Equine Vet Dispute - Advice welcome

Lynne141

I will try to brief!  My beloved horse was injured in the field and admitted to equine hospital to investigate under GA.  Operation went well but during his recovery he was put into a head and tail restraint system and fell fracturing and dislocating a vertebra and sustained a spinal cord compression resulting in paralysis of his tail and some of his rump.   This was not noticed for 24 hours until they discovered he could poo for himself.  He had a very long admission of 21 days.  The hospital has been evasive about the injury and how it happened.  He survived this but has a lot of issues going forward and will never be the same again.  He is pain free due to the spinal compression. 
I have paid the portion of the bill which related to his original surgery and two days of care which is what was originally quoted for but have not paid for the remaining days of care or medication as I strongly feel that this injury is due to their negligence and the remaining £3,500 bill should be met by their own liability insurance. 
I have an itemised bill which literally lists everything down to plastic gloves and needles.  There is day rate also on the invoice for his livery at the hospital of £100 per day. 
I have taken this matter to mediation which they at first refused but have now taken part and their response now via the mediation service is that the horse livery was actually £250 to £300 per day as he needed intensive care and that they had left that off the original invoice as a gesture of goodwill although they at no point told me this.  They state that the bill would have been £3,900 more than the invoice sent to me so therefore they argue that they have already offered me a discount.  In the last six months of arguing the original bill and liability this has never been mentioned to me before.    I strongly believe that this is just a pack of lies thought up by the practice to make it look like they have made at least some effort should this go to court.  
My question I suppose is:-   Is this even legal to suddenly say that a discount has been applied as a gesture of goodwill six months after the invoice was received and not show this on any paperwork or even discuss it with the client?
Thanks in advance for any advice regarding this.  

 

Aylesbury_Duck

It's not great practice, but it's not illegal or unlawful.  If you don't pay and they take it to court I don't think it will reflect well on them that their original bill wasn't properly explained and that it might look like they're retrospectively justifying it, but equally I don't think it likely to change the fundamental point of contention, which is that they consider it reasonable to bill you for their work, and you don't.

I assume from your description that you haven't got your own insurance involved, and all this is between you and the vet?

Lynne141

My insurance company were involved and asked the practice for full details of the injuries Raffie received after the surgery which at first they refused to give but after they were pushed by the insurance company they gave a short statement saying that his injury was "probably" caused by the tail rope.  The insurance company paid them directly up to my policy limit £2,000 which did not cover the original surgery cost and I paid the rest myself.  (Except for the disputed amount).  They quoted me £1900 plus VAT for the surgery which turned out to be £3,500 and the total bill by the end was just over £7000. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Understood, but have you spoken to your insurer about the disputed element?  I wonder if they have an interest here, even if the amount is far in excess of the policy limit?  They may be able to help with the disputed elements.

I see no harm in giving them a ring to see if they'll help.

Lynne141

Thank you.  I'll give that a try

sheramber

Can you tae your complaint to the RCVS on the grounds of negligence ( circumstances leading o fall and consequences). Is them saying they gave you a discount not admitting liability?

Lynne141

sheramber said:

Can you tae your complaint to the RCVS on the grounds of negligence ( circumstances leading o fall and consequences). Is them saying they gave you a discount not admitting liability?

Hi,  I have been to the RCVS for mediation which they provided but not a negligence claim as I have to get a second opinion from a surgical equine vet with the same qualifications and further scans and x-rays which I just cannot afford and I also don't want to put the horse through any further stress.  I do have a second opinion from my new vet who has taken over his care and he believes that the horse should really have been put to sleep at the time and that the injury was a "risk of surgery" although I did warn hospital when he was originally admitted that he was very quick and sharp and anxious. I even put this on his consent form which I signed and have asked to see but they surprisingly say that my consent was verbal though this is just not true.    If I had known that they were going to use the restraint system on him I would have advised that he would never tolerate it and would panic.  There are many other ways to bring a horse safely round from a GA and I believe that this system was and is used for speed in recovery rather than naturally waking up.  

FlorayG

No advice but I feel for you, I have horses and if a vet had crippled one of mine this way I wouldn't be paying either. Best of luck; most of the vets these days are corporate and have business behind them, sadly the actual vet is rarely involved in money disputes it's the accounts department you deal with

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sorry to hear OP.  

If this has been going on for 6 months and they haven't done anything official to recover the sum it's possible they won't as they know/feel their position is weak.

Is your horse used for anything to do with your trade, business, craft or profession? I assume you aren't ploughing fields but perhaps could be earning an income through social media or similar with the horse.

If not and you are a consumer I would advise them they failed to carry out the service with due care and skill and you won't be paying the bill. They'd have to go to small claims to enforce payment with burden of proof on them I believe although any expert opinion you have about the accident will certainly help. 

Personally I would not pay.

@A_Geordie might have more to say on this and perhaps whether you have any claim for damages as a result of the accident whilst the horse was in their care. 

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

Is them saying they gave you a discount not admitting liability?

No, giving a discount is not interpreted as an admission of blame. 

Lynne141 said:
I do have a second opinion from my new vet who has taken over his care and he believes that the horse should really have been put to sleep at the time and that the injury was a "risk of surgery" although I did warn hospital when he was originally admitted that he was very quick and sharp and anxious.

So your own expert believes it is a reasonable risk of the nature of the surgery they were having which if they decide to litigate against you is clearly not going to stand you in a good place. It therefore comes down to if you want to pay it off now to be done with it or wait it out but then have to pay court costs and statutory interest. 

Lynne141

FlorayG said:

No advice but I feel for you, I have horses and if a vet had crippled one of mine this way I wouldn't be paying either. Best of luck; most of the vets these days are corporate and have business behind them, sadly the actual vet is rarely involved in money disputes it's the accounts department you deal with

Thank you for your kind words.  Yes they are now owned by a corporate company and service is awful and they upsell everything.  I wonder sometimes if he even needed to be admitted in the first place for a cut pastern, but you know we always want the best for them.  I'm just furious to be honest, they have destroyed  him