Rant about veterinary hospital

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
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I won't name for obvious reasons but how would you feel if:

Livery client horse had been showing lack of performance for around 6 months. My immediate thought from the way he was going was bi lateral hind limb lameness. Slight vibration in hocks and no positive reaction to flexion tests so I thought suspensories. Got vet out - couldn't see problem. Took horse into vets, again, even though it was obvious he wasn't right behind vet could not see problem. So changed vets. New vet came out and saw fore limb lameness, and agreed he looked weak behind. So was referred to vet hospital. He has now been there two weeks. No lameness seen by vet until end of last week! In fact, it was suggested that he was just bored!!! Nothing showed on bone scan. Then suddenly, after having him and working him for two weeks, they find lameness (which was obvious from the start to my eyes). They spot vibration of hocks on day two but did not scan his suspensories. Finally scanned on Friday and found he needs op on suspensories. Trouble is, after two weeks my client's £5 k insurance will have been used up and she will have to fund the op and further hospitalisation herself. Grrrr!
 
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They did this with a horse a couple of years ago from here. Kept her for a week and rode every day and found nothing wrong but billed for £2k. She was later found to have gastric ulcers. I did try to talk the vet out of referring the horse there, as I prefer Rossdales, but vet thought it was a back problem and he would be best going there. Wish I'd stuck to my guns now. Now I'm just hoping the bill won't be as high as I think it's going to be and she will have a little bit left for the op. But I doubt it. I am incensed as upper suspensories were my main suspicion and I put that in a text two weeks ago. It makes me mad that a lay person like me can spot it but it takes a equine hospital two weeks!
 
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One of the reasons I'd have lied about having insurance to the vets and just asked them to scan suspensories on day one. Your livery is their client - why can't they just do want their clients want??
 
Surely they should have nerve blocked on day one, or two, if they suspected hocks or suspensories then scanned even if to rule out an issue there before moving on to the next area.

My opinion of hospitals is rather low at the moment for different reasons they put one of my liveries through a load of unnecessary tests when he was in pain and very lame in order to find more wrong than there actually was, because in their view he should not have been so lame, there was nothing else wrong other than a splint bone fracture but in the process of investigating they caused other injuries and ran up a huge bill. He has taken far longer to recover from whatever they did to him than from the original injury:(
 
I'd be fuming. My boys psd was misdiagnosed as a stifle injury by one vet (ditched her straight away) and then as a hock problem by the next based on his movement, even though I told him his movement hadn't changed since he was 2. Apparently suspensories are easy to mis-diagnose...so why not scan them early on??! Its not too pricey. I was just glad I didn't let the first vet send him for an arthroscopy on his stifle - he wasn't even lame on that leg just grumpy when she touched it (normal, he's ticklish).

You've got me started now and I can feel my blood pressure rising! Bloody overpaid and arrogant, even the better ones won't listen. My sympathies to your client wagtail!
 
Look for second opinion, tell second vet insurance doesn't exist and see what happens. So many times I've seen horses "need an operation" on hind suspensories. Medicate the suspensories and they come right and it's a much cheaper way of being sure the suspensories is the primary injury not secondary strain
 
I had a similar experience with my mare in 2010. She got sinus problems that wouldn't clear up. She was referred to vet hospital where they said that it was primary sinusitus. I told them it was a tooth which needed removing as my vet had seen something "unusual" on the x-rays. They said that it wasn't. They trephined her and sent her home after a week, on antibiotics. It came back almost straight away and had to go back to hospital. They spent a ages telling me it wasn't a tooth problem - this is despite the first time that I had taken her, the vet in charge had looked at her teeth and commented on a fractured tooth. I almost had to plead for further x-rays as I kept telling them that common sense said that it would be a tooth. This time when they took the x-rays they couldnt' get a clear view because of all the pus in the sinuses, so had to trephine her again and flush them for a few days before they could get a clear x-ray. Lo and behold, I got a phone all a few days later saying that they had found a tooth that needed to be removed. No apology. I then got a further phone call to tell me that she had moved her head when they tried to remove her tooth and she had to have a general anaesthetic. She then got an infection which they couldn't clear up and another infection and the internal suture site. She was in hospital almost three months. The final bill was £6500 - insurance only covered me for £5000. I paid it, but I still resent it and will never sent my horses back to that hospital.
 
Polos Mum said:
One of the reasons I'd have lied about having insurance to the vets and just asked them to scan suspensories on day one. Your livery is their client - why can't they just do want their clients want??
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Good point. I think I will do that too next time.

be positive said:
Surely they should have nerve blocked on day one, or two, if they suspected hocks or suspensories then scanned even if to rule out an issue there before moving on to the next area.

My opinion of hospitals is rather low at the moment for different reasons they put one of my liveries through a load of unnecessary tests when he was in pain and very lame in order to find more wrong than there actually was, because in their view he should not have been so lame, there was nothing else wrong other than a splint bone fracture but in the process of investigating they caused other injuries and ran up a huge bill. He has taken far longer to recover from whatever they did to him than from the original injury:(
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He is a difficult case for vets, I admit as he is aggressively needle phobic and so nerve blocks were out. Having said that, to me he looked awful behind, but then I know how he SHOULD look. I would just expect the vets to have picked up on it much quicker, and certainly, once the hock vibration was spotted, scanned the suspensories. The cynical side of me says they were stringing it out on purpose. :o

SuseP said:
I'd be fuming. My boys psd was misdiagnosed as a stifle injury by one vet (ditched her straight away) and then as a hock problem by the next based on his movement, even though I told him his movement hadn't changed since he was 2. Apparently suspensories are easy to mis-diagnose...so why not scan them early on??! Its not too pricey. I was just glad I didn't let the first vet send him for an arthroscopy on his stifle - he wasn't even lame on that leg just grumpy when she touched it (normal, he's ticklish).

You've got me started now and I can feel my blood pressure rising! Bloody overpaid and arrogant, even the better ones won't listen. My sympathies to your client wagtail!
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I know. Despite being surrounded by equine vets here, I feel let down a lot by them lately. :(

amage said:
Look for second opinion, tell second vet insurance doesn't exist and see what happens. So many times I've seen horses "need an operation" on hind suspensories. Medicate the suspensories and they come right and it's a much cheaper way of being sure the suspensories is the primary injury not secondary strain
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I will have a chat to the owners. They have loss of use on him and would retire him if he can't be mended.
 
Holly Hocks said:
I had a similar experience with my mare in 2010. She got sinus problems that wouldn't clear up. She was referred to vet hospital where they said that it was primary sinusitus. I told them it was a tooth which needed removing as my vet had seen something "unusual" on the x-rays. They said that it wasn't. They trephined her and sent her home after a week, on antibiotics. It came back almost straight away and had to go back to hospital. They spent a ages telling me it wasn't a tooth problem - this is despite the first time that I had taken her, the vet in charge had looked at her teeth and commented on a fractured tooth. I almost had to plead for further x-rays as I kept telling them that common sense said that it would be a tooth. This time when they took the x-rays they couldnt' get a clear view because of all the pus in the sinuses, so had to trephine her again and flush them for a few days before they could get a clear x-ray. Lo and behold, I got a phone all a few days later saying that they had found a tooth that needed to be removed. No apology. I then got a further phone call to tell me that she had moved her head when they tried to remove her tooth and she had to have a general anaesthetic. She then got an infection which they couldn't clear up and another infection and the internal suture site. She was in hospital almost three months. The final bill was £6500 - insurance only covered me for £5000. I paid it, but I still resent it and will never sent my horses back to that hospital.
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That's terrible! No, you never will get an apology - ever. I think it is a bit like car insurance, if you have an accident you must never admit fault. I think the vets have the same policy.
 
I've directed my vet as to what I want if my horse becomes lame again. I'm not a massive believer in supplements etc if there's another option. I've overridden what the vet said and turns out I was right last time. I think your livery needs to be more forceful with the vet and the hospital.
 
First of all, I'm very fond of my ordinary veterinarian clinic, but they're only open at day time, so emergencies during other hours has to be taken elsewhere. Many years ago I had to take one of my bitches to the big veterinarian hospital late one Sunday evening, the cure included surgery, but once she was getting IV fluids and other medication, her problems was no longer acute, so they said that they would probably wait with the surgery until Monday morning. I thought that was okay, but then when I contacted them during the forenoon on Monday, the nurse talked about that since her problem was no longer acute, blah blah blah, they had decided to postpone the surgery until Tuesday, but then they would certainly do the surgery, probably, if nothing more acute showed up and put her back on the waiting list...

I said something about that I understood if they had more acute cases, that they had to be dealt with first, but that I would try and find another veterinarian that could do the surgery that day. After ending the call, I found another veterinarian that said they could do it (it was too late in the forenoon for my usual veterinarian, they were already fully booked), called back to the emergency veterinarian hospital and told them that I was coming in to pick up my bitch, and that I was taking her to the other veterinarian, and guess what happened?
When I arrived, they had called in an extra veterinarian, my bitch was being sedated and they wondered if they should go ahead with the surgery or if I still wanted to take her elsewhere. I told them to go ahead (I knew they're good at surgery), and then phoned the other veterinarian and apologised (I went and bought a flower and gave it to them too, together with more apologies).

That day taught me, that my pets are my pets even when it comes to veterinarian care, as long as I'm not breaking any laws, I'm paying the veterinarian, if I'm not happy with their services, I can take my pets to another veterinarian.

Hope that your client's problems with the veterinarian is solvable, Wagtail, and that everything ends as well as possible.
 
WAGTAIL I also had a problem with an equine hospital ,I have a legal advice help line on my house insurance ,I was told that under the sale of goods and services the hospital had failed to provide an adequate service ,so I could claim against them.I did just that and wrote a letter of complaint to the R C V S . If the insurance has paid I would get them to claim some of the money back ,under the sale of goods and services act . I hope this helps and the horse horse makes a good recovery .
 
When I used to work for one of the 'biggy' horse insurers, you'd be suprised how many invoices we received where the treatment and surgery exceeded the insurance limit and then the vets applied a good will gesture discount to make it nearer the limit amount. Suprising the stuff they are willing to remove if they are worried they won't get paid!

I would maybe ask for an itemised bill and clinical notes and discuss with the vet and point out you're not happy with how things have gone/how much money has been wasted etc
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I'd be livid! But then I don't have insurance and am usually pretty direct with vets. I wouldn't have let them mess about for 2 weeks.
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Me too , I simply cant imagine why anyone would leave a horse at the vets without a clear laid out plan of what's going to happen .
I would NEVER leave a horse having a lameness work up as an inpatient for a fortnight ,that's mad.
 
While the veterinary and nursing care at my local and regional hospitals has been excellent, I've noticed a difference between horses that are insured and those that are not.
My impression is that the insured horses have to go through a procedure of diagnostic tests to satisfy the company that treatment is justified. With the uninsured horse, the owner is able to work with the vet without needing to satisfy an insurer.
 
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