Exclusive report: New complaint filed against Dr. Pol

Jan Pol, DVM, 72, star of National Geographic Wild's  “The Incredible Dr. Pol” has had another complaint filed against him with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs based on content from an episode of the show. (PDF document of the complaint available for download here.)

After hearing a lot about the show from clients and coworkers, Eden Myers, DVM, decided to tune in one evening. What Myers saw concerned her, leading her to file a complaint. “I checked the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) standards and saw that the practices I watched in the show were not acceptable. Our clients and potential clients can watch this and it's representing substandard care. It does the public a disservice,” she says, speaking exclusively with dvm360.

In the episode, a Boston terrier named Mr. Pigglesworth is brought to the clinic after being hit by a car. The dog had been hit hard enough that his left eye had been proptosed from the socket and he had a broken pelvis. Pol then injected Mr. Pigglesworth with anesthesia and took him for radiographs. Images were taken of the pelvis only. Pol commented that the pelvis would heal fine on its own. To check for skull fractures Pol only used digital palpation of the dog's head.

The proptosed eye needed to be removed, which Pol did with the assistance of his son Charles. In the episode, neither Pol nor his son wore sterile surgical attire or used sterile draping in the room. The patient was laid directly on the steel table and it appeared that paper towels were used to wipe blood from the surgery site as well as inside the eye socket. The surgical instruments were also just lying on paper towels, according to the complaint document. According to Michigan standards Pol should have been wearing a gown, cap and mask and been using sterile instruments in a sterile field. Mr. Pigglesworth was also not intubated during the procedure, which is inappropriate in cases where there are injuries to the face and mouth. The complaint continues, stating that there was no anesthesia monitoring, oxygen tubes or tanks during the procedure or support for body temperature during the surgery or recovery.

Following surgery the patient was placed in a kennel to recover, again without anything to pad the dog from the hard metal surface and provide body temperature support. There was also no monitoring of anesthesia, or oxygen provided, and Pol did not check the patient's reflexes or for nerve damage relating to the pelvic fracture, the document states.

Mr. Pigglesworth didn't receive proper pain management throughout the episode. Pol did administer a shot of cortisone, which would reduce inflammation and possibly lessen some pain, but this was not pain medication and was not sufficient for the injuries the dog received, the complaint states. At no time in the episode was pain management discussed or was it evident that pain medication was ordered.

Allowing that television editing could have removed some of the relevant steps to provide care, and that she didn't have all the details, Myers asked the Licensing and Regulatory Affairs board to open an investigation into the standards of care Pol and his team are providing. “He has taken an oath and we need to police ourselves. We know the field better than anyone and this is why the board exists, rather than using the court of public opinion,” Myers says.

The board responded to Myers' filing by stating it was opening a formal investigation. At this time the investigation is still ongoing; however, this is not the first time Pol has been investigated. In 2012 Pol was fined and put on probation relating to a 2010 event involving a pregnant German shorthair pointer. He did complete the terms of probation regarding that issue. Two other doctors at the practice have had complaints filed against them while working there, but do not currently have any open investigations.

In addition to the complaint, there is a change.org petition and Facebook page protesting the continuation of the show. The current season of “The Incredible Dr. Pol” premiered Aug. 23.