WWYD? Vet and botched euthanasia

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

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Won't go into it all again but some may remember my thread... old girl I owned for 28 years was pts and it went very badly wrong. Anyway I wrote to the practice manager and received a holding letter as she was on holiday. Then I received a bill for the full amount. Called to chase my letter and was told they could only reply in writing. Today it finally arrived and tbh it was just one long defensive catalogue of inadequate excuses. No mention of waiving the bill either.

I really am sure the whole thing was a total mess and I am not happy. Even a basic apology would have done but this is a really poor cover job. I am not sure what to do next but has anyone ever been in this situation? I will definitely change vets, which is a shame as there are two very good young vets but the whole attitude of the vet who did the pts, and the practice manager, is just appalling. I am not sure whether to go to the Royal College next. Info is on my older thread if anyone wants to read it - just too exhausted by the whole thing to go into it again :-(
 
I remember the original thread and the respons sounds a long way from adequate. I would report to Royal College in your shoes and not pay the bill in full.
 
I would pay the bill but state it is 'under protest', otherwise you will have debt collectors at your door. At the same time contact the RCVS and tell them the whole story, including the response from your vet; if they consider that vet is in the wrong then he will have to refund you, at the very least.
 
I had things go wrong when my mare was pts. At the time I was too upset to complain but wish I had done so. I changed vets. If I were you I would not let it go
 
Hi, I had a similar situation not too long ago. I had a castration go completely wrong and I believed that a lot of corners were cut, it wasn't just 'one of those things'

I went back and forwards via email to said vet who just sent back defensive messages, saying I owed £400 for the original botched job and another £200 to come and finish the job properly :O

Anyway, this went on for a number of weeks with me getting more frustrated. In the end I read up all the correct procedures that the RCVS set out that vets must follow, selected a huge amount if them to include in a very strongly worded email, and asked for a reply from the practise manager - not the vet who had done the procedure.

Did I mention that I worded this VERY strongly - threatening them with taking it further, going to a lawyer etc? Well in the end they called to completely waive the fee and admitted they were in the wrong.

I have to say I wish it hadn't come to that, but if you truly think correct procedures wernt followed and you are unhappy with it then it really is worth chasing up!

Good luck and I hope you can get a positive outcome from a very sad situation, you have my sympathy x
 
I have heard lots of stories of the injection going wrong / horses having bad reactions to it. I would personally choose a bullet/bolt by by someone experienced.
 
i would write thm another letter stating that you are not happy with their response, ask them for their policy on euthanasia (you will see if it states they should have back up equipment should the injection not work for the horse) etc, what the vet should do. If they dont have one it will help your case and if they do and they have breached it, it will help your case and if they have one and its rubbish it will help your case as well.
then ask them who to take your compliant to further as you are not satisfied, do they belong to an associaton etc and how long they allow for this process before payment needs to be paid.
in this way they know you are serious and are looking into it fully and properly and through the correct channels, stay calm and if possible un-emotional, stick to the facts of what went wrong and was not acceptable.
by asking how long for this process you are showing that you are not refusing to pay but want to settle the dispute first.
they must be used to waiting for money, my insurance company took months to pay out once (as they were waiting for reports not because I had to fight for them to pay out).
all the best and let us know how it works out for you
 
Maccachic I have always had the bullet by choice before - the vet did not bring his gun and in the end had to go and fetch it anyway. Not easy to argue when your horse is dying in front of you though.
 
Yuk-= are you a BHS Gold member? Get some advice from them first. Then go to the RVC, pay the bill 'under protest' and write to the Manager to say that's what you're doing- send it all email/recorded delivery.

So sorry you have to do this, on top of your grief
 
I guess the fact that the horse didnt react to the injection well could be techinically explained however their lack of preparation and a basic back up method to me is absolutely inexcusable

Having to leave you here with the horse to go through what you did while they went to get a gun is disgraceful

I would go back to them first to give them an opportunity to make amends but if they throw away that chance I think I would do all I could to complain higher
 
Definitely seek free legal advice from the BHS assuming you are a member or possibly Citizens Advice? I think I would withhold payment until you know exactly what route you are taking, I'm sure you don't have to settle the account for 30 days. The Royal College will probably want to support one of their own, they don't usually take action even when malpractice is blatantly obvious, from what I hear...is there a veterinary ombudsman?
 
I wouldnt pay them a penny of that vet bill and I would send another letter recorded delivery stating that you are forwarding this onto RCVS along with their letter and an account of what happened in a stongly worded complaint.

Your poor horse suffered through their incompetence and now you are having to deal with this its blurry maddening :mad: :(
 
I didn't read your thread but I get the jist and it sounds like an awful thing to go through because of someone else's incompetence. I would go to the RCVS now and send the vet a letter to tell them that, and paying the bill under protest if you have to. I hope you get a decent outcome.
 
It was worse than your worst nightmare for you and against what your wishes were in the first place.

I think you have to make a stand - not for yourself, but for the next person down the line who might unknowingly predispose their horse to the same treatment at a time when both horse and owner are at their most vulnerable. By not accepting the way these vets have explained everything away might encourage them to implement better procedures in the future.

If it had happened to my horse, I would never, ever let them get away with it and the arrogance of charging you for everything disgusts me. I don't want to dredge over the whole saga again but I suspect you've been charged more than it would have cost if everything had gone as it should?
 
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WelshD said:
I guess the fact that the horse didnt react to the injection well could be techinically explained however their lack of preparation and a basic back up method to me is absolutely inexcusable

Having to leave you here with the horse to go through what you did while they went to get a gun is disgraceful

I would go back to them first to give them an opportunity to make amends but if they throw away that chance I think I would do all I could to complain higher
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This. Sometimes things do go wrong, unfortunately, but the lack of a 'plan b' is very concerning particularly as this wasn't an emergency but a planned event.

I do feel for you as it must have been horrendous.

xxxxxx
 
I remember your thread And I would complain to the RCVC I would write in the meantime to the vets and pay only the call out and first journey of the bill.
I would say that the service inadequate and because of that I was withholding the rest of the payment.
It might be worth talking to a trading standards officer who understands the law in respect of services given that are not adequate better.
It is a commercial transaction and I am always a bit baffled by how vets expect you pay bills for stuff that's gone wrong without question , you they treat for onething and it's another and all that sort of thing now I know these thing are not always simple but to me your experiance seems a simple one to me the elective PTS of a horse should not be botched in this way and if where me I would not be letting it drop.
It's best to judge people by HOW they react to things that have gone wrong not just what went wrong and as they have reacted to evasively and defensively IF I where you I would not hesitate to to take it further if they had dealt with it by waiving the bill and a senior partner taking time to talk to me I might take another view.
Recently I had cause to be unhappy with something at my vets ( a small thing in comparison to this ) so I spoke to a senior partner and explained what happen and the action I was going to take , I decided to stop taking my dogs to the surgery ( they have several) concerned with one hour the partner covering that surgery rang me it was clear he had investigated my concern and had taken some actions over the issue that's how it ought to be.
Good luck with it and please let us know how you get on.
 
I am appalled that they have billed you in full for such a momentous cock up, if they were plumbers & had made a big mistake with your boiler resulting in several trips to their depot to get spare parts would you expect to be invoiced for the extra journeys??

I would pay initial call & first journey only & then write to the practice manager, copying in the senior partners explaining why, then I would send a copy of this to the RCVS along with an account of what happened in a business like & non emotional sounding letter. I am amazed that vets think they can make mistakes like this & just expect their customers to pay up. I would have thought really that a telephone call, apology & waiving of the bill by a senior partner was in order really. Good luck.
 
amymay said:
What about the procedure exactly was 'botched'?
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I think if I remember from the original thread that the horse reacted badly to the injection & fought it. The vet then had to return to the practice for his gun, which was the OP's preferred method for the PTS. The journey I think was 20 mins each way, during which time the horse was down with her head in the OP's lap. The vet then returned with the gun & despatched the horse. Truly horrific.

I was present once at a failed injection PTS, I was holding a friends horse & the vet was faffing about putting a line in, the horse went down but was galloping on the ground & the lorry driver there to take her away had to sit on her head, vet ran to his car which was parked round in the yard & had to draw up some more drugs, so clearly he hadn't given the correct dosage. It was dreadful & I never ever told my friend that it was anything less than quick & peaceful. Oh & the vet said very helpfully "She's not ready to go yet" so distressing...
 
Didn't want to read and run. For something like this there is no excuse not to have a back up in place.
Hope that you get costs removed and this is looked into op.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
There's another thread amymay, but basically the horse was given injections and left in distress and not quite dying, for an hour or so, while the vet drove back for a gun.
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Yes, I read that thread, and just reminded myself of it. The distress to the OP not withstanding, I'm still left wondering how it was botched.

Some horses react very badly to the injection (as evidenced by various discussion on here). Hence why many of us choose the bullet (as was the op's preferred method of destruction, but no gun was available).

For the OP to prove negligence then they will need to prove that the vet administered the wrong dosage etc.
 
There's no excuse for how this was handled , the vet ought to have had enough drugs to cover every eventually .
Unless it's a one vet practise or only one vet has a licence another vet should have brought the gun from the surgery or someone from the surgery should have got in a car and brought more drugs halving the time taken and meaning OP was not left alone with the horse.
 
Surely the vet should have had a gun with them in the first place?
This was a vet appointment for a PTS!

And as someone else has said, why did the vet have to leave the horse down and distressed, (not to mention the owner)? That alone is a serious safety issue? The owner could have been kicked, squashed ect..
In my view, it went wrong, and failing to shoot the pony the vet should have called for immediate back up either from another vet or the kennels in the area. Or anyone with a dispatch (gun) licence. The vet should have had all numbers available.

If the vet HAD no other choice but to leave, then he should have given the pony a massive sedative to keep him calm and still. Doesn't sound like that happened either.

I would really be taking this further, and until something positive comes out of it, I wouldn't pay the bill.
 
Lovescobs said:
i would have thought that as vets are aware the injection does not work well for all horses the policy should be that they have the back up gun with them as standard. this is where the mistake occured.
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My vets don't carry the gun unless they are going to use it.
My first horse was injected it was so not what I had been told to expect the horse fought and fought to stay on its feet and went down with a terrible unearthly distressed Whiny it was quite awful and although I have seen others that where fine I would never allow one of my own to be anything except shot.
I asked my vet why they don't carry the gun and I think it's because it's only supposed to be carried from the surgery used and staight back and they don't take it out the surgery unless they are going to use it as then it not there for emergency and of course security.
 
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