Do I have any recourse against our vets?

Leard91

Our dog started limping, so we took him to the vets. They suspected arthritis, and convinced us it was likely arthritis, and told us that an x-ray would likely detect any arthritis he might have. £700 down the drain as the parasites that are insurance companies refused to cover it.

It didn't detect anything and he's still limping. So we're not sure what to do now now other than get a CT scan that costs £1000 plus. We already spent £700 on the x-ray, and it might turn out we should have just gotten a CT in the first place. This wasn't recommended by the vets though. We could have saved that £700 completely if they had recommended the CT from the start. I might be getting ahead of myself as a CT scan wasn't recommended by this vets immediately after the x-ray came back with nothing. However, another vet I spoke to suggested a CT scan.

Do I have any grounds to demand a refund or something here? I feel completely stitched up.

On-the-coast

Is it a very large dog? £700 sounds a lot higher than what I remember as typical for a pet x-ray.   Did they make the cost clear in advance?

DullGreyGuy

Leard91 said:

Our dog started limping, so we took him to the vets. They suspected arthritis, and convinced us it was likely arthritis, and told us that an x-ray would likely detect any arthritis he might have. £700 down the drain as the parasites that are insurance companies refused to cover it.

It didn't detect anything and he's still limping. So we're not sure what to do now now other than get a CT scan that costs £1000 plus. We already spent £700 on the x-ray, and it might turn out we should have just gotten a CT in the first place. This wasn't recommended by the vets though. We could have saved that £700 completely if they had recommended the CT from the start. I might be getting ahead of myself as a CT scan wasn't recommended by this vets immediately after the x-ray came back with nothing. However, another vet I spoke to suggested a CT scan.

Do I have any grounds to demand a refund or something here? I feel completely stitched up.

Would likely means that there was uncertainty, they didnt claim it was definitive that the xray would say one way or another. 

The time to ask was when they said that, you could have asked if there was a more definitive imaging they could have done to increase the prospects of a diagnosis and what the costs of that is. Its also likely that if you'd paid £2,000 for an MRI and it had given you a diagnosis but then the next vet you saw said that its likely a £700 x-ray would have given the same outcome that you would also be here complaining that the vet jumped straight into the gold plated solution rather than doing the cheap option first.

So no, you have no grounds to demand a refund. 

That said, £700 for an x-ray does sound toppy assuming that was just the x-ray and not also an emergency appointment etc. Dont buy pet services but have had private human x-rays for much less.

Leard91

DullGreyGuy said:

Leard91 said:

Our dog started limping, so we took him to the vets. They suspected arthritis, and convinced us it was likely arthritis, and told us that an x-ray would likely detect any arthritis he might have. £700 down the drain as the parasites that are insurance companies refused to cover it.

It didn't detect anything and he's still limping. So we're not sure what to do now now other than get a CT scan that costs £1000 plus. We already spent £700 on the x-ray, and it might turn out we should have just gotten a CT in the first place. This wasn't recommended by the vets though. We could have saved that £700 completely if they had recommended the CT from the start. I might be getting ahead of myself as a CT scan wasn't recommended by this vets immediately after the x-ray came back with nothing. However, another vet I spoke to suggested a CT scan.

Do I have any grounds to demand a refund or something here? I feel completely stitched up.

Would likely means that there was uncertainty, they didnt claim it was definitive that the xray would say one way or another. 

The time to ask was when they said that, you could have asked if there was a more definitive imaging they could have done to increase the prospects of a diagnosis and what the costs of that is. Its also likely that if you'd paid £2,000 for an MRI and it had given you a diagnosis but then the next vet you saw said that its likely a £700 x-ray would have given the same outcome that you would also be here complaining that the vet jumped straight into the gold plated solution rather than doing the cheap option first.

So no, you have no grounds to demand a refund. 

That said, £700 for an x-ray does sound toppy assuming that was just the x-ray and not also an emergency appointment etc. Dont buy pet services but have had private human x-rays for much less.

It's the fact they convinced us, and themselves it seems, that it was arthritis. They didn't suggest it could be anything else. So based on that knowledge we went for the x-ray that they said were confirm arthritis 99% of the time - so basically near certainty that it would confirm the diagnosis they had convinced us of. If they had suggested it were something else, or that they really didn't know, we'd have gotten the CT scan.

He's a large dog and the £700 included consultation and some metacam. This seems a normal price from what else I read.

saajan_12

They would never be fully sure, that's the point of doing the scan. The fact that a suspicion turned out to be wrong doesn't mean its inherently an unreasonably suspicion. 

In order to make a claim, you'd need to show much more robust proof that another qualified vet says the physical examination makes it ridiculous to suggest an Xray, Its not enough to say the other vet would have a different suggestion. 

sheramber

I have had several dogs develop arthritis in old age but the vets didn't need an xray to diagnose it.  A clinical examination was enough and painkillers were always tried first.

A younger dog  is different and would need more investigation.

One younger dog who started limping was diagnosed with suspected cruciate ligament damage,  Ligaments do not show up on an xray.
She did not display the classic 'drawer' sign so my vet , who was the practice orthopaedic vet, advised referral to a specialist incase it turned to be  something else,  that he couldn't treat.

It turned out to be a tear , rather than complete rupture, which is why it did not display the classic symptom..

An xray is cheaper than a CT scan so would be  the first choice. Unfortunately,  no  diagnosis was confirmed.  

Vets are  working in the dark with  an animal who  cannot explain exactly  what it feels. It is a process of elimination of possibilities.  Limping could be due to several causes. The simplest will be investigated first.

I spent months and incurred costs with one dog until a  young, recently qualified  vet suspected the  real cause of the problem and turned out to be correct.  It was a very uncommon cause ,  which is why three other vets in the practice  had not considered it.


Your next step is to ask your vet for other options .
 a  second opinion ?

 referral to a specialist.?

Unfortunalely, all options come at a cost whether it proves successful or not.