Bad veterinary experience

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Guignol

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Has anyone had a really bad veterinary experience to the point the vet intimates you and your farrier via e-mail?

Do you know if I can complain to anyone about this as I was mainly mortified for my farrier as they e-mailed them and were very rude. My farrier is such a lovely person and didn't need to be involved as all i did was go and had a second opinion from a different vet which he took offence at and was very rude to myself and my farrier. I found this very unprofessional
 
The regulatory body for vets is the RCVS. There is a disciplinary route you can go down depending on the circumstances.

However, this can have serious consequences for the vet involved so you need to think carefully about what you are wanting to acheive and how serious the situation actually is (you haven't given much detail in your post about what has actually happened). You can ruin a vet's career and reputation.

If it is a multivet practice, my first port of call would be the more senior vet/partner. Perhaps sending a letter to the practice expressing your concerns would be the best thing to do at this stage?
 
I've not been in that situation, thankfully.

Very very useful to have copies of the email as a permanent record of this. Do make sure it doesn't end up being accidentally deleted!

Before doing anything, I'd want to be sure I'd read the email thoroughly, and even if I didn't like the tone of the email, I'd want to look past that to see whether the vet had a valid reason to write the email. For example, could it be that the email was the first stage of the vet taking matters further (eg if he felt the horse was inappropriately treated by the farrier and/or yourself). Was the email intended as a wakeup call for you or the farrier, a kind of "first warning" if you like? Is there something you need to change?

If you are certain that is not the case, then I think I'd proceed as follows:
- with several levels of approach:

Firstly, I would write down some brief notes which explained, objectively and dispassionately, why I felt the email was inappropriate and what my preferred outcome would be.

I'd then make sure I only spoke to, or wrote/emailed to, anyone about the subject when I felt I could stick totally to being objective and dispassionate, and not risk getting drawn in to being libellous/slanderous or just angry or emotional.

Then my first port of call would be to speak to the vet concerned. Sticking to my notes, I would explain why I was unhappy about the email and ask for the vet's thoughts. I'd write down the vet's response.

If I wasn't happy with the outcome of that, I would then contact the senior vet at the practice and have a similar discussion with them.

And I guess if that didn't achieve what I believed was a fair result, then RCVS would be my next level though I'd have to study their website to have any clue how they handle complaints.

However, I'm also a big believer that we're all human. None of us is perfect. And we all have lots of stress in our different roles, so sometimes we don't communicate as well as we might.

I'd want to be very clear whether the original vet was still the best person to look after my animals (taking into account how quickly they can reach you in an emergency, standards of care, communication skills etc), and my approach would be very geared to that. No point upsetting a vet if you still feel you want to stick with that practice, but equally I do think it's worth being clear about any misunderstandings or breakdowns in communication.

Hope everything resolves ok.

Sarah
 
I had a very bad experience about 10 years ago ...basically the vet in question misdiagnosed 'big time' & he was so arrogant about it!... I ended up losing the mare where i shouldnt have & the worst thing is we trust these professionals believing they are doing the best for us & are sometimes to frightened to rock the boat to ask for second opinions!!!To this day i wish i had done something about it and i would always get a second opinion if there was any question.
At the end of the day they are profesionals & have a code of practice to stick to.
I would do as previously stated & write to the practice manager/Senior vet & if you still dont get a satisfactory response then i would consider taking it further.
Good Luck.x
 
Thank you for your advice everyone. I did tell the vet I was getting a second opinion and was very nice about it saying my in-laws were paying for their vet to have a look as they have used him for years with their race horses. I told them it was nothing personal and simply was an offer I could not refuse as they offered to pay. I was very apologetic etc and then he was very threatening to myself and my poor farrier saying we knew nothing, there would be consequences and he was disappointed to have clients like us. He runs his own equine practice so there is no one above him.

I will sleep on it and see. I certainly don't want to cause any trouble but I do feel very intimated for something that I tried to be as diplomatic as i could to not cause any offence.
 
If you seriously felt intimidated this vet has actually broken the law, which specifically prohibits him from writing anything to you which would cause a person of reasonably sound mind to feel threatened. I think if it really was that bad, you should copy it to the BVA with a mild letter of complaint. You do not know how many other people he is treating the same way. He may be on the verge of a breakdown and need help, and unless someone pushes him a bit he may not get it. If you want a second opinion on how bad it was, you can PM me it if you like and I'll help you word the letter to the BVA
 
Were you unhappy with the diagnosis? Or The treatment Plan - the only reason I ask is it suggests the vet had concerns about welfare to intimate that there would be concequences? Hard to know without the background story really
 
popularfurball said:
Were you unhappy with the diagnosis? Or The treatment Plan - the only reason I ask is it suggests the vet had concerns about welfare to intimate that there would be concequences? Hard to know without the background story really
Click to expand...

It does not really matter does it ,it's the OP's horse he is providing a service for which she pays he has no right to make threats or be rude to her farrier no decent vet objects to second opinion .
What OP does is her choice if it where me I would remove the horse from the vets care go to another vet and if I felt I could bothered I would write to him and explain whynimhad removed the horse from his lists request a copy of the horses records be forwarded to the new practise and perhaps copy the letter to the royal college.
Far to many people take to much crap from the vets I deal with them up front everytime something happens I don't like I pay huge vets bills and expect decent service in return I am very black and white about it.
OP should not feel bad or uncomfortable about this just deal with it.
 
popularfurball said:
Were you unhappy with the diagnosis? Or The treatment Plan - the only reason I ask is it suggests the vet had concerns about welfare to intimate that there would be concequences? Hard to know without the background story really
Click to expand...

I agree it's not relevant, sorry. I think the OP, though she has spelt it wrong, is trying to say that the email actually made her feel intimidated and the vet had no right to write an email that caused such a reaction in someone of reasonably sound mind. It's definitely unprofessional if he did, and quite possibly illegal, depending on what he said.

Don't forget that, badly worded, "if you do this your horse may come to serious harm" can mean two things "the advice you are taking is incorrect and will hurt the horse" or "if you insult me in this way I'll hurt your horse".
 
That is true cptrayes - I wasn't in anyway suggesting that the vet was right in doing this - it wasn't at all - It is hard when the vet is not able to present their side of the story to understand the reasoning of the email - either way I would not expect This from a vet unless there are serious concerns for the horse.
 
I agree, that's why I'd like to see the actual message, as one person's gross insult is another person's joke. It's possible the OP has over-reacted a bit.
 
Yup I sure have had a bad experience with a vet! However like somebody said earlier I would change vet and apologise to my farrier! If the vet in question is anything like the one I had to deal with a complaint wouldn't bother him in the slightest or stop him from doing it again- and if your anything like me you'll just get upset that they dont care as much as you.
 
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