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A veterinary hospital in Oregon sued Zoetis Inc. after its AI diagnostic tool, Vetscan Imagyst, misidentified a dog's cancerous tumor as an inflammatory lesion, leading to an incomplete surgery and the dog's subsequent death.
In October 2025, Columbia Veterinary Hospital in The Dalles, Oregon reportedly used Zoetis's Vetscan Imagyst AI to analyze a rapidly growing neck mass in an 11-year-old Belgian Tervuren. The system allegedly classified the mass as inflammatory, while a later biopsy found aggressive cancer. The hospital alleges the first surgery failed to remove all cancer, requiring a second operation; the dog died from complications. Zoetis allegedly later apologized and said similar incidents had occurred.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
Also classified as
The veterinarians relied on the AI's diagnostic output to perform surgery without waiting for a confirmatory laboratory biopsy.
The AI system failed to perform reliably by misidentifying an aggressive cancerous tumor as an inflammatory lesion, demonstrating a lack of diagnostic capability.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The incident was caused by the Vetscan Imagyst AI system misdiagnosing a tumor after being deployed in a veterinary hospital.
Added categories peak at 2: Minor (Psychological Harm, Inferred)
A domestic civil lawsuit in Oregon involving an AI veterinary tool that misdiagnosed a dog's tumor. The incident is a commercial product failure with negligible implications for national security, critical infrastructure, or sovereign interests.
The Vetscan Imagyst system acts as an assistant to veterinarians, providing diagnostic suggestions that require human review and action, rather than acting autonomously.
High Risk: The AI system is used as a diagnostic tool in healthcare (specifically veterinary medicine), which has significant implications for safety and animal welfare.
The AI tool, Vetscan Imagyst, was marketed and used to analyze tissue samples to identify cancers, serving as a medical diagnosis support system.
The report is a detailed news article describing a specific lawsuit with concrete facts, dates, and parties involved. The role of the AI system is explicitly stated.
None
Technology
AI Software Misclassification
AI system misidentified a cancerous tumor as an inflammatory lesion.
Post-Incident Report Alteration
The company altered the original AI report after the misdiagnosis was reported.
Data Inputs
Tissue Sample Interpretation Failure
System failed to correctly analyze features in the provided tissue sample.
Human Factors
Overreliance on AI Output
Vets relied solely on the AI diagnosis to perform the initial surgery.
Process and Methods
Lack of Pre-Surgical Biopsy
Vets did not wait for a confirmatory biopsy before performing the surgery.
Inadequate Limitation Disclosure
Zoetis failed to provide clear warnings about the AI system's limitations.
Management
Misleading Marketing Practices
Zoetis marketed the tool as expert-level without disclosing its limitations.
Failure to Address Known Issues
Management knew of similar incidents with other users but did not resolve them.
AI system involved
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
