kissing spine surgery, not the result we expected. wwyd?

charlie76

charlie76

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We have a horse that has not been quite right for a while, we had vets look at him and treated various things and were getting some where, he had his back x rayed last year and although there were signs of mild kissing spines the vet felt this wasn't his problem so we treated other things instead. After all most a year of him showing signs of improvement his way of going deteriorated so we had the vet again. Back x rayed and now decide that the spine was a problem after all and surgery was the best option, by this point we only had five days left to claim on the insurance. He therefore went straight in. We were advised by the vets to have the new type of surgery as the recovery time was shorter and the success rate high. He had it done and the insurance company paid for the op but will not pay for any more treatment.
Horse came home and we followed the advice to the letter.
However four weeks later he still had a large painful lump on his back and he had lost weight.
Phoned vet who said give him bute for a week. Did this, no better. Went back to the vets and they x rayed and found that during surgery they had knocked a chip out of the vertebrae and the body was rejecting it. Sent him home and put him on more bute and box rest.
Fast forward three weeks, its still there and still painful. So back to the vets who x ray again, ultra sound, and now he is on antI biotics and we just have to wait and see if it gets better.
We are a bit miffed as we had sent him in to have the original ks op done, we knew it would be a long recovery and we only went for the new surgery as we would advised it was the best option but obviously it wasn't. We are now left with a horse who has now been stuck in a box for two months with a big hard painful lump where the saddle would go, no idea if it will ever go and a big bill.
We were also told it had a 95% success rate but following the op the discharge note said 95% success rate " in the first instance " . If we had known that we would have stuck with the traditional ks op.
If this lump doesn't go he will have to have further treatment and pos another op which with no insurance is prohibitive.
Any experience with the new op from any one?
would you tackle the vets about the whole situation?
 
No experience - but if vets said during the op they knocked a chip off a vertebrae surely they should be reoperating to remove it? I would speak to your insurance company again so they put pressure on them and also contact BHS if you are a gold member if after speaking to the vets to ask them to make right the damage they have caused they won't!
 
If a surgeon leaves a swab in your body, they have to go back in to retrieve it, as well as to having to compensate the patient as it was an error on their part. Surely this is the case with them? They caused the damage, they should correct it.
 
Nasty for you and the poor horse, I'd speak to insurance Co and see what their view is on the second op - (depending on your detailed terms I'd either argue it's really a follow up to the first not a separate illness hence it's should all be under the original claim - if there is enough left in your vets fees limit) or argue it's totally separate and therefore a new claim starting from 3 weeks ago when you discovered the issue.

If no joy there I'd speak to the vets about what the second op will cost, chances of sucess and what element of it they will be funding as it was caused by them.

If no joy there can you turn him out for say 6/12 months and see if good old Dr green will help it settle (not sensible if he's in pain)
 
Was the possibility of chipping the vertebrae one of the known complications of the surgery that was mentioned to you when you consented to it? If yes then you have been very unlucky, it's a real shame but it was one of the known risks and these sometimes happen despite the best efforts of good vets. If not then you may have a case against the vets but it would be question for a specialist equine lawyer.
 
I would be contacting an equine solicitor asap as this horse needs immediate help to have that chip removed.

Why the Vets have not just put their hands up and said, we will go in and remove the chip and that's it. They should do. It is not admitting liability it is in the best interests of the horse!

I would be contacting the Horse and Hound solicitor Stuart Farr asap and courier over all the notes thus far.

http://www.clarkewillmott.com/our-people/f/stuart-farr.php

I do hope for your horses sake you can get this sorted now.
 
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