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Physicians, clerk, and security guard step in to save dog

Healthcare Security Weekly, September 24, 2007

Staff at the Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, MA lived up to the facility's name and helped save the life of an unusual patient-a seven-pound Yorkshire terrier named Reeses, reported the Brockton Enterprise.

Physicians first treated the dog's 23-year-old owner, Tia Meadows of Brockton, after she and her dog were stung repeatedly by a swarm of angry bees. After the bee attack, the dog got ill and Meadows decided to take him to her veterinarian, but the office was closed. As she was driving in her car, her face began to swell and it became hard for her to see, so she drove to the nearest hospital. Physicians treated her allergic reaction, but then staff faced the dilemma of what to do about the dog.

Although it is not hospital policy to treat animals, Dr. Rick Herman, chief of emergency medicine, told the newspaper that something had to be done. "We didn't want the dog to die," he said. Staff called a nearby veterinary hospital and were advised to give Reeses a shot of Benadryl, which seemed to stop the allergic reaction. A hospital clerk and a security guard then drove the dog to the veterinary hospital. His owner told the newspaper the dog is recovering. "He's just about back to his normal self," she said.

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