IF YOU SUSPECT VETERINARY MALPRACTICE…
One of the most frequent distresses from people whose companion animals have suffered injuries, or even death, and who fear that negligence by their veterinarian was the cause.
Prevention is the Best Medicine
The best way to protect your companion animal is to know your rights and the veterinarian’s duties. Here are some major points to remember:
1. Seek out a qualified, competent, and caring veterinarian.
2. Do not be reluctant to seek a second or even third opinion regarding the diagnosis of your companion animal. There are specialists for animals just as there are for humans.
3. Monitor your companion animal’s stay at the hospital or clinic. Ask questions if you do not understand what services the veterinarian is tendering. Trust your common sense.
4. If you suspect malpractice, immediately seek an independent and confidential second opinion. If your animal has died, preserve the remains and quickly take the body to another veterinarian (preferably a college of veterinary medicine) for a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
5. Request all medical records regarding treatment, including x-rays if taken.
6. If you have received a second opinion that supports your concern about malpractice, immediately seek expert legal advice.
When Malpractice is the Case
If you suspect that your companion animal was injured by veterinary malpractice, there are several things that you can do.
First, send a complaint to the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong. This is a statutory agency, whose duties include the investigation of allegations of wrongdoing by veterinarians, including malpractice. Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong have the power to suspend or remove a veterinarian’s license, although this rarely happens.
Your complaint to the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong should be short, should fully identify all of the parties, and state the facts as you know them. Demand that the licensing board investigate your complaint and notify you of the results. A few weeks after you mail the complaint, call the board and confirm that they received it and have started the investigation. It is important that the board receive valid complaints and encouragement to monitor the practitioners in their state.
In addition, a complaint should be sent to the Hong Kong Veterinary Association. Again, demand an investigation and response. In some areas, the county veterinary association is not listed in the telephone directory. You can locate the mailing address by calling any veterinary clinic and asking for it.
A second approach to veterinary malpractice is hiring a lawyer to negotiate a settlement or to bring a lawsuit. The biggest problem with bringing a lawsuit is that, even if you win, you usually do not recover very much money. In Hong Kong, an animal is viewed as an item of personal property according to the law, and the courts in Hong Kong limit recovery to the cost of replacing the companion animal with another animal. Because of the low potential for a large recovery, most lawyers are unable or unwilling to take veterinary malpractice cases on a contingency basis, and it is possible that the pet owner would invest more money in legal fees than can be recovered.
In some other countries, courts have recently begun to realize that a companion animal is unique and cannot simply be replaced. Courts are beginning to permit owners to recover the “reasonable sentimental value” of the companion animals to the individual owners, as long as the sentiment is not “excessive” or “maudlin.” This can increase the potential recovery from a few hundred dollars to perhaps a few thousand.
If you are not able to afford a lawyer, then consider going to small claims tribunal, where you can represent yourself. In small claims tribunal, recovery will be limited to “out-of-pocket” expenses. This includes only the money you lost already as a result of the malpractice, and does not include loss of your companion animal’s sentimental value. In any lawsuit, you will still be required to secure expert testimony as to what act of negligence the veterinarian committed.
Finally, you must understand that neither complaining to the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong, nor filing a lawsuit, will alleviate the sense of loss that you feel. You must allow yourself to grieve fully. Check with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to see whether they offer grief counseling sessions, or talk with other owners who have lost their beloved animals.