Can I take a vet to small claims court?

mrbadexample

Thank you all for your encouragement. I'll see what the second vet says when I get chance to go and see him. I'm not sure I'll get anywhere without his support.

UKTigerlily

I don't have anything useful to add but have read this & am apalled at the way you & your Cat were treated & the errors made, how terrible for you both. I'm also so sorry to hear of your Cat passing on. It's shocking really, if you can't trust your vet who can you trust?

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

I have no knowledge about cats as I have never had one, I'm allergic to them, but I do know how it feels to lose your pet as I lost my Dog a few days ago, so I know how upsetting it is to come home and your pet not to be there to greet you. It sounds as if you have a legitimate grievance if I had one over my dogs death I would certainly go for it. Good luck.

blue_monkey_2

I am sorry to hear what happened to your cat.

I wanted to tell you what happened to my friends dog. Her dog had these cancerous lumps and they do appear so quickly and her dog quickly went downhill too. Can I suggest that you ask the vet if it was possible that 2 weeks prior the tests might have come back as normal - as your case is going to be based around this. The vets will have untold insurances to back them up in a legal capacity so you need to be aware of this.

If you file at Small Claims court and they do not pay you, you then have to proceed further and you have to fill in another form (the name of which escapes me) and it will cost you £100 when you fill the form in. So it is possible that you might lose the £130 should it find in their favour, plus they could be awarded costs. This is why I suggest you ask the other vet.

My friend found once her dog had some medicine it seemed to bring everything out really quickly and he went from 'off his food' to having a few days to live in a very short matter of time - days rather then weeks - it seems that this can happen in some animals, as it does in some people. Maybe you need to speak to your new vet as he does sound very good and easy to speak to and ask his personal opinion on the case, and then decide on what you wish to do.

You will get your court costs back if you win the case, too. Good luck.

Stephb1986_2

I have no advice really I just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear about your cat

Steph xx

tylersbabe

Have no advice just posted just to add am sorry to read about spaghetti, have enjoyed reading snipits about him in your other "cooking" posts.

BuffyinDebt

mrbadexample wrote: »

:hello:

Well, what the title says, really.

Long story short, I took my cat to a vet at the end of last year. They did the usual assessments, blood tests etc. They told me the blood test results were "normal".

I wasn't happy with their treatment of him, so I ended up going to another vet. He requested the test results from the first vet, and immediately noted that they were very far from normal. I had to have the blood tests repeated, as well as the expense of the second consultation etc.

The first vet missed obvious symptoms of what was wrong, and completely misinformed me.

I wrote to the first vet to complain, and requested a refund for the treatments I had to have repeated. Unsurprisingly, they weren't interested. After all, they have my money (about £170). :rolleyes: They said that the work was done in good faith, and with my consent. Obviously, I did give my consent to have the treatment done, but not from an informed position as I was not given the correct information.

So, once I've finished writing my formal complaint to the RCVS, can I take them to a small claims court to recover the money?

What are the chances I would win? The only evidence I (might) have to support the fact that they told me the blood tests were normal, would be a statement from the second vet confirming that I went in and said that's what they told me. I haven't asked him yet, but I'm sure he would remember, and I think he would probably be prepared to give a statement to that effect.

If I didn't win, what could it potentially cost me? I know there's an initial cost of £30, but could it cost more if I lost?

Thoughts appreciated.
Cheers,
MBE[/quo

I am very sad to hear that your poor wee cat has since passed on. However, I do feel that what you are doing will only stop you from grieving and putting your beloved cat to rest in peace. I completely understand that you are unhappy with the treatment and absence of a diagnosis, however, why did you not go back to the original vet for an explanation, with your cat for more treatment? How would you feel if the Belgian Vet is 'struck off' by the RCVS and therefore, left with no job because of you for a mistake? Of course, it is very sad for you but I still think you should have went back to your original vet and gave them a chance to 'put things right'. If the RCVS decides to take your complaint on board it could end in the said vet losing a career, and (I don't mean this in any way cruel) all for a cat who is dead?

mrbadexample

BuffyinDebt wrote: »

I completely understand that you are unhappy with the treatment and absence of a diagnosis, however, why did you not go back to the original vet for an explanation, with your cat for more treatment?

The cat went in for two consultations, and had two sets of blood tests done, at a cost of nearly £200. Their next suggestion was to have his teeth cleaned at a further cost of £350. I'm not a vet, but I knew perfectly well that the problem was nothing to do with his teeth.

How many times am I supposed to return to the same vet in the vain hope that they might get lucky and stumble across what was actually wrong? How much should I spend while they mess about with inappropriate treatment? How long should I let the cat suffer because he isn't getting the correct treatment?

If you can give me a sensible answer to those questions, I might take your post seriously. The vets were incompetent, so I went elsewhere - somewhere that immediately established where the problem lay.

BuffyinDebt wrote: »

How would you feel if the Belgian Vet is 'struck off' by the RCVS and therefore, left with no job because of you for a mistake?

To be frank, relieved. I can't see why you think she should be protected if she's not up to the job. What am I supposed to think? "Well, she screwed up there, but I'd best not say anything in case the poor girl gets into trouble. I'd hate to feel responsible if she lost her job - however will she survive?"

If the police nick a motorist for drink-driving, and he loses his job as a result, is that the fault of the police? No.
If she lost her job, it would be down to her incompetence, not because I made a legitimate complaint.

BuffyinDebt wrote: »

Of course, it is very sad for you but I still think you should have went back to your original vet and gave them a chance to 'put things right'.

If I'd have done that, Spaghetti would still be dead. Mind you, he'd have nice shiny teeth. :rolleyes:

BuffyinDebt wrote: »

If the RCVS decides to take your complaint on board it could end in the said vet losing a career, and (I don't mean this in any way cruel) all for a cat who is dead?

What if other people have already complained about this vet? What if she's already had warnings? Her career is not my problem. It's not about a dead cat - Spaghetti had a terminal condition, and would have died regardless of the vet I took him to. He might have had a better prognosis, or at least suffered less, if he had been attended to by a competent professional. This is about the animals that might be treated by this veterinary practice in the future.

After the secondary consultation, I was away for a few days. Since my girlfriend was visiting from France, and I had booked & paid for a London hotel & West End theatre tickets, I didn't feel that cancellation was an option. Whilst I was away, Spaghetti basically starved because he couldn't eat. He was alone apart from the times my friends were able to come in, offer him food and stay with him for a while. I'll never forget the way he suffered unnecessarily, and can't help feeling partly responsible for that. But bless, it wasn't the poor vet's fault. :rolleyes:

Sorry if this isn't the answer you were looking for. Would you like to take one of your pets to this vet?

simontheiceman

BuffyinDebt wrote: »

I am very sad to hear that your poor wee cat has since passed on. However, I do feel that what you are doing will only stop you from grieving and putting your beloved cat to rest in peace. I completely understand that you are unhappy with the treatment and absence of a diagnosis, however, why did you not go back to the original vet for an explanation, with your cat for more treatment? How would you feel if the Belgian Vet is 'struck off' by the RCVS and therefore, left with no job because of you for a mistake? Of course, it is very sad for you but I still think you should have went back to your original vet and gave them a chance to 'put things right'. If the RCVS decides to take your complaint on board it could end in the said vet losing a career, and (I don't mean this in any way cruel) all for a cat who is dead?

This is very interesting because it shows a complete failure to understand the human-animal bond. I do rather hope that the writer does not work in the Veterinary industry, both for themselves (it will be totally unrewarding in the long term - trust me), for the clients (you have little empathy), or the pets (kinda obviously).

For fairness I will state that I have reported members of my own profession to the professional body (the RCVS), when I have felt that animal welfare was being compromised (I have more stories than I could even begin to tell you). In this I had not the least concern that a member might lose their career over such an action, they took their actions consciously and therefore chose to accept the consequences of their action, as indeed has the vet in this case. This kind of negligence is not a trivial matter and a failure to engage fully with a complaint is almost tacit admission of the validity of the complaint.

simontheiceman

mrbadexample wrote: »

Would you like to take one of your pets to this vet?

Nope.

We all make mistakes, however, but it is the manner in which we deal with those mistakes which marks us out.