Would you sue the vet?

Question

I took my dog to the vet last Saturday because we discovered what looked to be some mucus discharge from her uteren area. She was due for her vaccinations anyway, so I took her in. I told the vet about the discharge and that I was concerned she might have an infection. They looked at her and said nothing was wong. We went on vacation last week, and had a friend feeding and watering the dog, but when we got home, she was looked awful and there was now bloody discharge. I took her to the emergency vet and she does in fact have a uteren infection which required emergency surgery, costing over $1000 and they are giving her a 50% chance of survival becasue it is in advanced stages. I am outraged that the vet did not catch this last week and now, I'm am out $1000, but more importantly may lose my dog. Is there any legal recourse?

Answer 1

yes you have recouce.the courts will want you to try and work it out with the atty first.if that fails then you can file a civil suit.i had the same thing happen to be several years ago. the vert said my chihuahua just had a infection. when i got home from work the dog had a bloody discharge. i went to another vet.the new vet said my dog had the parvo virus.i called the old vet and raised hell with him.i told him that if he did not pay for the treatments i would sue him.the treatment cost about $1500 and there was no guarantee the dog would live.the old vet said my dog only had a few weeks at best with the parvo. the new vet treated him and he got to come home.the dog did indeed die. when he was 19 years old. when i went to pick the dog up the new vet said i did not have a bill.i have no idea if this will happen for you. you need to call the vet and send him the bills. keep copies for yourself. just tell him that since he gave a wrong diagnosis he contributed to the dogs condition. also tell him that if he did not pay for the treatment now you will file a civil suit.it may not work and you have to sue. he may offer to pay part of the bill. that will all have to be your choices. good luck

Answer 2

You can always sue, but will you win? There are a couple of factors to consider in this situation: A mucus discharge is a symptom of many conditions, a lot of which are common and go away on their own. An inspection without tests forces the vet to make an educated guess which may not have given the vet enough information to make a targeted diagnosis. I don't know if you had medical tests run (blood tests, urine tests, etc) but it sounds as though you did not. The vet is not under a legal obligated to suggest such tests so the court will say it was your obligation to tell the vet you wanted medical testing done.

If this goes to court the question that has to be answered is: COULD another vet with the same information have reasonably reached the same conclusion. If so there's no malpractice and you have nothing to base a winning argument on. Unfortunatlely I don't believe you have a winning case here.

Something to think about, many of our deadliest diseases start out showing the symptoms of a common cold. During a physical a doctor doesn't have the knowledge necessary to diagnose anything other than a cold, and may not have reason to suspect anything else because 99.99999% of the time it really is a simple cold. If you want blood tests that's your right but you must ask for them.

Answer 3

I am sorry to hear about your dog and I hope she survives.
I would get all the documentation from the VET for the initial visit and hope that they listed your infection complaint on there and that they found nothing wrong. I would say the most important part of this case would be proof showing the initial complaint about the infection and if it is documented somewhere. Otherwise the VET will probably say that you just brought in the dog for shots and nothing else and deny missing the diagnosis. Once this is done I would contact an attorney who specializes in this area for a free consultation and see what they say. At worst you can go to small claims court and go after the VET for your bills and treatment expense. All my best!

Answer 4

I hope your dog recovers.

You can probably sue the vet; talk to a lawyer and find out. But that may prove too costly to be worth it. Remember, you can also *report* the vet, even if you don't sue them. Either way, it may be a good first step to present the original vet with a copy of all the documentation and ask if they can do anything to help (either pay at least part of the bill, or convince the emergency vet to lower/refund it).

Again, good luck.

Answer 5

Of course, in this litigious society you certainly can sue.

Why not simply change vets instead?

Suing will cost him money, but it will cost you enormous amounts of time and continually dredge up the hurt and helplessness you feel about your dog.

In the future, whenever your pet has even a minor problem, do as my mom says and board him/her with a vet's kennel so that the pet can be monitored every day.

Now, if you'd done that, and the dog's condition had been ignored until your return, I'd say that you were certainly wronged enough to make suing a practical consideration, and even worth the extra pain of reliving the incident.

Good luck to you and your dog.

Answer 6

You do have legal recourse, but in most states in the US, you would be limited to suing for the MARKET value of the pet (not the personal value). If the pet is aged, or a mixed breed, then the market value is likely very small and it probably isn't worth it. But yes, you can still file a lawsuit if you want.

Answer 7

Sounds like you may have a case. Talk to an attorney.

Answer 8

Since she had it and he missed it, you can probably sue.