Have you ever taken legal action against a vet/physio/farrier etc?

Leg_end

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Out if curiosity have any of you taken legal action against a physio/vet/farrier for negligence? If you have why did you do it and what was the outcome?

Thanks :)
 

Equi

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I have not but i know of someone who should have but the farrier turned nasty and threatened to come and basically cut the hooves off her horse and she believed he actually would so never took it to the police.
 

JoyD

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I took action against the company that fitted my saddle(s). A very well known saddle maker!!!!! Their insurance company paid me off before it got to court (just over 4K).
 

mjcssjw2

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I had an issue with my vets very recently, read the RCVS complaint guidelines, rang the surgery and spoke to one of head vets, explained my situation, he was very blunt but said he would speak to vets concerned and call me back, Did call me back and was very apologetic. I then left it a week or two called and said I didn't think it was fair I should pay the bill - so they cancelled it! Though I think I had a very good case and I would have compained to RCVS is I hadn't have got any joy. So it may be worth complaining to individual first.
 

Leg_end

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I took action against the company that fitted my saddle(s). A very well known saddle maker!!!!! Their insurance company paid me off before it got to court (just over 4K).

Why did you claim against them - was it damage due to an ill fitting saddle? What was their payment based on?
 

mynutmeg

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Am currently having a dispute with the vet who failed to treat my horse and nearly killed her. We're in the early, write to the practice, stage but basically the vet doing the repo work on my mare (not our usual practice) walked off and left her choking (she choked whilst being scanned). He said that she would clear it in an hour or two on her own and left without even looking at her, I even asked him about giving her buscapan and he dismissed it. She ended up practically drowning from aspiration, in the Dick Vets for a week on IV antibiotics, fluids etc and extremely ill. If it wasn't for my usual vet then she would be dead.
She did manage to keep the foal but seems to have a bit of damage as she's showing signs of allergies/COPD type symptoms as she's come in - she's getting snotty/wheezy from hay which she has never had before and my vet reckons it's to do with the pneumonia she had.

My usual vets think that if she'd had the buscopan and proper treatment immediately (the attended vet told me to wait a couple of hours before doing anything) then she probably would have been able to clear the choke quickly and not suffered all the aspiration etc issues. As a result of this I am massively out of pocket despite the insurance paying out well over £2000 and am looking at her having permentant breathing issues so am complaining to the practice and expect them to compensate the extra expenses we've had due to this as well as the vets fees not covered by her insurance.
Somehow she managed to keep the foal tho :)
 

Tiffany

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I've never taken legal action although I did complain about a farrier about 3 years ago and a saddle maker about 5 or 6 years ago.

Farrier was on complaints committe so that fell on deaf ears :rolleyes: and with saddle maker, I hated the saddle anyway and their unprofessional approach made me think it would be best to sell the saddle and move on and thats exactly what I did. :D
 

lula

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I have not but i know of someone who should have but the farrier turned nasty and threatened to come and basically cut the hooves off her horse and she believed he actually would so never took it to the police.

i think i might have seen that case reported in the press?

Horrific case if its the one im thinking of :(
 

flirtygerty

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Not legal action, it never got that far, but changed vets and because my daughter used to work for them, left because she was called up to Iraq and was expected to find cover for her shifts for six months and a few other issues, I had to get really tough to get records sent to new vets, dog had serious foot problems resulting in several toe amputations, without the records, biopsies would have needed to be repeated, not good for the dog.
I ended up insisting I would collect the records personally
 

ofcourseyoucan

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i should have in hind sight sued a farrier! who did an emergency set for me prior to a comp. 3 feet were fine the other foot was not as he ignored my instructions not to nail through the scar tissue on the hoof! took 2 yrs of remedial farrier and stapling and frog bars etc! and the sad thing is i was a farriers oh at the time. he (the oh)did pay dearly and spent many hours for a job he should have done himself! All good proffessionals hold public liability.. if you feel and can prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are negligent then go on and sue. prove your case. good luck, but you will have to prove them negligent. i am not a beleiver of sueig but discussions are always good then proceed from there!
 
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