Website for rating vets??

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Bojingles

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Does anyone know/understand the legalities, practicalities and technical mechanics of setting up such a site? I know they exist for tradesmen etc and must be pretty kosher in terms of libel in order to exist. I believe we'll also soon be able to rate GPs.

As some of you may remember, I had a heartbreaking experience at the hands of feckless vets who lost me my foal early in summer:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=543282

I have never publicly named them and although savage in my direct communications with them, I've been quite circumspect in public. I would however shoot myself before paying their bill. I've settled my bill with Leahurst (for 1.3k!!) as they did their utmost for her but truly believe it should not have got to that stage. I should still have my foal and should be quite a bit less poor.

Chatting to people since, I've discovered they have a bit of a reputation for being inexperienced, useless, indecisive and uncaring (to me a vet can have all the scientific and diagnostic skills in the world but if he doesn't care he's of no use to me). I would really have benefited from genuine, verifiable info about these vets before engaging them; I never would have.

I'm not suggesting an anonymous site to slate vets who don't do exactly as we'd like, but would really appreciate some kind of objective info (or as objective as poss). I've found in my dealings since that they all close ranks: Leahurst, as marvellous as they were with my foal, would not dream of upsetting their referring vets, and I have the same feeling of the RCVS. I'll press on though.

Any ideas or experience anyone?

Many thanks :)
 
Sounds like a fast-track to court on libel charges I'm afraid. Really not a good idea.
I sympathise with your desire to do this, but suggest that it would not end well.
 
Thanks for your replies. Auslander, I kind of think the same, but when you think of all those sites out there that are professional set-ups, advertised on TV, I can't help thinking there must be some way of verifying information to prevent libel charges, or only to give such subjective info that no charges could be leveled. It's a tricky one, I have no desire to start witch-hunting vets but, as I say, if I'd known any of what I know now I wouldn't have touched them with a barge pole and sincerely believe my foal would still be here.
 
Planet Hacking, in a bit of a similar situation in that I feel I had a problem with my ex-vets.
Read the RCVS website for the complaints procedure, have you read it?
It does say you can call them to ask advice on your complaint.
Although think the RCVS will only take action is its a gross misconduct case or if the law has been broken (sorry can't think of the correct term) and they can't tell the vet to reduce or cancel the fees.
But I do work with 10 vets and all were slightly alarmed at what I described.
I was talking to one of them today and he says I have nothing to lose, its the vets that do.
I have called the vets in question and spoken to a senior partner who tried to blame the problem on me! I was a little taken aback.
I am waiting for him to call me back when he has spoken to the vets (yes multiple) in question, but am unsure where to go from there - will see what he says.
Its very hard not to be bitter, but its not going to change your situation and as another vet friend said to me years ago 'don't throw good money after bad'.
Hope you manage to get this sorted though.
 
There are a lot of libel/defamation lawyers out there who can crush you with that sort of thing. You've gotta look at how the existing sites are set up - are they registered in the UK or another country? Look up what defamation is, and make sure you stay clear of it.

Read about your story, and feel for you. I have had vets (from a well-known vet practice) misdiagnose my mare numerous times which led to years of her living as a field ornament. The way they "select" students for Veterinary Science or even Medicine is completely stupid - all based on A-levels, hardly anything to do with compassion... when the latter is what should be the No. 1 driver. Let's face it, just because someone got an AAA doesn't mean they're really intelligent. Often, they were just "taught well".

My husband had a uni flatmate who absolutely loved animals and wanted to be a vet. But because he got an ABB instead of an AAA, he got rejected. He got a first in what he ended up studying anyway (not a Mickey Mouse subject), so his exam results had nothing to do with intelligence. But it's sad that the vet industry lost out on someone who actually loved animals.

And as for GPs... I could swear some of the ones I have frequented hate people... full stop. And some seem downright annoyed at your presence. They just want the money and the 9-5 lifestyle, I think.
 
Slightly off the OP, but I quite agree with tasel. Medical and vets degrees are completely driven by getting A-starry grades. Of course, you need plenty of intelligence to get to grips with all of the theory of those subjects, but you also need an awful lot of understanding, compassion, empathy, common-sense and people skills to be a good practitioner of medical skills to people and animals. That has been lost, I fear.
 
I'm a vet college reject. One of my fellow students stood out from the rest. One day I asked him, "You don't really like animals, do you?" He agreed and said he'd no intentions of working with them. He would be working in the Ministry of Agriculture (as it was then) doing office work. He liked the hours, the early retirement, and the pension -- but not the animals.

There is one vet I would like to expose on the proposed web site. But I suppose I had better bite my tongue and stop there!:)

I think you've got a very good idea. After all, we can rate buyers and sellers on Ebay. And soon apparently GPs. There would be no need to go into specifics. "Were you satisfied with the service, choose 1 to 10" is an opinion. "Do you think you were robbed" could be defamatory! Are we not allowed to express an opinion? There are also anonymous sites and sites provided by countries outside EU legislation.
 
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I don't see why there couldn't be something like TripAdvisor for vets. I'm an accommodation provider and I have to run the risk of guests potentially putting adverse comments on that site if my services aren't up to scratch ;)
 
Why not do it the other way round: Recommend a Vet. List all the practises,a nd the individual vets, all the services supplied, contact details and websites and encourage written testimonials to be submitted. You could then ensure each testimonial was checked before posting so as to be non-defamatory, and people would then clearly see the best vets and best vet practises compared with those with no recommendations.....and save yourself from the threat of libel!
 
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