Vet misconduct/negligence

ANNEGIL

Last year my 12mth old pup dislocated and broke his hock. I attended my vet within 15 mins but unfortunately he hadnt xray equipment to check tendons so advised he could plaster the leg or if i wanted a referral to get it xrayd i chose referral to make sure everything else was ok. So my vet splinted the leg and gave pain meds.

This was the start of my problems the following day i attended a vet hospital for my dog to be xrayd i was informed it was a clean break no tendon damage but as he was a big dog a pin and wire would need to go in to support and fix the joint. Also informed pin would stay in unless in 12 months it poked through the skin. The following day i met with vet surgeon and went through surgery details.

Surgery took place i rang the vet to see how it went he explained a lot of blood loss and difficulty inserting the pin so there was a second insertion point made. I collected my pet the following day and we discussed his after care and recovery period in detail and also chance of infection that if i had any concerns come back straight away. Every day i was to see improvements if not come bac.

I went back several times as my dog was in pain and was not even attempting to put the foot to the ground perscribed ani inflams and sent home. Approx 4 wks after surgery my dog was still in pain so i decided to get a xray done at another vets and expressed my concerns. Reluctant to deal with me they carried out the xray and said pin was possibly cause of pain and irratation also bone didnt look like it was lined correctly but it wasnt up to him to criticise another vets work. So i asked if this was your dog would you be happy he answered no.


I contacted the vet who done the surgery explained i had my dog xrayed and pin needed to be removed. I took my dog in the following morning and questioned the vets work he assured me upon xray everything was fine and he stands by his work and he would remove pin in 3 weeks. More meds and painkillers perscribed. End of dec pin was removed as my dog was still in pain and lost a lot of muscle mass and was not bearing full weight on his leg.

Recovery was a nightmare it was like original surgery recovery. Pain was still there no changes. In feb i booked an app to discuss my concerns with the vet and i was told walk him on he will have made a full recovery by summer he just looking for sympathy. I asked would there be arthritis and maybe that was causing pain and stopping him from bearing weight. Told no if there was it minimal not enough to restrict.

End of feb i had a physio come and work on my dogs leg and discuss tips to try get him to bare weight. In april my dogs pain was the same so i decided to travel to a different area and see a vet. Vet carried out xrays and informed me my dog had severe osteoarthritis in tibia tarsal joint and he needed to become a yard dog as he in terrible pain. Perscribed strong pain meds and told options are limited as its well progressed. I was furious at the fact i knew there was something wrong there was no recovery after the surgery. Also my dog had to go through so much pain.

I emailed original vet and explained the findings and how unhappy i was with his dishonesty and lies and also been fobbed off with anti inflams for my dog when his pain was so bad. Basically his reply was sorry i felt that way.

After months of upset and my dog not adjusting to pain meds i decided to make a complaint to the vci to try prevent this from happening someone else . I lodged complaint and made a statement. Vet also made a statement and stated he has discussed on several occasions osteoarthritis which was lies i was furious he also stated and apologised that his records werent kept up to date. Also maintained my dog was bearing weight since nov which in fact it was march /april before he walked on the leg.

Anyway seemily there wasnt enough evidence to go to a hearing physio was never contacted and they acknowledge there was miscommunication between both parties in the understanding of the outcome. So it was a waste of time i can appeal to court but with the decision they gave i have no grounds to appeal. I was also informed negligence was an option although vet care has cost a lot its not about money its not about money it was about making the vet accountable for dishonesty.

Was wondering if anyone has experienced the same issues. Apologies for the long post i tried to shorten it.....

Zaph

Moved from Forum Requests

Cherry Blossom

What's a 'yard dog'? Is this a working dog and did you try to work him after his injury?

ANNEGIL

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

What's a 'yard dog'? Is this a working dog and did you try to work him after his injury?

Yard dog meaning not able to walk for long.periods of time

the beer revolu

OP, I'm sorry for what your dog and you went through. You've experienced the pointlessness of self regulation. It is essentially other vets making judgements on your vet and this will rarely lead to any kind of serious sanctions.
It is the same with the legal profession and the (human) medical profession.

The crux of the problem I think lies with the attitude of the second vet. This notion that one professional can't or won't criticise the work of another.

I instigated a complaint against a consultant over treatment my mother received. All the consultant's lies were accepted as truths without any verification. It was an extremely frustrating and pointless experience.

Springwell

the beer revolu wrote: »

OP, I'm sorry for what your dog and you went through. You've experienced the pointlessness of self regulation. It is essentially other vets making judgements on your vet and this will rarely lead to any kind of serious sanctions.

The VCI panel has both vets and lay people on it so this is untrue

ANNEGIL

Springwell wrote: »

The VCI panel has both vets and lay people on it so this is untrue

Second opinion wasnt vci vet sorry i should have clarified this

jesuischarlie

ANNEGIL wrote: »

Second opinion wasnt vci vet sorry i should have clarified this

All vets in Ireland have to be registered with the VCI. The VCI is there to protect the public, not to protect vets

ANNEGIL

jesuischarlie wrote: »

All vets in Ireland have to be registered with the VCI. The VCI is there to protect the public, not to protect vets

Well in my case and experience its the vet thats protected even after he failing to keep his records up to date which is a breech of vci code

Ms Doubtfire1

have you had an outcome yet from the VCi?

ANNEGIL

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

have you had an outcome yet from the VCi?

Yes my complaint was refused even though all evidence wasnt looked into. And the vet in question kept no record of surgery procedure

Ms Doubtfire1

Many vets and organisation have facebook pages/google plus pages. Leave a rating there - stay honest and account what happened.You may not be able to get any satisfactory response from he vet involved, but you can make sure it doesn't happen to someone else.

ANNEGIL

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

Many vets and organisation have facebook pages/google plus pages. Leave a rating there - stay honest and account what happened.You may not be able to get any satisfactory response from he vet involved, but you can make sure it doesn't happen to someone else.

Thanks thats exactly what i intend on doing,the reason i made the complaint in the first place was prevention as its not going to change the outcome for me or my dog .

the beer revolu

jesuischarlie wrote: »

. The VCI is there to protect the public, not to protect vets

Anecdotal evidence here would suggest otherwise, just as in my experience, the IMO is there to protect doctors and not patients.

CircleofLife

Have you approached an SPCA with this information? Knowingly allowing a pet to remain in pain constitutes abuse for an owner, so it may also for a vet? I'd approach a solicitor too.