How is Ghumman still practicing at all? If you get probation for these violations what do you have to do to lose your license?
source: Web Link

Negligence
Incompetence
Fraud/Deception in ordering Veterinary meds/supplies
Record keeping;
Deception in medical record(s)
Unlicensed out of state pharmacy practice
Internet dispensing of dangerous drug w/out Rx, w/out correct labeling, w/out a licensed pharmacist, & w/out Vet-Client relationship
False/Deceptive Advertising
Failure to comply with Cease and Desist order
Failure to account for dispensing controlled substances

We took our cat there over a decade ago. Something felt wrong, after paying thousands for chemo-therapy for "lymphoma" we took our cat for a second opinion. Our cat didn't have lymphoma, and we were sad that our cat underwent unnecessary (harsh) treatment. Our cat lived to 18, but, I am still sad that he had to go through such invasive treatment for nothing.

I always steer people away from Alta Vista.

I feel so sorry for the people who lost their pets. But our experience at Alta View has been quite different. We received excellent care for our very ill cat from two different veterinarians at Alta View, including Dr. Ghumman. The staff and doctors there were very caring, and I believe they helped both prolong his life and keep him comfortable through kidney disease and pacreatitis.

I never trusted this Vet. I took my cat Billy there a couple of times and I never felt comfortable when took my cat to the back room for tests. It is this gut feeling that makes you worry and pray for your cat. I changed to a different place. My advice to all animal parents is to make your own judgment and research, and never trust 100% what the vets are telling you and medicine prescribed, be on top of it and read everything with detail. Try to follow your gut feeling and connect very well with your animal in all areas, you know your animal more than anyone else. There used to be another animal clinic open for emergencies in Palo Alto by Middlefield road which I think it is closed now, I am not sure. I took my other cat there for emergency bcause my cat was retaining liquids and was not eating or peeing. According to the vet on duty, she said my cat had kidney failure and i had to make the decision to euthanize him that same night. It took me by surprise because he was perfectly fine 2 days before. I told her that I would take him home and wait for a few days. She then told me that I will be responsible for his suffering if my cat would start having seizures and suffering. At that moment of confusion, you just want your lovely pet to be ok and safe and out from suffering and you can easily make the HUGE mistake of euthanizing him. I made the decision to take him with me that night, and it was the best thing I could do. It resulted my cat had a urinary track infection and not a failure. That night I let him rest in a cozy place and gave him bits of water every hour. The next morning he started to urinate and let go of the water retention. He lived 6 more years and died from other decease and not from kidney failure. I learned from this experience, so when it was time to take Billy my bad gut feeling toward Alta View and Gumman was right and happy to listen to it on time and take action to change vets. I am sorry about Booboo . RIP

Greed vs "First do no harm" is the abiding dichotomy in USA health practitioners', like Ghumman's decision processes. Scare tactics used to SELL incorrect solutions to incorrect diagnostics happen more often than they should, even in treatments of humans. The current Opioid epidemic is an example, with many M.D.'s doing the equivalent of Pontius Pilate's hand washing stance to dismiss their obligations of oversight needed to protect their patients.
This Alta View Vet hospital example is another clear evidence that self-monitoring of any group (doctors, Lawyers, financiers, etc) for standards or practice really doesn't work. The code of silence and buddyship kicks in; what is needed is arms-length public oversight to protect consumers from what is basically fraudulent practices.
I'm just fed up the the illusion of great health care in this country when so many stats prove that to be a silly, dangerous view. Many other countries have much better, more ethical processes than we do.

I had a bad experience there too. I brought my dog in to get a medicated bath. He was 14 years old and had skin problems. He died while he was there. I went there and he was dead on the floor with an IV. Before I left the vet charged me for the bath and IV and of course the "burial." I know they did the work, but it didn't feel right to charge me for the bath and IV. I paid and left, I was in no mood to argue about it. Several months later I got a puppy and went to another vet.

Wait.. you mean to tell me a vet overcharged someone?

Say it aint so.

Please, vets screw people day in and day out. I've got a relative who was totally worked over by Adobe Clinic.

I don't play the game. Putting the animal to sleep is always an option and I let the vet know that up front. They are not going to drain my bank account.

And you know what? It works. I've talked vets down from a $1300 bill to $300.. and they still did all the same stuff they quoted for $1300.

You gotta take the emotions out of it or you'll get clobbered.

Not sure about all the negative publicity. Dr. Paul Ghumman has been my dog Molly's vet for over 3 years now, treating everything from tick/ flea control, vaccinations, broken molars, anxiety, arthritis and to most recent, inflammatory bowel syndrome. I knew things were bad. Molly is an 12 year old pittie mix, so cancer was a real possibility. One that scared me to pieces. Dr. Paul was very reassuring throughout the process. In the midst of all the anxiety and worry, these things remained constant: Dr. Paul's unwavering dedication to find the root cause of her condition and get her better, his genuine care, and avalibility to answer all my questions. He answered emails, phone calls on his days off, never once making me feel anything less but care. He presented facts and options for diagnosis and treatment, the rest was up to me.

We have lived in many cities and have seen multiple vets through the years but there's no one who stand out more than Dr. Ghumman and his staff.
- He truely cares
- His staff is wonderful and kind
- The clinic is fantastic
- Hours! Late evenings and weekends
- I never feel rushed

Forever grateful,
Krista, Phil and Molly

I went to him many years ago with my yellow lab. He always took my dog in the back and asked me to stay in the reception area. When he had to talk to me he would not look at me directly, and always spoke to me in a hush hush tone in the back of reception area after the exam. I made the mistake of leaving my dog with him to dog sit for a holiday weekend. When I picked up my dog and took her home, she immediately drank 3 big bowls of water non stop. I then took her for a walk, and within 1 block she pooped 3 horse size poops. I called him and mentioned this to him, thinking she was not given any water nor let out to poop. He simply stated she was in an unfamiliar environment and that is normal. Barf . . . Through the years I thought it was just me, but now I know differently. I never went back to him, either for care or dogsitting.

While I am horrified at the actions of this vet and veterinary practice, Booboo's owners have some culpability. Why did they wait so long to pursue other vets for 2nd and 3rd opinions? If this were my dog I would have taken him to several vets to see whether I received the same diagnosis. Adobe is just up the street and there are well respected other practices all over the area. UCDavis Vet School and Hospital are 2 hours away by car with many certified subspecialty vets who are excellent.

People have to use their brains when dealing with their loved ones- human, canine and otherwise.

I have been with Dr.G for decades for fish to felines. His lobby is full of people that love him plus cards & photos of thanks. He really cares & treats all animals as important as human. This couple should have checked the box on the intake form: "just a pet" as opposed to: "a family member"!
Stop the front page sensationalism based on a couple's "sixth sense" & their layman's thoughts about what "feels" superfluous"!
The world is full of complainers & the more you do, the more they have to jam you over. He is still in practice because he is a genius who only wants to provide care (he goes in every day & his hours are the longest) & to provide discount drugs to the world so pets won't go without. Help him regain front desk staff to provide oversight & to get charts out on the day requested like in the pass. He has lost valuable key adminisrative staff due to their relocating or being promoted into animal care.

Adobe stated a diagnosis followed by euthanasia. How could this diagnosis be proven with neither the animal responding to care or a necropsy performed? Ghumman was probably looking for multiple ailments, as many of my cats have had.
The labs are expensive but essental to effect a cure, and the vet must pay the price the lab charges. This is primarily their cost, and go to them, not him. He only charges for the blood draw.
I have had cats with terminal diagnoses made immensely better and able to live years longer with Dr. Ghumman's expertise and talent. One beloved cat of mine was given two months, but lived hardy and happy for over three! Thank you, Dr. Ghumman!

Dr. Ghumman is very likely of an East Indian background. This might explain why pets are as important as human beings to him. His soft spokeness and modest eye contact go along with this sort of a background. And usually he is looking at his patient as he should be! Of course his background is all speculation on my part, as is the bulk of the ridiculous claims in article!
Go for real news based on facts, not this slander based on couple of laypersons' supposed "6th sense" and feelings that only serve to make a busy health care provider even more busy and to add to his already high overhead due to his great location in a superior facility. If cost concerns the customers, stop the attack so the doctor's money can be spent on providing all that our animal family members need for state of the art care.
And What business wouldn't offer a refund, even if not warranted by fact, if they could be sure it ends unproven slander that is unfairly crushing the business they built their whole life? Enough!!

I meant to say above that one of beloved cats had a prognosis of two months but thanks to Dr. Ghumman, lived well for over three YEARS!
That's what Alta View can do. This has been the outcome there for many felines I have brought in. Only one precious cat was given a hopeless prognosis by Dr. Ghumman, and chart in hand that same day, I went to U C Davis and they concurred after they tried to save him. The necropesy concurred with Ghumman, so his accurate and honest prognosis was to save me money. He is not a rip off. He is fair and honest. I know that after much business over several decades.
If you love your pet greatly, go there for the greatest care.

I am very upset about this article. It relies on unprofessional opinions and unsubstantiated information. It is very careless and irresponsible, endangering the profession of a good and caring individual. What happened to innocent until proven guilty.

It is very one sided focusing on people whose animals had serious illnesses. I am very sorry for them and know the pain of loosing an animal. Medicine is not a formula driven science. You often have to do tests to rule things out. Often the cause of an illness is not discovered with animals and humans alike. This reminds me of the old saying. If the patient dies the family curses the doctor. If they patient survives, they praise God.

We have been going to Alta View Animal Hospital for 16 years. Our dogs have been well cared for at reasonable prices. They almost always can give you a same day appointment when needed for no extra charge. Our dog was attacked at 5:30 pm on a Saturday. They were able to see us within the hour! Dr. Paul is reserved among people, but so caring and attentive to the animals. That is what matters to me. We have taken 4 dogs to his office. I will continue to to take my dogs there as long as I live in MV

[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names]

I find this article very unbalanced, Dr. Paul has been my vet for almost 30 years now over 2 cats and I find him extremely caring and helpful. The clinic is clean and well run, the staff is always helpful and caring. I think this article has taken the side of disgruntled customers who are determined to ruin his business.

[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names.]

I am also very sorry for the owners of BooBoo. It's absolutely awful to lose a pet. However, I have say that we have been bringing our dogs to Paul Ghumman for almost 20 years and we love him. When one of our dogs was limping for a long time, Dr. Ghumman took hip and leg xrays but still couldn't find the cause of the limping. He didn't mislead us or guess at what other tests were needed, he sent us to an orthopedic vet, a specialist. He knew whatever was bothering our dog was outside his knowledge. It turned out that our pup had an untreatable cancerous tumor on his spine. Paul was so kind and sympathetic and followed up until it was time to put the dog down. The comments about Paul being quiet and not making eye contact are just silly. He is a gentle, soft-spoken man who may be a little shy, that's all. For as long as we've known him, he's treated our dogs and our family with kindness and respect.

I took my dog to Alta View and it was Dr. Paul G. that treated him. He runs a special in Feb for cleaning dogs teeth. I had my dogs teeth cleaned every 3 months without anesthesia. However, at the recommendation of Dr. Paul to take a deeper look an exam needed to be done once a year. So I dropped my dog in the morning for teeth cleaning. Around noon, I received a call that he has 5 bad teeth and they need to be pulled. I was shocked. He was under and a decision needed to be made fast. I agreed. Once I got there I realized that all the front bottom ones were pulled. These are cosmetic and perform the least in the chewing and tearing food. I brush my dogs teeth and had em cleaned. I can never prove there was nothing wrong with the teeth and it was just a source of income, but it has been 5 years since and he hasnt needed a single tooth to be pulled. My dog's holistic teeth cleaner was also shocked. I stopped going to Dr Paul and I am so glad I did. I know of another healthy dog he treated which resulted in the dogs death. He would not release the dogs info and videos of the operating room. He injected the dog with a pink liquid when the owner insisted for the dog to be released.

For people that are defending him, I hope you never get the proof that you are seeking. That simply means heart break. [Portion removed.]

Dr. Ghumman has been the vet for my cats for over 25 years, He has never recommended, much less "pushed", any unneeded services or products and the cost of his services has been lower than other vets in the area. He has acted promptly and appropriately in emergency situations and been concerned for and supportive of me during those times.

Since 2001, Dr. Ghumman has provided services for 266 cats rescued from Moffett Field. When captured, the cats have been accepted without appointments and Dr. Ghumman has provided the agreed-upon care (scan for microchip, neuter/spay, ear notch, FELV/FIV blood tests, FVRCP & rabies inoculations and claw trimming) at very reasonable cost ($119 for intact males, $135 for intact females). He has also boarded cats without charge and found homes for many kittens. The possible loss of his practice would seriously jeopardize or terminate the on-going Moffett Field rescue effort. I know of no other vet within five miles of Moffett Field able and willing to provide these services.

I feel this article is unbalanced and hyperbolic, relying solely on unsubstantiated anecdotal comments from a disgruntled pet owner. It also shows very little effort to highlight the other side of the story. Had the reporter simply checked Alta View's response to the initial yelp posting, he could have presented a more unbiased article.

Dr. Paul has been our vet for 13 years, and I have unreservedly recommended Alta View to many friends. They have consistently provided caring, informed service at reasonable prices. As a young dog, my pet had a congenital problem with the joints in both back legs. He would be dashing around and a knee would randomly pop out of joint. Dr Paul fixed both knees surgically and my dog recovered good as new and fast as ever. Because of my dog's size, each leg had to be fixed separately (I wouldn't have been able to carry him outside numerous times a day to relieve himself)--so 2 different surgeries were required. Dr. Paul only charged me once for anesthesia, aftercare boarding, antibiotics, etc.--any costs that would have been saved had the dog been small enough to have both surgeries done at once. This was extremely generous and unexpected. Last year my now 13-year old dog was attacked and Dr. Paul saw him right away to do stitches and insert a drain for the more serious wounds. Again my dog recovered quickly and with no problems. I have had dental cleaning performed numerous times, along with annual well care visits. I have found the office staff to be exceptionally well-organized, friendly and efficient. Records are well kept and I get online timely reminders for annual vaccines. I will continue to recommend Alta View Animal Hospital to friends.

All that this fine man does, including drop ins any time just to help the animals, would overtax anyone. That might be why he falls behind with a chart sometimes, but I have a background in medicine and I am a vigorous Type A person: Believe me, Dr. Ghumman has never made even the slightest misstep in the approximate 30 years I have continously taken hosts of animals to him.

Doctor Micael Sterns is also highly qualified & caring and backs up Dr. Paul Ghumman and should be in the chart notes when they confer as they often do. Also Paul #2, an assistant with the animals, has been there as long as I have been coming, and is very knowledgeable & skillful. His help at the front desk sets it in good order & totally up to speed, but his talents are best utilized in the back assisting.

Any problems that appear to have occurred, I know, are either off base due to emotions, unsubstantiated, imagined, or are minor due to this team of very caring people taking on so much all the time. Dr. Ghumman's kind heart seeks to help every animal every time to relieve their pain & to set them right. He'll squeeze you in if you ask him to. No wonder he might at times fall a bit behing putting his notes into a chart. And they are't for the money- I have had no charge for occasional things they were entiled to charge me for.

My big cat, Bo, loved to go see Dr. G! And 19 yr old Bo did live 3 yrs longer than his prognosis said he would because of Dr. G's first hand treatment. Thank you Dr. Ghumman. You gave us so much love and care. We love you back!

Dr. Ghumman has been our vet for two dogs and two cats, for about 10 yrs. He has always been kind and gracious to us and our animals. Our first dog had metastatic cancer. He called during surgery to give us the news and the option to put him down while he was still "under" from anesthesia. They had him set up in a room with a beautiful blanket for us to see him one more time and then arranged for his cremation. He also took care of our cat recently for bowl disease and with the meds he gave us the 11 yr old cat is doing very well.
These negative comments are not about the Dr. Paul or his office staff that we know. I am shocked to see such negative remarks.

I concur with the last poster: When my loving Bo reached the very end and I had to take home, Dr. Ghumman brought him to me wrapped in the most beautiful comforting blanket, colorful plaid and so soft and nice. No return of it was requested or required. It was for me to console me. It did. Dr. G loved my magnificent sweet Bo and told me so. I have never known a better vet. His knowlege, skill, expertise, and level of real caring set him above the others.

The list of "infractions" written by the first poster on this blog are assumptions that he knows nothing about, gleened from an article that should have researched Alta View's Yelp! rebuttals before writing such a one sided story, based on not much of anything: lots of emotion but what about any proven facts? As I said way above, anger is an easier emotion than grief! Grieving pet owners had no evidence. If you doubt that teeth were bad, view the Xrays & even request them after extraction and take elsewhere for a second opinion!

If Dr. G's big effort to supply the world's needy animals with the medicine they need affordably (affordable was key to DiscountPetDrugs for the world's poor who would otherwise let their animals just suffer and die), he probably overreached in an area new to him. Also consider that he is the hardest working man ever. His effort there was noble, but he was probably too busy already to have taken it on. Mind you, buying in bulk is key to achieving affordability. His was trying to do so much and do it right! Stop slamming a man who only wants to help!

And don't forget when he has taken Mountain View's BEST VET!!!!!!

Quite a few of these comments praising this veterinarian use language that sounds a lot like "insider" talk and frankly, given the pattern of comments, I'm suspicious that the vet is putting people up to commenting here. This is all I need to know about the story:

The board found the vet in violation of a long list of practice standards. If you know about vet boards, you know they are LOATHE to take action, it has to be really bad for them to issue findings. More importantly, READ the document --- the vet admitted to all but one of the charges. His record goes back years, and where there is this much smoke, there is fire. Public record. Go to the vet board license lookup page to see for yourself. Vet boards rarely take action, they must be convinced its bad.

The vet is represented by a lawyer named Daniel Koller. Daniel Koller is a horrible, infamous former veterinarian who had his license REVOKED in California and Oregon. You gotta be known by the company you keep and having Koller represent him speaks volumes, IMHO no compassionate vet would hang with that guy. Koller is so whacked that he even gave himself the middle name "GOD". He had a law degree and is now defending other vets who I presume share his values. They include, to quote from an article linked below, the following treatment of patients:

". . . a California judge sentenced Koller to 100 days in jail for brutalizing a dog and letting an unlicensed vet student perform a hysterectomy on a cat.

California revoked Koller's license in 1979 for animal cruelty and violating professional standards. . . . Duckler [an attorney] represented a woman in a 2004 lawsuit where she claimed Koller threatened to kill her cat if she did not pay her vet bill. Duckler believes Dr. Koller is the poster child for why Oregon should run criminal background checks on veterinarians before they can be licensed in the state."

I think just knowing this vet is in company with Koller would be enough for me, no matter what anyone here says about him. And shame on anyone who blames the victims.

Web Link

Web Link

No one has blamed the alledged victims. And how dare you alledge such nonsense about insider comments. If my posts were such, why would I be using my real name?

One thing makes sense about the lawyer representing this gentle man: he knows how all this proceeds. =Valuable knowlegde irrespective of his own outcome. Why shouldn't his experience help someone else? Guilt or innocence of the lawyer is entirely separate from our beloved Dr. Paul.

Why can't all the critics refrain from ungrounded speculation muddling the waters? Is this some kind of sport for the blood thirsty who have no skin in the game or any first hand knowledge about any of it?

Dear PetsMatter,

I don't know Koller from a hole in the wall and I did pass on my sympathies to the couple that lost their dog. I'm a client of Alta Vista and used my name and initial. I'm Tracy Hovda from Mountain View and no one encouraged me to write in to The Voice on behalf of Dr. Ghuman. There's no agenda here, it's simple- I've known Paul Ghuman for 20 years and I really like the guy. I didn't tell him I was making a comment and I've not been promised any free services by the the doc for doing so. Quit insinuating anything in regards to my comments.

Looking at this story as a pet owner with no connection to anyone involved, I agree with several commenters that a quite different light is shed by the exchange on Yelp between "Irina B." and the veterinarian in this article. The vet's "Owner Comment" there cites documented and witnessed history in the case, the condition that led to the dog being euthenized, the owners' delaying of the diagnosis, their repeated second-guessing of the clinic's advice, another clinic finally confirming what Alta View had tried to tell them, and more. Irina B's later response to that Owner Comment is only elevated outrage, ignoring the substantive points he raised and (what strikes me as ironic, given the nature of this subsequent Voice article) an accusation of "bullying." Web Link

Reviewing documented veterinary facts in a case isn't "bullying." It's very sad whenever beloved pets die, it upsets us pet owners badly. Some people in that situation will want to find someone to blame for it, even if they themselves made questionable choices along the way. So you have vendettas against even a widely popular and respected practitioner, marshalling any other testimony or factoid they can conjure to aid their rhetoric and revenge. (Or even fantasizing, as a pseudonymous poster did above: "I'm suspicious that the vet is putting people up to commenting here.") When people are emotionally committed to revenge, rationality and responsibility go out the window; evidence is subordinated to assertion, second-guessing, and whim.

I refuse to call this man a vet, because he's a charlatan. To those who have had good experiences with him, good for you. The fact that there are so many people whose animals have died or been misdiagnosed shows a pattern of being unable to properly care for their animals, and in many cases, killed them.

I have countless stories from people who were horrified by his back-room procedures. I'll tell three short stories.

- A couple's dog was hit by a car and brought to Alta View. The dog had a broken leg; Ghumann said he needed to do surgery right away. The couple came the next day and asked to visit; he said the dog was resting. This went on for three more days, and the couple finally insisted on seeing their dog. The dog was there, in a cage, no surgery, no treatment, leg still broken - they took the dog immediately and got it treated elsewhere.

- A kitten came in with a severely lacerated cornea. He told the person to leave the kitten and come back tomorrow. She did, and he said the kitten needed another day - uh, OK. Day two, she goes back and he gives her the kitten and some antibiotic salve for the eye, COMPLETELY useless. The kitten was taken to an eye specialist - the eye was removed (enucleation) because treatment hadn't been rendered in time, and the medicine given was nothing more than antibiotic salve.

- Two feral cats were taken in for spay/neuter. Ghumann used to be on the list for the voucher program, where one could take feral cats for sterilization at a very low cost. After the cats were checked in, he said "Oh, do you want pain medication for them? They don't really need it, but it's $70 extra, per cat." The person took the cats away immediately - but imagine that - surgery without pain medication because they don't really need it? That's certainly not what I imagine to be caring for a pet like a family member.

Hope he's shut down - I have so many stories it's ridiculous. I have never used him as a vet - hell, I wouldn't let him shine my shoes. And what vet wears a SUIT to work? It's not a culture thing, I assure you.

It is unfortunate to see some bad reviews of this hospital, as Dr. Paul Ghumman and staff have been taking care of my pets for the last 10 years or so. He has a great depth of veterinary knowledge and has diagnosed and treated my two dogs with great care and comfort.

It seems to me this article is bit biased and we did not hear from Dr. Paul's side of the story. I feel sorry for the owners who lost their pets, but I am sorry to say that it does not seem to be the doctor's fault in this case, but that is just my opinion.

I hope this article is taken down in the near future, as it does not portray the veterinarian that has assisted in my pets health for the last decade and counting.

Thank you,

B. Turner

A few people (out of thousands of clients) blaming a veterinarian for their beloved pets' deaths, posting UN-documented, one-sided jaundiced comments to this article, claiming facts but not attributing them to any named person (usually not even signing the commenter's own name), do not constitute serious criticism.

One commenter above was already deleted for sock-puppetry (pretending to be multiple people). The sad reality is, no reader can ever be verifiably certain that all the complaints posted in comments here were written by more than one individual.

As an early commenter pointed out, this is a disturbingly one-sided article citing unprofessional opinions and unsubstantiated information. It invokes various miscellaneous circumstances portraying Dr. Ghumman negatively, but that may have no bearing on the Badea-Frimmel case that's the main story. It mentions that couple's scathing Yelp posting (the cherished recourse of all vengeful customers, both those justified and those who caused their own problems), but doesn't mention enlightening case details in Dr. Ghumman's public response on Yelp (link is in my earlier comment) reporting that Badea and Frimmel delayed the diagnosis of the cancer that eventually killed their pet, and later showed attitude and condescension, ignoring efforts to warn them about cancer, insisting just on a medication refill. The couple's complaints on Yelp and to the Voice take no account of facts the vet calls well-documented.

The picture that emerges is of people out for irrational revenge, taking no responsibility for their own role in the sad events, even casting about explicitly (see Yelp) for any other rhetorical ammunition they can locate to criticize Dr. Ghumman. Who's "bullying" whom here?