Vet Negligence?

What is the name of your state? Oregon


I am looking into my options in regards to suing a 'crook' veternarian. Our cat, Boo, became lathargic and was clearly in pain, so we took her to a Clinic. They presumed it was a digestive issue, pumped her full of barium, and x-rayed. They told us the barium was not moving and she had a string inside of her. It needed immediate removal, as it was closing her intestine, and surgery would be neccessary that day. My wife was obviously distraught and agreed. That afternoon they cut her open, and guess what, no string! What they thought was the string was misread- it was actually the barium they had pumped into her. Boo never recovered and spent her last week in extreme pain and discomfort, mangled and medicated. I realize a pet is simply viewed as property in my state. It appears one cannot sue a vet for malpractice. Is there contract negligence? Possible breach of contract, or misrepresentation. We have the original vet chart that blatantly states the "Cat has string in stomach" and the vets initials indicating my wife agreed to surgery to remove it as well as 2-3 nights overnight care. Later, when I confronted them about the misrepresentation and asked for complete records, they provided the same documents. Only now they had been altered to state they "suspected there was a string in the in the stomach" and that my wife stated "the cat had been chewing on string". It seemed like a smking gun to me. I know that suing for the monetary damages will not bring Boo back, yet I feel it will demonstrate their injustice. The amount in question is roughly $1000.00 due to operation costs, hospital stay, post-op meds, ect.. Sorry for the lengthy post- any advice on how to proceed will be greatly appreciated.

Wrigley22

Wrigley22 said:

Is there contract negligence? Possible breach of contract, or misrepresentation.

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Of course you can sue, as almost anyone has the right to sue almost anyone else over almost anything.
However, I doubt that your suit would be successful, unless you can show that the vet was negligent or malicious in his diagnosis and/or treatment. You would have to be able to prove, likely by expert testimony from another vet, that the 'string' diagnosis was negligent.

Thanks

Thank you for the response. I had already come to this conclusion, and had decided let it rest, but thought I would throw it out there for response in case anyone else had success at bringing these crooks to justice. I am still reviewing the range of contract torts. Malpractice may be unavialble, but we did have a contract. It seems similar to taking your car in and having a mechanic filling up the radiator with a fluid, claiming it is a specific problem, removing the raditor, and then later saying "sorry I was wrong and the car is finished'. At any rate, I loved to hear if anyone has had any success in a similar case. I doubt any vets would stick there neck out against one of there own.

you can always file a complaint with the vet licensing board.