Doctor Kills Dog in Medical Device Demo at Clinic
Doc could face discipline after unauthorized procedure during sales training
A neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic is being investigated for killing a dog as part of a medical device sales training. The doctor was conducting a workshop to show about two dozen salespeople of Micrus Endovascular Corp. how to use a machine that allows physicians to treat brain aneurysms without invasive surgery. He performed the procedure -- which involved anesthetizing the dog, inducing a brain aneurysm and then euthanizing the subject with a lethal injection -- without permission from the Clinic's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and in violation of hospital rules.

The Committee would have rejected the unidentified doctor's application for theprocedure had they reviewed it beforehand, a spokesperson has said, because the hospital forbids the use of animals for sales trainings. They have started an internal investigation of the incident and reported it to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and will also be providing physician training and education to prevent future tragedies.

The Cleveland Clinic is one of the top-ranked hospitals in the U.S. Yet in addition to providing care for human patients, they also conduct research on hundreds of dogs every year. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly 50,000 dogs were used for research nationwide in 2006.

Ohio law allows nonprofit medical research organizations to purchase unclaimed dogs for $3 from local shelters. However, shelters contacted by the media said they would not sell animals to laboratories. The mixed-breed dog killed in last week's sales demonstration was acquired from a licensed vendor.