What can be done about veterinarian malpractice?

Question

My friends young cat (4 months old) broke his leg from jumping up to a counter. She took the kitten to a vet that kept putting the kitten in only splints of which he was able to come out of rather quickly. Now, because of this, this poor kitten is in the hospital getting pins in his leg. My friend is crying her eyes out over this. The kitten is her baby. She lives in northern Illinois. What are her options? What are her rights? This was a total accident because the kitten wanted to go someplace where he shouldnt have been. My friend was asleep when this happened so there was absolutely no abuse involved. She would give up her arms for this kitten.

Please, serious answers only. We really need your help here.

Please dont say that animals are property. They more often than not, family members. We love our pets like kids and my friend is extremely worried about her little baby kitten. Please please please, we need real advice here about what she can do about the vet that didnt give this kitten the care he deserved.

We are looking for what her rights are in regards to the way the first vet didnt give the proper treatment to the kitten. Please read all the details I gave. Its all the info I have and my friend doesnt have access to a computer.

This first vet didnt give the right treatment in the first place and because of this, the kitten is now getting the pins in his leg.

Answer 1

I have been through this forgive me but the whole story is too painful to tell right now.Go to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.E-mail: [e-mail] There phone # is 707-795-2533.You will find all kinds of info there.Good luck to you.The laws regarding vet malpractice need changing as you will find out.To make a long story short,my cat Sammy had cancer.One vet looked at a tumor at the base of her ear for two years and told me not to worry.When cancer was diagnosed,it was a particularly nasty form called mast cell cancer.The next vet,a specialist,told me that by removing her spleen,the tumor at the base of her ear and part of her liver,they could save her.They sent her home with me on a 30 mile ride with no pain meds and no antibiotics 24 hours after the surgery.She died less than 48 hours later.I exhausted every avenue in this state to no avail.They are like human doctors,they all stick together and no one wants to testify against another one.I am currently trying to go the route of changing the existing laws regarding vet malpractice through my state reps and that is a long and slow process.That is my only remedy.By the way,I spent over $2500 on these vets.It is disgusting.I got so disgusted I wrote the surgeon a nasty note telling him that I was going to change the laws so he could never do this to another unfortunate animal again.And for that I received a letter from his lawyer threatening to pursue legal action against ME unless I "ceased and desisted"from any contact with him.Bottom line,THE LAWS NEED TO BE CHANGED!!!! GOOD LUCK and I hope your friends kitty is ok.God Bless!!!

Answer 2

It is COMMON practice in kittens AND puppies with a fracture to splint it. The majority of the time, it will heal. Young animals bones do heal quite well, especailly kittens.
I work at an animal shelter and we got a fair number of kittens with fractures in and over the past 5 years, all but 3 healed with splinting.
Pinning sometimes does not work in these young animals either.

What your vet did was NOT malpractice. It just was the first and most common option and it didn't work.

And it is true, pets are property under the LAW. You cannot change that. You cannot seek pain and suffering for a pet. Can't. Besides, if you take this too far as a malpractice issue, it is you who will look bad. This is NOT malpractice.


And for Bellows, below me....this is NOT the same thing at all. Everytime a case does not go as planned, is that malpractice???
No. Sometimes people think vets are miracle workers.

If this person was told to get the kittens leg pinned, and that didn't work so they went to another vet who simply splint it and it healed fine.....they would be RIGHT here crabbing about how the cat had to endure SURGERY that could have been avoided by a simple splint!!!! Sometimes there is no pleasing some people!!

And maybe they had told you that a MAST CELL TUMOR was VERY aggressive and DIFFICULT TO TREAT. I am sure surgery was the only CHANCE....but not a given. Happens to people all the time with cancer. They do EVERYTHING they can and the person STILL DIES. Does not mean the doctor was wrong. Means the disease was too advanced and the body could not handle the treatment. But the other option was doing NOTHING.....so you TRY.

Answer 3

I'm am the owner of the kitty. I understand that a splint is normal procedure, which is okay with just a hairline fracture or something along those lines. When we took him to the ER the night of the accident his bones were still pretty well aligned. We then took him to our normal vet 3 times before more x-rays were taken of his leg. When new x-rays were finally taken Cupid's bones were severly displaced. I asked our vet if surgery was needed fo him. He then told me that it was not needed, that the leg will heal up on it's own, but the leg will be deformed and shorter than all the others. I then took Cupid to another vet and they said that his leg could not heal without the surgery. I am torn up about this because a 4 month old kitty has to go through so much pain for almost no reason.
To Phoebhart I did keep him kennel confined most of the day, and all night. You can only keep then kennel confined for so long before they start going nuts. I let him out for maybe 30-45 min at a time. He was taking his splints off while he was in the kennel.

Answer 4

I understand your distress becuase I too love my cats very very much. I don't think there is any question of abuse on your freind's part - but the first vet did not do anything wrong either. He treated the broken leg by putting it in a splint. That's usually the first and least inexpensive way to treat such an injury. Unfortunaely the kitten is very active and the splint could not stay on. Should the vet be blamed for that? Cats will be cats. Perhaps he should've anticipated that the splint could come off if the kitten were not confined to its kennel (which was what your freind should have done to limit the kitty's over-activity). And consider this too: non-specialty vets treat a WIDE range of animals; from lizards to birds to dogs to cats to hamsters to what nots that people like to keep as pets. I have learnt this from experience that if you need a more specialized diagnosis and treatment for your cat, its best to go to a vet who specializes in felines. The first vet was probably not an orthopedic vet - a vet who specializes in setting bones etc. Really, you need to consider the entire perspective and put it down to a really unfortunate experience.

Think of what will happen too if your freind sues the vet. How are you going to prove malpractice? And will you be willing to pay even more jacked-up vet bills to cover for vet insurance against malpractice suits? Really! The important thing is the kitty is alive and is not in imminent danger of loosing his life becuase the splints fell off.

Answer 5

Sometimes a method of initial treatment doesn't work.
A last resort might be surgery, perhaps the vet did what he/she thought best "at that time."

I recommend a vet that specializes in ONLY cats. I've had best luck that way. I do everything they advice. My cat had surgery and is not perfect, but still has a leg and he's very active and happy.

If she wants to approach the vet about some type of refund, she should try that. Otherwise, she's going to have to find a lot of other vets who are willing to give testimony and then there are lawyers fees, etc. I don't think it will be worth the trouble and she may end up losing her battle anyway.

Make sure the kitty gets a supplement for joint problems - Cosequin - 1 capsule in the morning and 1 capsule in the evening with food. It will help alot bc the cat will have some residual pain and eventual arthritis. Most vets can order it for her to pick up at the vet or she can order it online.

Here is hoping for a speedy recovery!

Answer 6

The vet's actions do not warrent a malpractice suit. Splints are standard care for this type of problem. He did nothing wrong with regard to caring for the animal. How can you blame the vet for the kitten being able to get out of splints? Besides, even if the kitten was put into a more solid cast, which isn't practical on a growing kitten, whose to say it wouldn't have still needed pins inserted to help the healing process. Your friend is angry now, but really the vet isn't to blame.

Answer 7

it is purely what the coverage firms say. Malpractice makes up 2% of scientific costs [a million]. notwithstanding in case you have been waiting to pass regulations that decrease those costs in 0.5, we would shop a whopping a million%, it is assuming each and every dime of that reductions is exceeded onto the buyer. In replace for those reductions, juries are capping of their skill to award people who've been harmed. it is particularly astounding once you're a pharmaceutical organization that places out a drug that hurts some million human beings or spill some billion barrels of oil interior the sea. look, my spouse is a private-prepare coronary heart professional. We pay out the *** for malpractice coverage. It sucks. $25,000/3 hundred and sixty 5 days sucks. i might lots somewhat purchase a astounding boat with that funds, yet while that's between paying 25k and having the guy you harm being mind-blowing compensated and paying 20k consistent with 3 hundred and sixty 5 days and not masking all their costs, the the terrific option element to do is obtrusive. It hurts sufferers, does not shop any money for them and makes no distinction to physicians. the only ones who win are the coverage firms and companies that don't decide to be held responsible for their movements.

Answer 8

I love animals, and have had pets all my life and taken care of them. But legally, animals are property. You can sue for damages. And try to keep some perspective here, and not go off the deep end. This isn't the same as rape, or a child being kept in a cage, or a hit and run death. So maybe you are overreacting. Best of luck.

Response to additional details--I see that you only want to hear some emotional sympathetic drivel, and not the truth. I said, LEGALLY, animals are property. I've cried my eyes out over the loss of cherished pets, too. The fact is that your cat is still alive, and just not responding well to treatment. Quit blaming other people for problems in your life. Again, best of luck.

Answer 9

A split is standard procedure for a broken leg. I'm not sure what you think the vet did wrong.