SEGEV:DISGRACED VET WHO HID DOG’S CANCER FROM OWNERS ‘GOT IT WRONG’
A disgraced vet who hid a dog’s fatal cancer from her owners in order to inflate his bill has told a hearing: ‘I got it extremely wrong’.
Kifir Segev, 48, told Andrew Barton and Elizabeth Kozlowska their beloved rescue dog Zoe would need an MRI scan costing thousands of pounds.
X-rays revealed the greyhound-lurcher had inoperable tumours, but Segev claimed they had vanished after keeping the animal in overnight.
He was kicked out of the profession in May 2009 after a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons disciplinary panel found him guilty of ‘pervasive dishonesty’.
Just weeks before he was struck off undercover filming caught him allowing trainee nurses to perform medical procedures on animals at the Medivet surgery in Stanmore, Middsx.
Segev also told a journalist posing as a member of staff that he had been victimised at his original disciplinary hearing.
‘They really went for me in every possible way,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t make sense because it’s not my style.’
The allegations formed part of a BBC Panorama documentary, broadcast in July last year, entitled ‘It Shouldn’t Happen At A Vets’.
Segev was still working as practice manager at the surgery when the programme aired, but resigned shortly afterwards and has since been working in a restaurant kitchen.
He has now applied to be restored the the veterinary register and the RCVS disciplinary committee was shown clips of the undercover footage during a hearing today.
Giving evidence to the panel, Segev said he now accepted full responsibility for his actions.
‘I respect the findings,’ he said.
‘I have had a lot of time to reflect and understand. I got it extremely wrong.
‘I will be ashamed of my conduct all my life but I will be someone who has learned a great lesson.’
Segev also apologised for his ‘hostile demeanour’ at the original disciplinary hearing, where he denied all the charges against him.
‘It was wholly inappropriate,’ he said. ‘At that stage I think I was in denial.’
He also claimed he had been bombarded with abusive emails after the Panorama programme was broadcast.
‘I won’t repeat them here,’ he said.
‘But they were extremely abusive, to the extent that I was concerned for the safety of my family.’
Segev told the hearing he has taken hundreds of hours of professional development courses since he was struck off and undergone a course of psychotherapy.
One course concerned the guidelines about allowing nurses to give anesthesia to pets.
‘That was one of the issues that came out of the Panorama programme about my transgressions,’ he said.
‘It was important for me to seek clarification and understanding about my conduct.’
In addition, Israeli-born Segev has also carried out voluntary work for a Holocaust charity and at a home for elderly people.
He added that he hopes to work for the RSPCA if he is allowed to treat animals again.
The original hearing was told he treated Zoe in November 2006 and tried to ‘railroad’ hear owners into paying £7,400 for treatment.
But the eight-year-old dog was at the end of her life. A few months earlier she had had part of a cancerous jaw removed and only needed pain relief.
She was put down in February 2007.
The hearing continues.
ends
