Vet Misdiagnosis – Refund?
I’ll chime in on the “emergency vets exist to prey on you like this” note. I completely agree with that statement. When my 2 year old male was having a urinary issue (he couldn’t pee!), the emergency vet attempted to charge me over $1000 to put him right – just for the night. In the morning, I still would have had to transport him from their facility to his normal vet, who would then need to treat him with a long(er)-term solution. I thought they were kidding me, but they told me the price with deadpan faces and only lowered it when I made it clear that I refused to pay their outrageous prices. Unfortunately, with emergency vets, that seems to be the only way forcing a price drop works: demand it before the work is done. You know, while you’re highly emotional about the idea that your beloved pet is (a) in pain or (b) on the verge of dying if he doesn’t get the proper treatment. TheBones also has a great point. You are justifiably angry and deserve a refund of at least a portion of wha
LOLAttorney2009: “Too bad ‘malpractice in vet care’ hasn’t been codified as a cause of action…” Er – it has. Not under that heading; no court in the US would take this level of case as a “malpractice” suit or anything like that. But there are clearly recourses. In Michigan, for example, anything under $3000 is required to be filed as a small claims court claim. And in Michigan (as in most states) it’s set up so that you don’t even need a lawyer to make a claim in small claims court; all you have to do is fill out the forms, have the vet served, and show up. If you feel like you’ve been ripped off (and I think it’s clear that you have) and if the amount that you’ve been ripped off for is less than $3000, then small claims court is the way to go. And even if the vet wants to settle and not let it get that far, serving him papers is often the best way to convince him to pay attention and work to resolve this with you. And it’s a hell of a lot more efficient than complaining to whoever’l
I just want to chime in that I have had some really positive experiences with emergency vet clinics, so I disagree that they exist *entirely* to scare you into upsells. I’ve even had them tell me “don’t come, you can take care of this at home,” with instructions. I got results when I was a really unhappy with a small company by looking up the company info and writing a clear letter to the company president. I laid out my complaints and exactly what it would take to make me happy (and specified a dollar amount). This got me a lot farther than I had previously gotten, calling their general info line and getting brushed off. I received a weasel-worded letter saying essentially, “I’m sorry you had that experience, and we don’t take responsibility for the incident, but out of a sense of good neighborliness, here, have this check.” It took a couple of weeks. If you’re really unhappy with a veterinarian’s professional behavior, you can complain to the state association that oversees licenses.
I’m not a vet, but I’ve had lots of sick animals and thus way more experience with vets than I’d wish for. I know you’ve already marked best answers, but I can’t believe only bolognius maximus has chimed in with a differing opinion–which is the crux of the matter here. Young cats do not have back pain for no reason. For a vet to offhandedly suggest some startling possible reasons for the pain may have been hamhanded, but you shouldn’t ignore the possibilities. ER vet practices are usually staffed by vets who did (optional) residencies in a specialty such as cardiology, oncology, neurology, general trauma, etc. They have much deeper knowledge in specific areas than vets who have normal practices, who are general practitioners that went into practice straight out of vet school. ER vets/specialty vets chose to go into an area of medicine where they get to see more interesting (i.e., sicker) cases. The ER vet you dealt with may or may not have been using that narrow focus when suggesting
ImproviseOrDie – I certainly appreciate your opposing viewpoint. My regular vet thinks, and I tend to agree with her, that Simon fell and hurt his back, it’s not a chronic ache. He is very clumsy and slips on/off the counters he jumps onto, he’s just not that coordinated. Also working “against” him is that he’s very small – he’s only about 5.5 pounds. So any type of injury or trauma is more likely to cause him pain because he doesn’t have as much cushion. I understand how you took my saying that I was upset with such a casual suggestion of a deadly disease. I honestly expected more responses like yours. My main problem with this emergency clinic was that I had to call them despite their saying I’d hear something the following morning. And then a doctor I’d never met got on the phone and said she went over Simon’s results with the overnight doctor and that they had concluded it had to be one or the other. Despite the fact that every test was normal. So if I hadn’t called, they may have
