experience of claiming compensation from a vet?

Loudabell

Loudabell

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to cut a VERY long story short my mare had recurrent abscesses for 8 months in both front feet.
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=525245

8 months ago when the first X-rays were taken one of the practice vets said she could see some pedal bone re-absorbtion and irregularities but she would check with the head vet.

although she did mention this again later and i bought the idea of pedal osteitis up a number of times it was never really considered.

the vets were hell bent on digging the abscesses out of her feet. after more x-rays, surgery to dremel the hoof, antibiotics, over £400 in vet wrap and countless tears later i started demanding a referral to Leahurst. at first they were reluctant but did finally refer me.

after 30 minutes at Leahurst and before my princess was even xrayed again the surgeon was convinced it was osteitis. X-rays showed that it was and she had surgery on her 2 front feet to remove the infected pedal bone this afternoon.

during the 8 months my vet messed around ignoring the real issue i spent all my insurance money on unnecessary treatment!. i've now paid for the surgery today on credit cards. gulp.

does any one have any advice on requesting compensation from a vet?

i know it is a difficult condition to diagnose but this guy has been clueless for months but reluctant to refer me. the condition was mentioned at length by another vet in the same practice who had seen her X-rays. they were not reluctant to take my cash!!!!!!!!
 
The decision for a referral rests solely with the owner.

A vet can recommend that you see a particular referral vet but the decision whether to proceed still rests with the owner, but equally you can say that you want a referral to a particular vet, and the vet should arrange that for you.

If the vet refused to set up a referral, I would take issue with that.

I can see that the whole prolonged thing is frustrating to say the least, but personally I'd try and stay onside with your local vet, and just learn from it that you may need to be more assertive in future if there are any other instances where you would like another opinion.

Chances are that the finishing point for your 12 months insurance cover for anything relating to the osteitis would be the same whether you had had a referral immediately or just now, because the insurers would see from the vet report that signs of some problem in the foot were showing 8 months ago.

Hope your horse is soon well on the mend.

Sarah
 
That's not strictly true, vets are also duty bound to practice within their ability, a good vet will recommend referral when they feel they've reached the limits of what they can do. Failure to do this may result in negligent practice.

Regarding insurance, a year would've been up whatever, but early referral might have resulted in the ops insurance money being spent on treatment of the problem rather than on'managing' it.

i am a vet, and I am astounded from time to time at the vet-bashing posts on here, but equally owners are entitled to question the quality of care they receive, and your post FFF implies that the op should like it or lump it.

If i were you I'd have a chat to the practice about your concerns.
 
Apologies if it came across that way. It wasn't intended.

I do think it's important that all of us realise that can seek other vets' opinions at any point, though.

And equally I agree about being entitled to question the quality of care, though personally I would want to be very sure that there was another vet practice who could support me better than my current one, if I were to ever try seeking compensation from them.

Sarah
 
vets don't always get it right and it's heartbreaking when it happens. An acquaintance of mine had a horse vetted. It passed and they bought it. It had all number of problems from day 1 that the vets ought to have seen, that particular practise put the horse right and did not charge because of their poor initial advice. My friend had a bad consultation for dental work on her horse. When the senior vet became involved, she also had the bill waived because the more junior vet made a hash of the horse's teeth.
 
GreedyGuts said:
Regarding insurance, a year would've been up whatever, but early referral might have resulted in the ops insurance money being spent on treatment of the problem rather than on'managing' it.


If i were you I'd have a chat to the practice about your concerns.
Click to expand...
I think this is good advice, though I would have done it before I paid.

As a general comment, I do think getting to the cause of problems is sometimes put a lesser priority than managing something to the horses detriment. Hoof problems seem to be an area this can happen more easily.
 
Thank you guys :)

i'm not after vet bashing as i have been really pleased with some of the vets at the practice but I'm just a bit let down that they have missed the cause of my horses pain for so long. the whole time i feel like it was me doing the hard work and suggesting things for them to try.

they just seemed blinkered by the symptoms and didn't listen to one of the vets int he practice when they said they may have found the cause of my girls problems.

yes the insurance would have run out any way BUT if they had treated the cause when it was first mentioned months ago i would have avoided hundreds of pounds in emergency call out fees to dremell out abscesses.

i'll have a chat with the boss vet and see what line he's going to take.

I'll let you know and thanks again :)
 
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