My dog bled to death 2 hours after leaving veterinary practice

hollydays

It's very sad.
What do you want to happen?

OlliesDad

hachette wrote: »

Justice for my dog.We all make mistakes and should take responsibility for them especially when life was lost because of it. It seems to me that the veterinary profession is untouchable and vets who are negligent are still in their profession as people are afraid to take action.

Unfortunately you will not get that by going to court for negligence. They have already been investigated and found that there was no misconduct.

The only thing the court would award would be a financial (I doubt you would win though) - would this really help get justice?

ILW

hollydays wrote: »

Was that an attempt at humour?

No, but an indicator of what any claim may be worth, assuming the animal was not a very rare pedigree.

hollydays

Would you talk that way about a human being?

hachette

Maxie was little Chihuahua. He was my mum's dog who died 7 years ago and I have looked after Maxie ever since. He was not replaceable for that reason. I had and still have two other dogs when Maxie joined us. After 10 months there does not seem to be any closure of this for me. Everyday I think Why didn't she double checked the result ? Why didn't she ask senior vet who was available for her opinion? Would she have done the same if it was her Dog? Maybe in court I could get these answers.

OlliesDad

hachette wrote: »

Maxie was little Chihuahua. He was my mum's dog who died 7 years ago and I have looked after Maxie ever since. He was not replaceable for that reason. I had and still have two other dogs when Maxie joined us. After 10 months there does not seem to be any closure of this for me. Everyday I think Why didn't she double checked the result ? Why didn't she ask senior vet who was available for her opinion? Would she have done the same if it was her Dog? Maybe in court I could get these answers.

I'm not sure you would get those answers though? They would focus on whether what the vet did was against veterinary standards.

Have you tried asking the vet these questions?

carebabe

A horrible thing to have happened but getting answers won't bring the dog back. You may need to consider counseling to help you cope with your loss.

hachette

As far as I am concerned my vet was in Breach of Contract. This means quote "When you engage the services of veterinarian you are entering into a contract which is likely to have implied into it a term requiring the vet to act with reasonable skill and care in the practice of his/her craft. If the vet acts in a manner in which other reasonably skilled vets wouldn't act then he/she breaches the contract"

These are some replies I had from other vets:
Vet 1 " I would absolutely be repeating the platelets count before moving with any surgery and possibly having a pathologist look at the blood slide to determine if this is real before taking any risk with your beloved friend..."
Vet 2 " I myself cannot imagine being comfortable moving forward with whose results..."
Vet 3 "If the platelets level have been so low that it would be advisable
for the vet to examine the blood smear before any operation...
Vet 4" I can only say that I would not have done surgery until finding out why that count was so low and correcting it..."
The bottom line is if different vet dealt with my dog he still would be alive. How can I just let it go ?

OlliesDad

hachette wrote: »

As far as I am concerned my vet was in Breach of Contract. This means quote "When you engage the services of veterinarian you are entering into a contract which is likely to have implied into it a term requiring the vet to act with reasonable skill and care in the practice of his/her craft. If the vet acts in a manner in which other reasonably skilled vets wouldn't act then he/she breaches the contract"

These are some replies I had from other vets:
Vet 1 " I would absolutely be repeating the platelets count before moving with any surgery and possibly having a pathologist look at the blood slide to determine if this is real before taking any risk with your beloved friend..."
Vet 2 " I myself cannot imagine being comfortable moving forward with whose results..."
Vet 3 "If the platelets level have been so low that it would be advisable
for the vet to examine the blood smear before any operation...
Vet 4" I can only say that I would not have done surgery until finding out why that count was so low and correcting it..."
The bottom line is if different vet dealt with my dog he still would be alive. How can I just let it go ?

Those replies however are with the hindsight that the dog passed away. They are not likely to tell somebody in your situation that they would not have acted in the same way as to allow a dog to die.

As the vet has already been found to have conducted themselves within the guidelines set out, I would doubt the court will take a different view. Also, if you are trying to sue for breach of contract, once again, the result would be financial.. this would not help you.

Have you actually spoken to the vet in question to get answers to your questions?

hachette

The vets in question replied before I have told them the dog has died. I just asked what would be their way forward should their get such blood results. I only quoted some bits of the conversations I had with them. They all found out about my dog's death at the end of the conversation.

As to my vet she never wanted to talk to me saying in her statement " I thought it would make matters worse as Mrs.. was so upset".

In one of the letters from RCVS they said .." It is prudent to mention that the RCVS has no powers under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 or other legislation to adjudicate on claims of negligence......therefore allegations of negligence which cannot be resolved between veterinary practice and client are matters for adjudication by the civil courts I have enclosed further advice on negligence that you may find useful..."

I felt they were pointing me in that direction by saying this.