TV vet Noel: How malpractice row over bionic tortoise drove me to brink
TV VET Noel Fitzpatrick reveals today how he fell into a deep depression after being accused of malpractice over his treatment of a tortoise.
The star of Channel 4’s series The Supervet fitted three bionic limbs to a Hermann’s tortoise called Hermes to replace those chewed off by rats during hibernation.
After discussing euthanasia with the owner, he performed surgery, believing Hermes could live another 50 years and because it was done with his ‘best interests in our hearts’.
But a few months later, at the end of 2018, after Hermes died at home of a seemingly unrelated condition, four vets lodged an official complaint.
As the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons investigated, the 52-yearold faced losing his career and was left ‘crying behind closed doors while putting on a smile to face the world’.
In an extract from his new book, How Animals Saved My Life: Being The Supervet, in today’s You magazine, he says: ‘ The complainants maintained I had put self-promotion above my commitment to the health and welfare of my patient and requested a full disciplinary hearing.
‘Depending on the outcome, I could face a suspension or even be struck off, meaning I would no longer be allowed to practice veterinary medicine, which had been the central purpose of my life for as long as I could remember. As the investigation process began, I sank into a big cloud of depression. And in spite of seeking professional help, it wouldn’t budge.’
The change came when he broke his neck in a fall. Immobile in hospital, he realised his brush with death prevented him using work to escape his problems any more. He adds: ‘I wondered if some giant hand of fate had pushed me down the stairs to force me to deal with the growing horde of emotional demons in my head.
‘I was trapped inside my own body for the first time in my life, unable to move, unable to escape the thoughts that crashed around in my head, which normally would have been sublimated into simply working harder.’
When the malpractice investigation concluded in January this year, it found that although euthanasia should have been recommended as the best option, there had been no serious professional misconduct.
With the case closed, he could concentrate on recovering, which meant wearing a neck brace and moving as little as possible for months.
Around this time, his girlfriend Michaela found Ricochet – a fivemonth-old kitten with ‘a bent front leg, cross-eyes, an ear infection and quirky personality’.
‘ He needed someone who would love him as he was,’ the vet says. ‘It was love at first sight. In retrospect, it almost feels as though Ricochet was sent to save me – and when he found me, I needed rescuing very badly.’
He says Ricochet and his border terrier Keira stayed by his side during his recovery and lockdown, adding: ‘The all-consuming love I felt when I gave Keira or Ricochet a cuddle kept me from going out of my mind. I felt the unbridled joy of that unconditional love every day, and still do.’