Expert: Lee Meyer - 7/30/2008

Question
hi my moms miniature poodle recently died...she is very upset about it because she beliefs it is her fault she died, because she took her to the wrong vet.  Her name was FIFI.  Anyway she took the dog to the vet and the vet told my mom the wrong way to give the dog medicine...so therefore the dog got worse.  So she took it to the vet again the vet said shell keep her overnight and help her.  To my moms knowledge all they did was put her in a cage and did nothing to help her just let her die over night.  Is there not something we can do about this??

Answer
Hi Michael,

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your mom's dog.  It is especially sad when it appears it could have been avoided or prevented.

I am not a lawyer, so take what I tell you with much salt.

Have you sat down with the vet and asked what happened?  Can you tell them what you believe happened and see what the response is?  Perhaps if something did go wrong you can get them to discuss it.

It is always good to try to let people have a chance to admit a problem and try to correct it.  It shows you are not being hotheaded and made one or more attempts to correct the problem before doing something more serious (ie court).

How do you know the vet told your mom the wrong way ot give the medicine? Did they admit it?  Did it disagree with any instructions on the bottle?  Can you get another good dog vet to confirm that such instructions were incorrect?  You will need to be able to prove this if you go to court.  It shows negligence on the part of the vet.

You will also need to have another good vet say that giving this med the wrong way was ineffective and would not have helped.  This is needed because it re-affirms the negligence, and also that by giving wrong instructions, it contributed to the death of the dog because it wasn't going to help the dog get better -the medicine wouldn't work this way.  So the dog got worse.

Did you only find out later after the dog died, the instructions he gave you were wrong?  This is important, if you gave them the dog after knowing they gave you bad instructions, they're going to ask what kind of pet owner would give their sick dog over to a vet they didn't trust?  If you on;y found out after, you are better off as not being kind of negligent yourself.

You will need more than the word of your mom they didn't do anything for the dog that night.  You will need to have one of their kennel people or get their records for that night about what care was given, and get it confirmed by someone who was there.

Generally you can only sue for the cost of the dog.  I would probably also sue for any medical fees for all the medicines, exams, tests and billing incurred for this illness as well.  

But like I said, try to talk with them first before having to go the hard way.  Ask to see the records of what care was given to the dog that night there.  I would probably wear a recorder, hopefully you live in a state where only one person has to know a conversation is being recorded.  This might come in handy later on.  You will have to stay calm no matter what. Just ask your questions, ask to see any kennel worker for that night.  

Depending on the what your dog cost, you could probably take care of this in small claims court. If you have a lawyer in the family or a friend, ask them for a little insight here too.  I'm not a law guy.

Lee