You can dispute the bill with your credit card company if you paid by cc. You can also file a claim in small claims court. Other ways to report a bad vet can be found at http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/2010/12/02/what-to-do-when-your-dog-has-a-vaccine-reaction/ Just skip the beginning.

Vets often get away with this behavior because no one complains. So make a stink. Call your local paper and TV station. Complain to the state. Make him wish he’d behaved better. And make him pay.

We returned with a very sick puppy on Sunday, December 18th. Dr.
Hassan felt that he should keep her over night, run some test and we
should take her to his cancer specialist in the morning – he would
make the appointment for us. He expected our cost to be around $1,000
and assured us on many occasions that his pricing was the best around
- about half that of any other office. He also told us that we were
saving a great deal of money letting him run tests because we could
then take these tests to any other office for use where other offices
pricing would be double to perform the same diagnostics. Funny that
“free” visit was a $35 charge, we should have known what was to come.

When we arrived to pick up our dog the next day we told him we had
made an appointment with a specialist we found through a friend, at
this point he decided that he should actually keep her for an
additional day. He said that he could provide her with care at half of
the cost of the specialist we selected and that he would be saving us
thousands if we left her for one more day. We agreed and asked to
review our bill.

Our bill was at $1,700 at which shocked us. We asked to speak with him
regarding the bill which he said would be $1,000 for two days – we
were only on day one. He was very sharp with us rattling off medical
terms and again telling us that we were paying half of what we would
pay anywhere else. He assured us that leaving her with him another
night would only be a minimal addition to our current bill since he
had performed everything he felt necessary.

Image how shocked we were when at check out the next day, our bill had
grown from $1,700 to $2,700.
That night our dog got sicker by the hour. I called the office
multiple times and asked that the doctor call me back because her
condition was very concerning. He never returned a call.

We took our dog to the cancer specialist in the morning for
evaluation. They were not able to use any of the diagnostic he
performed though he told us that his diagnostics would be able to be
transferred (this was the only reason we let him do it in the first
place). When our estimate for the diagnostics came back from the
specialist, we were shocked to see that their pricing was half of Dr.
H’s pricing. For example, three x-rays that cost us $505 with Dr.
H were $240 at the “over priced” specialist.

We realized at this point that we had been taken advantage of. The
doctor cared nothing for our animal, he just wanted to get his hands
on our wallets. Our four year old dog died a day later. While we don’t
blame the office for her death, it is clear that he did not care about
her or our best interests. He intentionally mislead us to get his
hands on our money – money we could have used to save our puppies
life. Since that day, we have called and emailed the office on many
occasions requesting that he refund $1,000 of our $2,700 bill for his
complete misguidance. He has never returned a call.

If you have any suggestions of where we might turn, I would really
appreciate it. We are getting married in three months and spend a nice
bit of our wedding money being haggled by Dr. H. We are
heartbroken for our little Casey and the only thing that makes it
worse is knowing that this vet got away with using her.

Here’s the response I sent you earlier plus another thought. Thanks for posting this. It is my hope that it will help others.

I hope you’ll report the vet to your state veterinary medical board, also called a licensing board in some states. Don’t spend your life wondering if he’ll kill another dog. Take action! You can get the vet reprimanded, which is very embarrassing, or even get his license yanked.

Before the report, get your dog’s file. It is your property. They can’t refuse.

Don’t be sad, get even!

I took him to the Animal Hospital in town to have a growth removed from his shoulder, I was asked to bring him to the back to a holding cage to wait for Dr. S. Then asked to return to the front office to sign a paper for the surgery. I left and came home, expecting to pick him up later that afternoon. About 30 minutes later Dr. S. called me to tell me that Chico was gone. I asked what happened? He told me that Chico got a hold of his arm and he hit him on his head. He said he had to put him down. I still don’t know how this could have happened. Doctor S. never did call us to explain what had taken place or to offer any condolences, so my husband went to find out exactlly what happened. This is what Doctor S. told him: Chico was not agitated so he didn’t see any need to restrain him and was leading him to another room and Chico stopped and rolled over on his back, that is when he said Chico got a hold of his arm, and that is when he hit him, He said he tried to hit him on the nose. I guess some of my grief has turned to anger now, because I still can’t believe something like this has happened. No one I have talked to has ever heard of such a thing.

This was our baby we raised him from a puppy, he was an orphan because his mother died when he was born, he loved everyone and has never bit anyone, he was rolling over on his back to have his belly rubbed.

When we got Chico home to bury him , I was saying my good-byes and kissed him good- bye. He had a hole on the top of his head and it looked like his little skull was cracked. So does this man kill every dog that nips at him or grabs a hold of him? Why didnt he follow procedures? And if he was trying to pop him on the nose , why did he have a crack on the top of his head, hitting him hard enough to kill him. The whole explanation sounds fishy to us. This man should not be treating any animals. He was cruel and unethical. It is so hard to lose a member of your family. Our grief is tearing us apart.

Thank you for listening to me……

Sincerely,

Chico’s Mom

You can post your story at http://badvetdaily.blogspot.com/ Just be careful not to put yourself into danger legally. You can file (and may already have filed) a complaint with California’s vet board, but be prepared for them to be disappointed. Medical personal too often protect their own. Still, it’s an embarrassament for the vet. You can also file in small claims for the vet bill. It’s a big nuisance for them and you might win. Also, contact local media. Sometimes they’ll do a story.

Thank you so much for posting your story here. Someone will read it and maybe it will make a difference for another person’s beloved dog. I wish I could do more.

We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 PM, Wednesday, October 19, and they would not admit Skitter until 8:00 PM, not before they thoroughly check my pocket worthiness, even though he was in need of immediate attention.

{Paragraph omitted for legal reasons.}

By the next day, at 4:00 PM, our dog was not improving in spite of being 20 hours under hydration. The liquids had moved to his stomach cavity which is the second stage of pancreatitis and she should have know it. Vorathavorn, instead proceeded to tell us he needed more exams because he could have stomach cancer.

By the next morning (Friday, October 21) at 8:00 AM, the liquids had gone to his lungs, third stage of the decease, and he was drowning in his own liquids. It was only then she recommended to euthanize him. When she was asked why did she not tell us the day before, at 4:00 PM, that Skitter was not responding to the pancreatic treatment, all she said was that they had to observe him for 24 hours. What was she going to learn in 24 hours she had not in 20, after taking blood tests every 2 hours? She should have known his condition was not improving and was advancing to the second stage, instead of confusing fluids in his stomach with stomach cancer and ordering more tests. According to his regular vet, that referred us to {vet} because he does not have 24 hour care, fluids in the stomach cavity is the second stage of pancreatitis. She was not up-front with us when asked on Thursday how was Skitter responding to the hydration; she said, fine, he was doing fine. That is gross misdiagnosis for a so call specialist!

She treated our pet like a cadaver for her to practice and experiment. She made him suffer unnecessarily for another day while she rack up the bill. She should have known after 20 hours of observation, blood tests every 2 hours that his body was shutting down and there was not much it could be done but allowing him to pass without suffering.

By 8:00 AM on Friday,when she called recommending euthanasia, Skitter had been in the hospital exactly 32 hours, he was drowning in his own liquids and his bill was $4,092.90. (She was hydrating him to treat the pancreas and at the same time giving him injections to take the water of the lungs!!!)

I just logged a complaint about the Internal Medicine vet that treated my beautiful Maltese Skitter. All my Maltese are rescues from Nortcentral Maltese Rescue. He was put down yesterday and I’m still so angry by how he had to suffer at the end because of the greed of the vet. She should be put out of business!

I would appreciate your help in referring me to as many web sites, boards, etc. that accept complaints against irresponsible veterinarians.

http://www.vetabusenetwork.com/sukistory.htm

Julie Catalano
Founder
vetabusenetwork.com

If this is something that just happened, you might want to inquire about Arnica Montana and Traumeel at your local health food store. These are homeopathic remedies that will help with pain and heeling.

There are other remedies that help with pain and even emotional pain. Inquire at your health food store. And please let me know what happens.

Thanks for taking the time to post this very important story.