Worth Suing A Vet?

[Joey's mom]

While I want every good case to go forward I also respect those that don't. Which is hard but my family went though the grief of having a family member murdered by a bad DVM. It is horrible and poorly understood type of grief. Unlike a lot of animal activists I'm not for throwing the human race under the bus to reach a reasonable solution to this problem. As it stands now a devastated cat owner must decide if she wants to pursue this. I strongly encourage her to report this to her state veterinary board. And if she doesn't I understand that too. There are a lot of cases in courts right now pushing the bar to animal rights so people like this don't have to become caped crusaders when this happens. In most civil court cases they judge want's to know that you tried to reach a resolution. That might be fine for a dented fender but you don't ask a victims family to negotiate with someone who hurt or killed a family member.
Understand my bad DVM admitted to using the same treatment on cats for 15 years and not only did the SVB ignore that fact she continued to use that drug as her cure all for any animal. We don't have all the facts in this case and this DVM may well rise to the top and do whatever she can to rectify this with the cat's owner. That is always the best solution in these cases.
Most pet owners want to know what happened, why and an honest admission from the DVM that they did wrong. Restitution should be offered without asking except for any bills incurred due to their mistake at other clinics and the assurance that they have corrected the situation that caused it. We want to protect other pets too.
As a side note had my bad DVM done the above we would have forever assumed she miscalculated the dose and though the Kitten would have still been blinded an died of liver failure we would have avoided all of the misery that followed. I'm not sure that wouldn't have been better for all of us.

Believe me, I do understand and agree. Many yrs ago I had a cat sent by my vet to a surgeon who specializes in unique surgeries. Because of frequent constipation, and the cat forcing himself to defecate, it was determined he weakened the muscles by and could not eliminate normally, on his own. At that time there was a procedure being done at a well known hospital in New York City, I was told 200 of the same procedure done all successful. Something called a sub-total colonectomy, if I'm spelling it right. I guess partial removal of the damaged bowel. I agreed, the surgeon took the cat himself to NYC, performed the surgery. At that time I thought what a nice surgeon saving me the long trip. Apparently, it was not successful with my cat. He suffered in pain, still could not eliminate without forcing himself. It was hurtful to see him suffer, but I thought perhaps something else could be done. The local vet treated him with enemas 2-3X/wk, I was to give him human surpositories in between and oral human liquid medication to help defecate. At the time my father died suddenly, the surgeon called told me they perfected the procedure and wanted to do it again. The cat was suffering too much in pain, I would not subject him to another. I continued with the enemas, such a long time ago, I don't remember how long I gave him the enemas, maybe a month or two. I suddenly realized it was too inhumane bringing him in, there wasn't any hope, improvement, couldn't let him continue receiving supositories (I'm a bad speller) forcing liquid medication into him, so I ended his misery. I could not consider this a malpractice situation, did not understand why it worked on 200 cats and not mine. The surgeon felt badly, offered to do it again. At that time I did not think the surgeon's offer was to cover his tracks, I thought it was a kind offer. Since then I have become very educated in cat welfare. I never knew if the surgeon did something wrong, the cat did survive, the procedure just didn't work for him, had funeral arrangements to make and let it go. This careless doctor caused the death of your cat, perhaps a letter from an attorney to him requesting records and explanation might be the documentation to bring this matter to the vet board, but as I said, doctors can alter records. I have in my hands a letter from my own doctor which is not in agreement with the wrong-doing he did to me. I submitted this letter to my medical carrier and they still decided in favor of the doctor. Money is not going to bring your cat back, this was a horrible situation and I understand the pain and grief, getting it out there that this vet needs to pay (by being suspended, or license revoked) done in memory of your cat is the best thing you can do for your beloved pet.

 

[molly92]

I have no familiarity with legal recourse here, but I think the suspicion that someone other than the vet did the surgery is sound. It doesn't make sense to me that an experienced vet would mistake the ureter for...maybe the ovarian blood vessels? That sounds like inexperience.

I would talk to other vets. Specifically the one who did the necroscopy, but also any others that have a good reputation and are willing to do a consult with you just to get more opinions. Get their best guess on what happened in the surgery room, whether they think this is something that "can happen" or is truly negligence, and then get their suggestions on how they think you should proceed to keep this from happening to other animals.

I would not put to much stock in whatever the culpable vet has to say from now on in terms of excuses. If they had answers and were honest they would have told you from the beginning.

Online reviews are also important. Just make sure you are very logical and detailed. You of course have every right to be devastated and outraged, but reviews that are all emotion and no facts don't really resonate with anyone.

I'm sure this has been a truly terrible experience and you're doing a great thing for other animals by looking into it.

 

[fionasmom]

At the very least go to the licensing board because if I understand this, as others have stated, someone unsupervised or unskilled performed the surgery beyond what could even be termed " incorrectly." Others need to know that this could happen. As for suing, that is for you to weigh, and you might want to find an attorney who specializes in animal law. I know there are probably some out here and possibly they do phone consultations or can request records electronically to help you make a decision.

I know how you feel. Years ago, I lost my first Cushings dog to a minor surgical procedure which was supposed to be performed with a special anesthesia by my long term vet. He had a personal emergency and unbeknownst to me, the substitute vet, who had once neutered a cat who had just eaten a full meal ( I expected it to be done the next morning) performed the procedure with no precautions taken and I never saw my boy alive again.

 

[Kflowers]

This isn't a direct answer to your questions, but someone mentioned VCA vets. In 2017 they were bought by Mars - the candy and food company. I mention this because it seems, in some cases, to have affected the care provided.

Here are some articles about it.

www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vca-mars-20170109-story.html



Why Pet Owners Should Care About Banfield & VCA Animal Hospitals Coming Under Same Corporate Umbrella



VCA Animal Hospitals - Wikipedia

 

[Kflowers]

I don't have an edit button yet, so I'll add this. I know from personal discussions that the individual vets didn't have a choice. Once they sold their practice to VCA they either went with VCA's decision to sell to Mars or bought their practice back.

 

[Joey's mom]

I have no familiarity with legal recourse here, but I think the suspicion that someone other than the vet did the surgery is sound. It doesn't make sense to me that an experienced vet would mistake the ureter for...maybe the ovarian blood vessels? That sounds like inexperience.

I would talk to other vets. Specifically the one who did the necroscopy, but also any others that have a good reputation and are willing to do a consult with you just to get more opinions. Get their best guess on what happened in the surgery room, whether they think this is something that "can happen" or is truly negligence, and then get their suggestions on how they think you should proceed to keep this from happening to other animals.

I would not put to much stock in whatever the culpable vet has to say from now on in terms of excuses. If they had answers and were honest they would have told you from the beginning.

Online reviews are also important. Just make sure you are very logical and detailed. You of course have every right to be devastated and outraged, but reviews that are all emotion and no facts don't really resonate with anyone.

I'm sure this has been a truly terrible experience and you're doing a great thing for other animals by looking into it.

Am I confusing you with the person who brought up the subject of suing. I'm thinking it's your cat, yet you sound as if it wasn't.

 

[kittens mom]

Am I confusing you with the person who brought up the subject of suing. I'm thinking it's your cat, yet you sound as if it wasn't.

No this was not my cat. I was tagged by someone because of the experience I had and shared her and on FB very openly. IANAL but I do try to help pet guardians that find themselves in this horrible position because quite frankly there isn't much out there to give anyone any direction on what to do and what your options are. Most cases of suspected negligence remain that. Some are very clear cut and still fail. At least in court but I've become a very big fan of the court of public opinion when that happens. I know from being there how hard it is to pull your poop together and just fill out a complaint to the SVM and then mail it. It's even harder and scarier to file a civil suit. For myself I'd never been so mad. Ever. The really good people who held me up, many of them here made the difference.

 

[Joey's mom]

No this was not my cat. I was tagged by someone because of the experience I had and shared her and on FB very openly. IANAL but I do try to help pet guardians that find themselves in this horrible position because quite frankly there isn't much out there to give anyone any direction on what to do and what your options are. Most cases of suspected negligence remain that. Some are very clear cut and still fail. At least in court but I've become a very big fan of the court of public opinion when that happens. I know from being there how hard it is to pull your poop together and just fill out a complaint to the SVM and then mail it. It's even harder and scarier to file a civil suit. For myself I'd never been so mad. Ever. The really good people who held me up, many of them here made the difference.

I'm glad it wasn't your cat, I thought I was replying to the grieving person, hope she somehow is able to read my responses.

 

[Joey's mom]

I'm glad it wasn't your cat, I thought I was replying to the grieving person, hope she somehow is able to read my responses.

 

[Joey's mom]

I'm glad to know it wasn't your horrible experience, I thought I was replying to the grieving person, hope she is somehow able to ready my comments.

 

[kittens mom]

I'm glad to know it wasn't your horrible experience, I thought I was replying to the grieving person, hope she is somehow able to ready my comments.

Many guardians are told that it isn't worth pursuing legally since the recovery of money is imitated to actual damages in almost all cases. Pet loss support groups encourage you to move on. State Veterinary Boards are at best a hit and miss situation and when they decide against all odd the DVM wasn't in violation it's like ripping the wound open. Law enforcement is poorly equipped to handle this.
The thing left out of all these situations is a crime has been committed.
My cat Kitten was murdered by what now appears per her own associates and friends not only incompetent but most likely impaired DVM. I wanted this cat owner to know there are good reasons to pursue this even if the lose. The cat in my icon lost her life to a complete and utter idiot DVM. The woman turned a stuffy nose into a blindness and liver failure. She lost her practice, her state license because she wouldn't fulfill the terms of the settlement and she died a squatter in her auctioned off foreclosed home.
It'd not the grief of a life well lived or that of an illness you fought and lost for your cat. The OP cat was murdered as was mine. They are sentient beings who should have rights when this happens not replaceable table lamps. Until then using social media and in person speaking opportunities and telling the absolute unvarnished truth of what happened to our cats is the best way found to sanction and shut down bad DVMs. Things are changing and instead of being lost and alone when this happens guardians are going to soon find someone reaching out to them to show them the way.
I hope the OP has reached a quiet settlement initiated by the DVM. I hope their heart is healing from this. And I hope they realize that the best memorial to any feline in their lives that is lost and gone is to give that same life and love to another.
I am always for a peaceful resolution to these situations because it does the least damage to the guardians that already have enough on their plate.