vets misdiagnosis

[charmed1974]

Hi everyone just looking for some advice, took my moms dog to her usual vet a week ago with a lump at the top of his leg the vet told her it was nothing to worry about just fatty tissue a simple operation would be able to remove it but it would need removing as it would only get bigger and he would be up and is usual self with a day or two, baring in mind he was an old dog and only recovered from a stoke in December 09 afew days later we spoke with the vet again who again reassured us the chance was minimal of it being anything else. he was booked in for his op today after my mom had manged to scrape together the £350 for the op, the usual vet was on holiday and thre was a locom which was not a problem the locom took one look at the lump and told us she was almost sure it was something sinister (cancerous) the lump had not change in a week? she was very worried about his age etc and ungoing anasthetic she seemed confused as to why xrays and bloodtests had been been done or that we had not been advised to have them done we informed her of the previous vets diagnosis, so she said she would phone as soon as he went under, we got the phone call asking if she could take xrays little while later we got the phone call saying it was a tumour which was eating away at his rib cage and lung.....this was only a fatty lump!!! we returned to the surgery to be shown the xrays which the tumour was quite clear he was struggling under the anasthetic so to be kind as it was likely he would not recover when brought around never mind the tumour he was put to sleep. Whislt this decision was being made we had staff in and out for issues nothing to do with our sitution they did not he have the courtesy to knock the door as you can imagine i m deeply upset at this point and having to sign consent froms for them to be to go ahead and people in and out witnessing this, to top it all off they tell me the bill is £330 and he has not even had the operation.... during all this they are also having a new computer software installed and staff training which caused everything to be on go slow they print my bill then few minutes later tell me they ve made a mistake and the bill is actually £400 at this point i am totally distraught all i want to is get out of the place. am i right to complain ? am i right to ask why our dog was misdiagnosed when even we had thought it was cancer am i right to ask why xrays were not done in the first instance..........if we had known the above we would never have agreed to the surgery so he would never have been put under anasthetic and we would have just done the right thing when the time came he was nt in any pain or discomfort so although he had cancer he/we may have had more time any advice would be most appreciated sorry for the long windedness of my thread

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, charmed1974.

 

So sorry to read of your loss, I'll move this thread to the appropriate Forum.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[hightail]

I do think the last line of your story holds the key. But for the initial assessment you wouldn't have had this expense or upset. Bear in mind that an x-ray would probably have cost around £100 and there is every chance your dog would have been prescribed something if only painkillers at some point. It is probably worth writing a letter of complaint to the surgery pointing out that an x-ray was an obvious choice for diagnosis before attempting expensive surgery under full anaesthetic and asking for a refund of the difference.

[charmed1974]

Thanks Hightail i m in the middle of writing a letter to the vet now.

[charmed1974]

It now gets worse so could really do with some advice please we had a phone call this evening from the vet telling us the locum had made a mistake and the xrays showed no signs of cancer and infact our dog was put to sleep for nothing what do i do now ???

[pompeyfaith]

You need to make a formal complaint to the vet in question and also to these people:

 

RCVS Online / Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons

 

 

RCVS Online / Veterinary Surgeons / Complaints procedure

 

So sorry to hear this.

 

 

PF

[charmed1974]

thankyou do i need to see a solicitor?

[molly13]

Hi,

Sorry about your loss charmed1974.

 

If I was you, I would complain to the RCVS and ask for an independent vet to study the X-ray, and also any blood test results.

 

As for the situation with staff etc. having no consideration for your distress or the dignity of the dog, this matter should also be referred to the RCVS. Is your vet accredited to RCVS?

 

As a veterinary nurse I know how distressing it is for owners in this situation and compassion should have been shown to you at this awful time.

Also most vets,if you a regular, are quite willing to postpone the bill for a week or so, to let their clients sort of come to terms with their loss.

Wishing you all the best,

 

Regards

 

Molly:)

[pompeyfaith]

Also most vets,if you a regular, are quite willing to postpone the bill for a week or so, to let their clients sort of come to terms with their loss.

This is why charmed need to take this further because if what looks like serious mistakes have been made their should be no bill to pay the vet should front any costs and compensate for his/her loss.

 

I also believe any half descent vet registered with the RCVS would do this as a matter of course.

 

PF

[charmed1974]

Thanks Molly13 and pompeyfaith i have been this morning to speak in person with the vet who from what i can gather has returned to total mayhem it turns out we are not the only unlucky family to have had a wrong diagnosis by the Locum vet during last wk i know of at least one other a poor cat had been run over and was sent back with a broken spine the poor animal was in pain for days then yesterday his pain was ended.

To be fair the vet is disgusted with his staff and the locum yes he is registered with the RCVS he is making a complaint himself about the events that have gone on, the problem i now have is that he now belongs to a franchise as of 5 weeks ago called Medivet so i now have to take then on but thankfully i do have the vets backing he to is contacting i assume his head office etc as he wants members of staff dismissed, my very long letter is nearly complete i have spoken with RCVS myself and they have said i dont need to actually report the locum to them if my vet is already doing so as they will contact me on reciept of the complaint. So my next letter will be to RCVS about the staff members and the part they played towards our distress.............as for the bill the vet has told me that is down to medivet to reinburse and not himself as they are the franchise i not so sure about this but it will all go into the letter and yes i will ve asking for some sort of compensation along side much needed answers

[pompeyfaith]

Charmed,

 

This is so nice to hear I'm glad that you have the ball rolling.

 

Good Luck.

 

PF

[molly13]

Good luck with it charmed.

 

Please stand your ground regarding the behaviour of the staff. Totally unproffesional and unacceptable.

 

Thing is you should NOT have had to deal with this sort of experience on top of losing your pet, which in itself is distrssing enough in normal circumstances.

 

I wish you all the best

 

Molly:)

[hightail]

he now belongs to a franchise as of 5 weeks ago called Medivet so i now have to take then on

 

Hmmmm. Not so sure about that. Vets are individually responsible where the RCVS is concerned.

[charmed1974]

Well letter written all 3 A4 sheets of it, Vet phoned me this evening to see if i could get a copy of it to him as he is going to his head office tomorrow so looking like he is definatly on our side so signed and delivered .

[pompeyfaith]

Greetings Charmed,

 

I'm now posting a few links that you may find useful.

 

http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/cruelty/documents/cop-dogs.pdf

 

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/pdf/ukpga_20060045_en.pdf

 

Doglaw

 

Right, I hope you will find these useful as it will help you to see things the way the law does.

 

Good Luck and as a dog lover I'm right behind you.

 

PF

[maroondevo52]

 

Good Luck and as a dog lover I'm right behind you.

 

 

Me too, keep us posted.

[pompeyfaith]

Me too, keep us posted.

 

So glad to hear that Maroondevo another 5 star SiteTeam member.

 

PF