A veterinary hospital in The Dalles has sued an animal health technology company, alleging its artificial intelligence diagnostic service misidentified a cancerous tumor, leading to the death of an 11-year-old dog.
The lawsuit, filed by Columbia Veterinary Hospital on Thursday in Wasco County Court, accuses New Jersey-based company Zoetis Inc. of fraud and violating Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
The hospital claims that Zoetis Inc. falsely marketed its AI tool, Vetscan Imagyst, as “the world’s most capable veterinary AI analyzer” that could accurately identify certain cancers, but failed to disclose its limitations, the lawsuit states.
According to the complaint, Columbia Veterinary Hospital purchased the AI system in 2024 believing that it provided expert-level diagnostic results.
The lawsuit states that in October 2025, vets at the hospital used the AI system to analyze tissue samples from an 11-year-old Belgian Tervuren dog that was brought in with a rapidly growing neck mass.
From the sample, the AI software detected mast and spindle cell features associated with a cancerous tumor but concluded that the dog’s mass was an inflammatory lesion, not cancer, according to the lawsuit.
Veterinarians at the hospital then removed the mass based on the software’s assessment, but a biopsy later performed by the Oregon State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab determined it was an aggressive cancer.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that because the initial surgery did not remove all of the cancer, a second operation on the dog was needed.
The dog then died due to complications from the second surgery, the lawsuit claims.
“The patient’s death resulted directly from the need for a second invasive surgical procedure, particularly within such a short amount of time from the first, which would not have been required if Imagyst had properly identified the tumor as cancerous as Defendant Zoetis represented that it would,” the plaintiffs state in the lawsuit.
In addition to arguing that the dog’s outcome would have been different if the AI system had correctly identified the tumor from the start, the hospital also contends that Zoetis altered the original AI report after being informed about the cancer diagnosis.
According to the plaintiffs, shortly after they informed Zoetis about the misdiagnosis, the company requested a call with Columbia Veterinary Hospital.
The lawsuit alleges that on the call, the company apologized to the hospital, admitted fault and said that similar incidents had happened with other Imagyst users. Zoetis also said it was trying to fix the issue and thanked the hospital for its assistance, the lawsuit states.
The hospital is currently seeking at least $50,000 in damages.
Zoetis Inc. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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