Business ProfileforDr. April Schick, DVM

Dear Dr. April Schick,
We wanted to let you know that your in home euthanasia of our dog Cassidey on Friday July 2 was an awful experience. We chose in home care for a caring, thoughtful, peaceful ending of Cassidey's life. Cassidey having a seizure was traumatic, and you could have prepared us for that possibility and how you would handle it. That would have been extremely helpful. From the moment you came into our house many of your actions seemed unprofessional. Examples are:
*commenting on how bad our dog looked when you first entered. We were well aware of how he looked. This wasn't an appropriate comment for the start of a transition that we wanted to be caring, peaceful and thoughtful.
* asking us for a garbage bag to put our dog in because you had other errands/places to be. The thought that you as the vet transitioning our beloved pet would treat his body as trash was shocking and awful. And said in the beginning of the process, did not create a sense of care or thoughtfulness.
*Asking for help with the tourniquet device, which I only agreed to do because it was obvious you were struggling. Neither of us are vet techs, and were not planning or prepared to take on that role, yet I felt there was no choice in that moment. This took away from our being able to be process what was happening with our dog in that moment. This should not have happened. I didn't expect to have to assist, I wanted to be present with my dog during his last moments.
*Your phone ringing during the process could just be a forgetful mistake, yet you seemed to want to leave and hurry the process. It appeared that you had something else you needed to get to. It interrupted a long- feared and dreaded final goodbye to our beloved dog. The purpose of in home care was to honor this passage in a quiet, calm, steady , focused way. This did not happen.
*to the end with me laying my dead dog on the backseat of your car, nothing you did seemed professional. There wasn't any thought of how to transition us from holding our living dog to moving our dead dogs body. Again, the purpose of in home care was to honor him in a peaceful, thoughtful caring way. That was not present from your actions and inactions.
*forgetting your lockbox of drugs in your rush to leave. Again, we opted for in home care for a thoughtful, peaceful and caring transition. You seemed to have somewhere else to go, and were unprepared for the time this appointment did take.
You appear to be a nice person and your history as a vet would indicate that you have the experience, yet you came off as totally unprepared and really confused and disorganized.
Watching you inject our dog over and over again to finish the job, made us once again question your skill level and left us stunned.
The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of your actions and how they impacted an already emotional experience. It is our sincere hope that you would not repeat these actions with anyone else.
We will not be referring your service to any of our family, friends, and clients. We got your referral from a friend of a friend and we should have checked your website before contacting you. We did check your website afterwards and you don't even list home euthanasia as one of your services. We suggest you stop doing them. Please do not harm anyone else in the way you have harmed us.
Sincerely,
Steve and Gail C*****