Monkey died in surgery at KU Med Center because of poor training, inspectors say
A Vervet monkey died under anesthesia during a surgical operation at the University of Kansas Medical Center due to a lack of training, according to an inspection report filed on June 7 by the United States Department of Agriculture.
The surgery, conducted in June 2022, was to implant a headcap on the monkey, and was done by an attending veterinarian and research assistant. The report said the veterinarian was present through surgery prep, and a hour into surgery they stepped out, leaving the RA to monitor the animal.
After being left with the RA for approximately 40 minutes, the monkey was pronounced dead.
According to the report, soon after the veterinarian left, the animal’s head was moved. After this, monitoring devices began to read low blood oxygen levels and pulse loss. The RA, according to the report, believed these were mechanical failures.
The RA also assumed the ventilator was placed correctly based on appearance, which was incorrect. The facility said the ventilator was moved, causing cardiac injury.
The veterinarian and RA both agreed the RA did not have sufficient training to respond, according to the report. That RA is no longer allowed to assist in surgeries, and is receiving additional training.
Kay Hawes, spokesperson with University of Kansas Medical Center, said the procedures have changed since this incident and more training has been administered to RA’s prior to attending a surgery.
“We now require an attending veterinarian to stay with the non-human primate for the entire procedure, and we have another academic institution review all of our protocols to make sure nothing like this happens again,” Hawes said.
The animal rights organization PETA recently wrote a statement asking the National Institutes of Health to cancel all federal funding for KU Medical Center, due to the lack of care given during the operation.
Hawes said this surgery was not used for practice, but instead was a protocol procedure used to study the brain of the animal as part of specific scientific studies.
“We reserve those studies for the most serious of conditions, such as stroke and serious spinal cord injury – we take their care very seriously,” Hawes said.
KU Medical Center has made several changes in the last year to ensure nothing like this happens again, Hawes said. She pointed out that accidents like this are not common, and they’ve taken steps to ensure it does not happen again.
