how to properly lodge a vet complaint...not sure if this belongs here

I recently had a bad experience working with a vet that was treating my little guy for his blockage.

Among the things she did was:
-called him a disapproving name
-provided no discharge plan
-provided no follow up anything
-insisted on vaccinations at the time of his critical situation
-proceeded with procedures that were not on the estimate and not obligatory to his procedure at that point in time

amongst some other items.

Luckily, I have found a wonderfully reasonable vet, however, in retrospect I find that this behavior is unacceptable.

Does anyone have similar experiences, and how did you proceed?

I have had similar things happen to me TWICE now with one of my dogs.

The first vet - Sadie was probably around two when we had the problem. I took her in for her general exam and shots, since she had had a problem with her back about 6 months earlier, I also asked the vet to check her back. She had some slight discomfort, but instead of advising me to give her steroids and crate rest (most common treatment), the vet said that Sadie needed surgery on her back now. I asked if we could try the steroids and crate rest, her response was something along the lines of, "We can't just keep giving her steroids, if you can't afford the surgery, you shouldn't have a dog. We can take her right now and get her a home that will actually take care of her.". I was livid. I snapped right back at her that I can afford my dog, that I had the money saved up for the surgery should it need to happen (it's about $5000 and common for dachshunds), but that there was no way in he** that I was going to let some bitch of a vet perform a surgery on my dog that could potentially paralyze her. As I was leaving, I looked back at her, kind of laughed and said "Seriously? You thought that I would let you do that surgery on her? She'd go to Guelph.".

The look on her and my mother's faces were priceless. My mom paid for me (because I had stormed out to the car, I couldn't say all that and then just casually walk up to pay, lol).

I wrote a letter to the owner of the clinic. He had looked after our pets for 15 years at that point and was a wonderful man. However, during that time he had also opened up another clinic and built a new building for that one. It had lost it's personal feel. I truly did expect to get some sort of response, but I didn't get anything. I never went back to that clinic - my mom did, but they made sure to never give her that vet.

The second time was actually less than a year ago. Sadie had an innie vulva from being spayed too early, as a result she was constantly getting UTIs - one about every 3-6 months... since she was about 7 months old. It's hard to tell with her for a couple of reasons, 1) she's so low to the ground that you can't see if she's actually peeing or just dribbling, 2) she marks outside, a lot, so it's not abnormal for her to "pee" 5 times on a walk.

We went to visit Mike's family up north over a weekend, on the way we had to stop at a hotel for the night. Long story short, Sadie ended up peeing in the bathtub there and there was blood in it. We knew it was a UTI but there were no vets open then, the front desk said there wasn't an emergency vet and when we got to where we were going no vets would take us in because we weren't regular patients. So she had to wait until we got back early Tuesday morning. The second the vet's office opened I called them. They said they had an appointment for a week later... seriously!? A week later for a dog that's peeing blood!? I managed to convince them to let me drop her off and take a look at her when they had a chance. I got the call go to pick her up 8 hours later. This is what happened:
- they only let her out to pee twice (once was the collection as soon as we got there)
- the prescribed the wrong antibiotic
- the prescribed a food that contained numerous allergens for her
- later found out that they actually never did an exam
- they never did the culture that I asked for
- refused to do xrays because they didn't believe my suspicion on stones
- this was the second time that I had an emergency with them and they didn't want me to bring her in (first one she had three grand mal seizures in a row, she's epileptic)

Less than a month later, guess what. She had another infection. Lucky for us, by this time we had started seeing another vet at a different clinic for Stan. I called them and asked them if I could bring her in in the next few days - they had me bring her in within the hour! I seriously love that vet. As soon as the vet examined her she wanted to do xrays because.... she felt something in her bladder. She had three GIANT stones in there, easily felt through her an exam, and she said that at the very least her bladder would have felt like a bag of sand a month ago - but she probably had the stones for quite some time. We scheduled surgery for 2 weeks later to remove them - again, if the other vet had bothered to do the exam in the first place, they could have been broken up with ultrasonic technology and her bladder could have been flushed, however they were now too big for that to work.

I didn't do anything about the last one. My focus was on getting my dog better first. I did post something on vetratings and filled all the dog boards I'm on with her story, but nothing else.

Oh, it's been 8 months since we switched vets and they still refuse to switch her records over.

So I lodged my formal (written) complaint to the vet...and said that I would give 2 business weeks (seeing that memorial day and vacation often fall during this time).

I haven't heard from them yet.

Anyone else have some experience with this?

I posted in the general forum but received only one response.
I am wondering if anyone has experience dealing with a vet and lodging a formal complaint.

I wrote a letter to the office and have received no word as of yet. I did say however, I would expect to hear back from them in 2 business weeks. I took in consideration memorial day.

Does anyone have experience with this and how to proceed?

Info to help you get started

www.vetabusenetwork.com/filecomplaint.htm

http://checkyourvet.net/

Helpful reading even though you're in another state

http://www.vetmed.state.mn.us/Default.aspx?tabid=802

For more reading you might want to go to Google and type in for instance: how to check on a veterinarian's license and complain

If you haven't received a response from them yet, in writing or by phone, why not try calling and see if you can get the head vet on the phone? If not, I would contact the veterinary board in the states.

Call the college for veterinarians in your area. The licensing board.

I heard from the head vet at the office...and pretty much she talked around things and gave excuses for "lack of communication" and this and that...

Overall, not pleased at all...

What else can I do???

Any advice?

Originally Posted by chickadee123

I heard from the head vet at the office...and pretty much she talked around things and gave excuses for "lack of communication" and this and that...

Overall, not pleased at all...

What else can I do???

Any advice?

Click to expand...

You're in New England, here is the contact page of the New England Veterinary Medical Association. Write them a letter including the name and address of the vet in question, and ask them to investigate your complaint.

https://netforum.avectra.com/eWeb/Dy...ebCode=Contact

Originally Posted by chickadee123

I am wondering if anyone has experience dealing with a vet and lodging a formal complaint.

Click to expand...

What's your complaint?

.

chickadee123 - I'm wondering....are you reading the advice you're getting?..... I for one would really love to hear from you.....

Originally Posted by chickadee123

I posted in the general forum but received only one response.

Click to expand...

These threads have been merged, because posting duplicate threads violates the Forum Rules.
Obviously there have been several responses.

Originally Posted by Violet

chickadee123 - I'm wondering....are you reading the advice you're getting?..... I for one would really love to hear from you.....

Click to expand...

So sorry, I missed some of the responses b/c I didn't have the notification thing correct....

Anyway. Like I said I spoke to a "head vet" and they really had excuses for every thing...She would agree with me to a point then an excuse would come up...it didn't feel resolved, and no apology was really issued.

I'm really not sure what to do next...I guess just review them poorly online?

Originally Posted by Katkuddler

What's your complaint?

.

Click to expand...

She listed them in the first post.

Among the things she did was:
-called him a disapproving name
-provided no discharge plan
-provided no follow up anything
-insisted on vaccinations at the time of his critical situation
-proceeded with procedures that were not on the estimate and not obligatory to his procedure at that point in time

Click to expand...

I would write a nasty review on http://www.yelp.com

Sorry, not good enough. OP has to contact the state board and talk to someone on the phone. Then file a formal complaint. If that doesn't do it, contacting
http://allcarelawsuits.ctyme.com/aldf.htm
might be the only way to find out what can be done.

PS

There are attorneys in MA and, I'm sure, in other neighboring states as well, that deal with these issues. OP has to get started somewhere and go from there. It isn't easy to get advice regarding these issues but advice is available and the hard work to find out where and how is well worth it.
OP has to do the necessary work to get started. I'm thinking we might be able offer more help if we knew where (what state) OP was located.