Should we pay the vet?

Question

Yesterday we dropped our 4 month old boston terrier puppy Abbey, off at the vet, she had cherry eye and was going to be spayed at the same time. She made it through the surgery but died about an hour later. The vet "doesn't know" what happened. The autopsy showed nothing. We asked not less than 5 times about her age, have heard that they need to be 6 months old. Now the vet wants to charge us not only for the spaying and cherry eye, but for the autopsy and the addition work being sent to a vet. college for further examination. Plus the cost of cremation. why should we pay this? They killed our puppy, we have had 3 other pets die in the past 4 years but not while at the vet. she was the best pup ever, so funny and sweet and just as cute as could be. Should we have to pay for all this since obviously they didn't do something correctly.

Answer 1

First, I'm very sorry for your loss.

However, if they are not directly responsible for the pup's death, you are legally responsible for the fees. Did you ask for a necropsy to be performed? If not, then perhaps that is one fee you can fight. I look at it this way, even in humans, when they die on the operating table, the family is still responsible for the medical bills - unless there is negligence or malpractice. I know it sucks, but that's just the way it works.

As far as spaying times, 6 months is a general standard, but it can be done much earlier.

Again, I'm very sorry for what you are going through and I hope that it all works out.

Answer 2

To say they 'obviously' did not do something correctly is to assume they screwed up.

There are a million reasons why the pup could have died- you already knew it was very young and had an infection yet you think it was the vet's fault? It could have already been very ill or had many other problems in its young life.

Having an animal die at the vet (or a person die at the hospital) is tragic, but not usually because of anything anyone did 'wrong'.

The vet deserves a certain amount of money for the work they did. The autopsy and further examination should help determine what killed the poor thing- before you can take any further action you really need to know this.

The costs of the cremation seems fair unless you want the body back.

The costs of the original services may be negoitable if you talk to the vet (and have not already upset them with accusations or harsh words).

If you have had success with this vet in the past, and wish to keep using them, I'd pay and get on with my life.

If you do not wish to use them again, I'd pay a fair part of the bill and discuss the balance with them. (Don't forget, you DID incur the debt- they can take you to court or send you to collections if they want over this.)

Finally, if I had 4 pets die in 4 years, I'd re-examine the way I do things. Something seems very wrong with that ratio.

Answer 3

Yes you do have to pay for services rendered and no it is NOT obvious that the vet did anything wrong. Also as far as age your dog was old enough to undergo the surgery..puppies as young as 8 weeks safely undergo spay/neuter surgery every day and as for the cherry eye surgery that was also safe to do under 6 months..it is done all the time.

Pets don't die all that often from spay/neuter surgery or from cherry eye surgery but occasionally it does happen.. 99% of the time there is an underlying health problem that is not apparent..it can be kidney, liver,heart, blood, etc related. There are blood disorders that can't be detected..there are heart issues that don't show up on exams and don't get found until an animal dies unexpectedly, there are kidney & liver problems which most times can be detected with pre-anesthetic bloodwork but not always.The kidneys and liver need to have very good function as these are the organs taht rid the body of anesthesia. There are also lung problems that like the heart can't be detected until after an animal dies..there are so many things that could of happened that have absolutely nothing to do with the vet or staff. it is because of these underlying problems that owners sign a waiver when having surgery performed just as people have to before having surgery.. Any surgery no matter how routine is not without risk.

Answer 4

Unfortunately, I cant offer much more than what has already been said. As the owner of the pup you are responsible for the vet bills. While it is sad that the pup died while in the care of the vet, there is not much to be done due to the inherent risks of surgery.

That being said, you can fight anything you did not authorize. This may include the necropsy, the consult of a college, or the cremation.

For future reference you may wish to consider switching vets and if an event like this were to occur you should have the necropsy performed by a vet unaffiliated with the vet performing the surgery.

While I am not saying vets are liars, they have their own interests to protect and money to make. Further more people seem to always believe their vet no matter what they say. Most never seek a 2nd opinion. Why? I dont know maybe its because we know less about the anatomy of a dog than the average person knows about the human body but if a doctor told someone they had cancer they likely would seek a second and maybe a third or more opinions but if a vet tells someone their dog has X disease and its going to cost Y dollars to fix the owner takes it at face value.

You said you had 3 other pets die in the past 4 years but you dont say much else about it. What were the circumstances surrounding the deaths? Ages, breed, breeder, etc are all things to take into account. For all we know one died of old age, one got hit by a car and one died of some illness such as parvo. Its not enough for us to draw conclusions on but if they all died young and they all came from the same store or breeder you may wish to consider changing breeders/stores

Answer 5

Unfortunately, there are risks involved in any surgery. Most likely the authorization form you signed releases them from fault unless you can prove negligence, which is both very hard to do and unlikely. I know its hard to deal with such a sudden loss, but sometimes things happen that are out of a vets control, it does not mean they killed your pet. Animals, like people, can have underlying genetic conditions (like heart problems) that are not visible before surgery, they can also have allergic reactions to anesthesia (rare, but it does happen) While many vets prefer to wait till 6 months before spaying, to make sure the pup has all its shots, and because its easier to find the uterus when its bigger, 4 months old is not too young to be spayed, and actually thats when most shelters and rescues do theirs. Beyond that, legally you are responsible for the charges incurred, including the surgeries and autopsy as long as you authorized it. Cremation also is charged unless you want to bury the pet at home. You could choose to not pay it, but the vet can then send you to collections, and it will end up on your credit.

Answer 6

how did the other pets die?? It may not have been the vets fault. All animals, just as people, handle surgery and recovery differently. The puppy might not have been strong enough especially with the eye thing. I personally think you should pay because the vet did their job and tried to help you dog. Since you are the owner you didn't have to let them send the dog to the college or cremation. Even if you feel wronged over the surgery the last two cost are definetly your responsibility.

Answer 7

Yes, you should. I wouldn't say they obviously didn't do something correctly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing surgery on a four-month-old pup. Some dogs do have a reaction to anesthetic. There is no way to know which dog is going to react until it happens. Unless you can prove that they didn't do something that they should have, you need to pay them for their services.

I'm very sorry about the loss of your puppy.

Answer 8

I didn't have to pay for the autopsy on my dog, and had I agreed to "donate him to science" I would not have been charged for that but I did not agree to that--I wanted to put him to rest. Mine died at the vet after a mis-diagnosis, the vet did not charge us for the two emergency visits or the 3 hours he spent in ICU before breathing his last breath....I guess I got lucky. Unless you can prove they did something wrong I think you're stuck with the charges. My vet did the autopsy to put his own mind at ease as well, maybe that's why I wasn't charged. I wouldn't think the college would charge you--it's a teaching opportunity--talk to the college yourself. For the future--I'd definately find a different vet.

Answer 9

I would not pay, I use to work at a Vets office and we had animals sometimes due to negligence on the Vets part due to missing a clot or unforseen complications. The Vet always offered to pay for costs of barial and did not charge. The Vet should have waited until the dog was 6 months because 4 is way too early. I would research into the Vets background and see if there have been anyother pets that have died after surgery. If you have to report them to the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.com and see if anyone else have reported against them too. If they screwed up they should take responsibility for it. Sorry you lost your baby.

Answer 10

Your canines replaced into on your resources, it replaced into the neighbor that did not have perfect administration of her canines. i in my view may experience basically awful that my canines harmed yet another animal yet they're only doing what dogs do- they're shielding of their homestead and human beings and no count number what, they're animals. i'd be lifelike because i respect dogs and also want to save sturdy relatives individuals , so i'd grant to pay 1/2. If she would not like that decision, you at the prompt are not obligated to grant more beneficial. she will take you to small claims courtroom yet she would not win.