalectomies: that had to have
been at the University of Florida Vet School, as that's the only one in
Florida.  First point: that would have been a very short-lived offer, as
he would have had to use teaching funds, which are extremely limited.
Second point: it would have been senior vet students doing the surgeries.
Although this has good value to the students, this lengthens the surgery
time and increases the anesthesia risk dramatically.  Perhaps the club
just didn't want to put its ferrets at a much higher surgical risk.
 
Debbie Kemmerer
[Posted in FML issue 2690]