<\/p>\n
Raphie Shin stands with her Cane Corso dog, Apex. Shin and her boyfriend Daniel Lepore filed a lawsuit against a Miami veterinarian clinic that the couple says operated on the dog\u2019s wrong shoulder, leaving the animal with a lifetime of physical issues.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Rivkind Law Firm<\/p>\n
Raphie Shin and Daniel Lepore adopted a Cane Corso puppy almost two years ago, a welcome addition to the military family.<\/p>\n
Lepore, 38, a career U.S. Army soldier stationed in South Florida, bought the pup, Apex, for his girlfriend for Christmas in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves this breed. For Christmas, he asked me to choose between a dachshund and a Cane Corso,\u201d said Shin, 29.<\/p>\n
The couple found the dachshunds too expensive, so they adopted Apex from a breeder.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves this breed so much,\u201d Shin said.<\/p>\n
All was going well for the trio until Lepore and Shin noticed Apex limping in April 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The couple took Apex to Good Care Animal Clinic in West Miami-Dade on April 8, where veterinarian Dr. Adalberto Cotelo diagnosed him with osteochondritis dissecans, a developmental disorder in which a flap of cartilage grows over the shoulder and becomes very painful, Shin told the Miami Herald.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Apex,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Apex3.jpg\" "\\"Apex3.jpg\\"")
Apex, a Cane Corso dog, is pictured in the days after he recovered from surgery in April 2025. His owners say the surgeon operated on the wrong shoulder. Rivkind Law Firm <\/p>\n
Radiological scans also confirmed lesions on the dog\u2019s right shoulder, and Cotelo recommended an operation to scrape the excess cartilage, Shin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apex underwent surgery on April 25 of that year. The surgery was performed by another veterinarian, Dr. Mario Cabrera, who owns a company called Cutting Edge Anesthesia Repair, whose website describes him as a \u201cmobile veterinary surgeon\u201d who partners with \u201cover 100 animal practices throughout the region.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The couple picked Apex up and returned him home and were billed $5,198 for the operation, Shin said. Lepore had to sell his motorcycle to pay for the procedure, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The couple soon realized Apex had a bandage on his left shoulder, and was still limping. Cabrera operated on the wrong shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were just so excited to have him home. That\u2019s why we didn\u2019t realize it right away. Then we looked at him and were like, hold on, this is wrong,\u201d Shin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apex, a large dog weighing 130 pounds and belonging to a naturally active breed, now has trouble moving around and running and is in constant pain, Shin said.\u00a0The limp is permanent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the ones who discovered that it was his left shoulder that had been opened and operated on. No one told us. We were the ones that discovered it, which is the shocking part,\u201d Shin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The couple are suing Cabrera, Cotelo, Good Care Animal Clinic and Cutting Edge Anesthesia Repair in Miami-Dade Circuit Court for veterinary malpractice, fraudulent representation, deceptive practices and intentional infliction of emotional discomfort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because Lepore is in the Army, his bosses did not want him to discuss the lawsuit with the media, said the couple\u2019s attorney Willard Shepard, with the Miami-based Rivkind Law Firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raphie Shin and attorney Willard Shepard stand with Shin\u2019s Cane Corso dog, Apex. Shin and her boyfriend Daniel Lepore filed a lawsuit against a Miami veterinarian clinic that the couple says operated on the dog\u2019s wrong shoulder, leaving the animal with a lifetime of physical issues. Rivkind Law Firm <\/p>\n
Daniele Lentini, an Orlando-based attorney for Good Care Animal Services and Cotelon, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but told the Miami Herald in an email:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we appreciate your journalistic efforts, we simply cannot comment on pending litigation.\u00a0 Doing so runs the risk of influencing any future jury empaneled in the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attorneys for Cabrera and Cutting Edge Anesthesia Repair did not respond to the Herald\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Lepore spoke with Cabrera about the wrong shoulder being cut open, he acknowledged that it was, but told them it \u201cneeded it anyway,\u201d according to the pending lawsuit, which was filed in November 2025.\u00a0That\u2019s not true, according to the surgeon who eventually operated on the correct shoulder, the complaint states. That doctor said that as far as he could tell, the left shoulder was fine, and there was no indication Cabrera did anything else except cut it open during the April 25 procedure, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot really apologetic. Very weird conversation. Very strange conversation,\u201d Shin said.<\/p>\n
Rather than refund the money Lepore paid, the Good Care Animal Clinic offered him a \u201cfree redo,\u201d according to the complaint. When Lepore refused, the clinic\u2019s management said it would return the money only if Lepore agreed to sign a settlement agreement containing confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses, Shepard said.<\/p>\n
Raphie Shin stands with her Cane Corso dog, Apex. Shin and her boyfriend Daniel Lepore filed a lawsuit against a Miami veterinarian clinic that the couple says operated on the dog\u2019s wrong shoulder, leaving the animal with a lifetime of physical issues. Rivkind Law Firm <\/p>\n
Shepard then got involved, and the clinic returned the payment in June of that year and only after the attorney told\u00a0the company \u201cthat keeping [Lepore\u2019s] money was not allowed in Florida for a service that they never actually provided,\u201d the attorney told the Herald.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the more than 70 days, Lepore and Shin did not have the money to pay for an operation to treat Apex\u2019s right shoulder, and his condition grew worse as a result of the delay, Shin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very tall dog. He\u2019s roughly the height of a Great Dane, which is what is having a greater impact on him, than would if he were a dachshund or a Chihuahua. He is gigantic. And, orthopedically, this has made it a lot worse for him,\u201d Shepard told the Herald.<\/p>\n
The couple found another vet to operate on Apex\u2019s shoulder, but because his condition was worse, the surgery was more expensive. A North Palm Beach veterans nonprofit, Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, donated the final $1,430 to pay for the operation, which happened in July 2025, according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The surgery was a success, but Apex continues to have complications from his condition and because of the delay in getting it addressed from the beginning, Shin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now the consequences we\u2019ve been dealing with are, he drags that right shoulder. He drags that whole limb because he has muscular and bone imbalances, and that causes him to drag his nails … and causes him to bleed,\u201d Shin said. \u201cNow we\u2019re restricted in walking and the amount of exercise he can do, because he can\u2019t last very long. That makes his cardiovascular health very poor. He\u2019s a young, working breed. He needs to be able to play, run and jump, but he\u2019s very restricted in all of his movements.\u201d<\/p>\n
This story was originally published September 23, 2026 at 12:26 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raphie Shin stands with her Cane Corso dog, Apex. Shin and her boyfriend Daniel Lepore filed a lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-408448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}