Should my vet have waived their fee in lieu of their near fatal mistake concerning my cat?

Question

A year or so ago I had my older cats teeth cleaned, they were a little grungy so I wanted to make sure they were gonna stay healthy etc. Anyway I got the procedure done which involved anesthetic etc and I brought her home.. she was having a hard time breathing and sounded really wet like in her throat.. I called the vet and described it and they said it was normal and was from the lubrication used to insert the tube in her throat. Well she didnt get better and I stayed up with her all night as she laboured to breathe she didnt eat or drink and was very sickly.. finally in the morning I wanted to get her to drink so I took a small syringe and tried to get her to drink, she freaked out and vomited up a large wad of medical gauze, after that she was fine, I called the vet very upset and they checked her out but did not offer to refund me, Is that really right? Shouldn't they count those things just like for humans to make sure none are left behind?

Also, do you think it would be morally reprehensible for me to hold that incident over them in the future in order to get a free check up for that particular cat? I mean would you do that or should I just let it go? I feel like holding them resposible money wise for at least one of my cats future vet visits.. I know it sounds bad but I love that cat more than life itself and I am still upset about the incident after all this time and have been apprehensive about going to the vet again. Unfortunately I have no choice it is the only vet within 100 miles.

I wanted to take legal action but was persuaded out of it because the vet tech responsible for it was my best friend in grade school and she apologized.

Answer 1

Frankly I would then drive 120 miles if needed to go to a different vet or find out if that vet tech is still there and why was a roll of gauze put in a cat in any case for a teeth cleaning.

I would also report this to your state veternary association which oversees vet certification and to the state dept of agriculture or the body in your state that licenses vets. Friend or no friend appology or no appology this could have been fatal and the same carelessness could be - could even have already been fatal to someone else's pet. So for the sake of someone else whose pet is their life and love please do that now.

Yes they should have offered a complete refund plus free care but they didn't. Which also makes me question both their ethics and professional competence.

Since you are still concerned and upset it would be a good idea to speak with a lawyer who handles things on a contingency basis (no fee unless they win).and see if the statute of limitations in your state has expired and whether with the evidence you do have you have a case that can be brought.

I am very glad you were able to save your cat's life.

Answer 2

if you were really worried you would have brought it to another vet then you would have a case against the other guy, but i have a feeling you can't sue vets like you can doctors, plus did they check her for free? if so that was your compensation, vets can be greedy, I see them turn down people when they are needed the most, my vet didn't put gauze in the month they used a device that keep the mouth open with a surgical tape. When i worked at a well known vet School they allowed students to put a feeding tube down a horses mouth and they accidently feed the horse into it's lungs this was fatal, not sure if they charged that person or not, of course with horses the care is in the 1000's.
So the answer is if you showed them the gauze and you are a regular then they sould have given you a refund or credit.

Answer 3

Oh my goodness!!! That's really horrible! Unfortunately, these relatively rare instances happen, but this is the first time I've heard it happen in a vet clinic - usually mistakes like this are reported to come from human hospitals and human surgery. My cousin nearly died becuase a peice of gauze was left inside of her during an elective surgery. Thank good ness your cat spewed out the gauze! Its hard to say what the vet should have done in such a situation. But I would think that the least they could do was to offer free consultations for the duration of your kitty's life. I mean, you'd pay for treatments and medications, but they could have given yout cat and open door as far as consultations are involved.

Frankly, if this happened to me, I'd go find another vet.

Answer 4

I am glad your cat is okay and while this is awful, mistakes happen. Be thankful that your cat is alright! The absolute best doctor and best vet in the world are only human and can and probably do make mistakes, overlook things, etc. If their mistake costed you extra in medical bills or excessive trauma to the cat then I would say persue some kind of reimbursement and then get over it. In this case, be thankful that your cat is fine and get over it. When you never ever makle a mistake and never overlook details then you can pitch a fit- as for now, you made them aware- I am sure they feel bad about it but I am sure also that they see many many animas daily and because they are still in business I venture to say that they do a pretty good job with most of the animals they deal with- things happen- it is upsetting but true character is shown in the way one responds to these things that happen.
Be thankful that your cat is okay- from what you said, I assume htat the procedure she underwent took care of what it was intended to and there are no further problems or repercussions. Leave it alone.

Answer 5

Well, its a little late to take any action toward them now. However, you should have gotten all the money you paid them for the visit back as soon as you realized that the gauze had been left behind. I would never visit that vet again for any reason. The bottom line is that if you hadn't given your cat the water, you may have not found out that the gauze had been left behind until it was too late. Your cat could have died.

Answer 6

Wow that is insane! Yes i would at least try to get a free check-up out of it. Since it was such a long time ago, I'm not sure if you would be able to have a lawsuit unless you have some sort of evidence- but maybe u could still threaten :p
Then i would DEFINITELY go to a new vet. That sucks that it is the closest one for 100 miles, but if a doctor had done the same to you, would you go back to them? Worth the drive for your pet's safety.

Answer 7

I am so happy that everything came out okay..no pun intended.Sorry But I would report them to the BBB. I would also see if you could find another vet. Even though its a distance usually you only have to go once a year. Maybe if it was an emergency you'd use that same vet cuz of location but just be more cautious.
I can understand how difficult vets can be. I changed vets bcuz mine wasnt willing to put my 18yr old cat down who was diabetic and had hyperactive thyroid. They just wanted to keep running tests and stuff. He was so skinny, always thirsty, and never played w/the other cats and was going to the bathroom everywhere. It was just killing me to see him like that. SO we took him to the humane society and they did it. I feel that my vet was putting him thru torture as well as me. I would just cry when he had an accident. It took me over a year to decide to put him down and then they didn't even want to help me. Then about 6 months later (after struggling with the vet and the decision) we took him to be put down. I still feel sad about it. Hope everything goes better for you.

Answer 8

I wouldn't go back to the vet ever again if something like that happened. I would have expected the vet to make it right at the time they were notified of it, too late now. Accidents happen and vets are only human but they should have still made up for it in some way before now.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Wow...that's horrible. I think I would probably change vets too, even if I had to drive 100 miles.

Forget about court. You can't win anything but the cost of the treatment. It's not worth it. I don't know what state you're in, but you should probably look into filing a complaint with the state board. If they have an website, you may even be able to see if that vet has had problems reported in the past.