Veterinary malpractice

Fire_Fox

Good story for the local paper too, if your mum feels up to it .... save someone else similar heartache. :mad:

Katie-Kat-Kins

If the cat was insured speak to your insurers. You may well have legal cover for this, or you may be able to recover the costs from your insurance and they may wish to claim them back from your vets insurers.

If your cat wasn't insured, you may have legal cover on your home insurance so check.

If you don't get any joy from insurers I'd write a letter of complaint to the vet and the vets governing body and see what happens.

snowman2_2

lowis wrote: »

they sent the cat for cremation BEFORE they consulted your mum? that is appalling. there are options they should have discussed with your mum i.e. did she want her cat indiviidually creamted, or a mass cremation, and did she even want the cat creamted at all - a lot of people prefer to bury their pets!

so they have been negligent during the operation and now they have been careless with the cat's body? crematoriums usually do a mass cremation once a week i think, they usually collect the pets from the vets once a week (the vet keeps the bodies in freezers) then the crematorium store the bodies in freezers until the mass cremation (or individual cremation) - there is a chance the body is still around..

We wont send an animal for cremation without contacting the owner to check their wishes and will wait a day or two to let them get over the shock (even if the euthanasia was planned). Smaller animals can be kept frozen if an owner is on holiday but most vets dont have facilities to keep larger dogs cool enough and it does become a health issue if we don't find out soon. saying that, I would wait a few days at least.
Our crematorium collects twice weekly (most in the north of england seem to do that) and the animals are usually cremated same day. Smaller crematoriums / vets may do them in batches but less likely. They should have checked properly with your mum before cremation but I guess there may have been a mix up again - get an explanation in writing.

alenax

Thank you everyone for your replies, will forward them all to my mum. I spoke to her today and she's definitely going ahead with the complaint, she was going to call the vet today and ask for an explanation in writing but either way we will see what happens, I'll keep you updated.

foreign_correspondent

How sad for your mum... it's horrible to lose an animal, but things will not have helped by how this has panned out at the vets - even if it turns out that it was nothing more sinister than a mix up or miscommunication that she was sent for cremation it must still be very upsetting...

.. I think you do need an explanation from the vets to put your minds at rest, at the very least.

Spirit_2

I am sorry to hear of the loss of your cat, however what has been explained does seem extraordinary.

1) The cat was not 'woken' from the anaesthetic
2)A normal part of the procedure (sponge) was not followed
3)The vet admits this
4)The vet sends the cat for cremation without consent
5)The cremation transport/event takes place immediately


I cannot understand how steps 4 and 5 follow on from step 3. Any vet being so frank is not simultaneously covering this all up - was it different versions of events from different people at the practice or some other confusion?

I hope you get it resolved.

alenax

Spirit wrote: »

I am sorry to hear of the loss of your cat, however what has been explained does seem extraordinary.

1) The cat was not 'woken' from the anaesthetic
2)A normal part of the procedure (sponge) was not followed
3)The vet admits this
4)The vet sends the cat for cremation without consent
5)The cremation transport/event takes place immediately


I cannot understand how steps 4 and 5 follow on from step 3. Any vet being so frank is not simultaneously covering this all up - was it different versions of events from different people at the practice or some other confusion?

I hope you get it resolved.

I have no idea, it is all very bizarre. This was all told to me by my mum, I think she's going to give the letter to the vet either today (if they're open) or on Monday and then hopefully it won't be too long before the reply. I haven't spoken to my mum in full detail about it because she's still really upset but both her and my stepdad (who handled it a bit better) are adamant that it's the vet's fault, in any case I'll post on here when they get the letter and find out what happened.

alenax

A short update: they went to the vet the other day to give them the letter requesting written evidence and the guy that owns the practice was s***ting himself.

They asked for a photocopy of the cat's records, which they got, the last entry read something like, "[name], the person who was responsible for the recovery of the cat, got distracted by a seagull (!!!!) and by the time she gave the cat her full attention, it was too late and the cat was dead" so that's that.

They did get the cat's ashes back though, in a beech box with his name engraved on it. They decided to wrap it in plastic and bury it in the garden, with a garden statue of a cat painted black (Lucky was black) on top of it as a memorial.

A few people have said not to get their hopes up as apparently vets always cover for each other, and also apparently this wasn't the first time something like that happened at that particular vets.

Paparika

Sorry no

Distracted by a seagull... whats he running here a mickymouse practice..

the whole thing sounds wrong, and getting rid of the evidence as well.


I'm the first to say i would be going balistic, this cat was a muched loved family member, who died becuase the nurse wasn't paying attention, then they cremate the cat without permission on a Monday when they are sent off on a Friday....

This needs a full investigation... the vet !!!!!!!! himself could just be a ploy for you to feel sorry for him and drop the matter.

if this isn't complained about, how many more people will loose their pets due to staff not doing their job properly.

Fire_Fox

I don't see how they can cover up for each other here, you now have the notes (well done) which admit the lack of care. How do you know it isn't the first time?