Thte vet is now practicing in another state, so filing with the GA board wouldn't do beans. I have already considered that.

Lauren,

Lauren
I am terribly sorry for your loss, and I do sympathize, I lost a dog to bloat a few years ago. I work for the vet that did my dogs surgery. (although, I wasn't present when he did it). Something was terribly wrong with her digestive tract. I, personally, believe it could have to do with the food I was feeding at the time, (Eukanuba), thinking I was doing good. I now know better, and that Raw is way better. I took my dog home, and she got lots of TLC for a month, at 10 days we removed stitches, I trust my vet tacked it well, and after a month of very small meals, (still didn't know about raw food though), no exercise, and a lot of restlessness, I let her have 15 minutes of free running in our fenced in yard, nothing too intense, and she bloated again. I cried, and refused to put her through another surgery, (not if this is what was going to be the rest of our lives together), and had her put down. It was awful. But yes, a dog can, albeit rarely, bloat again, even after their stomach is tacked down.

This is not saying you shouldn't investigate into the other cases and see if there's a case there, maybe she is just a bad vet, or maybe, their wasn't a lot she could do. And could it have been genetic?

Sincerely,

Tina

Hi Lauren,

I'm so sorry that you lost your dog to bloat. I went through that before the stapling was invented. Repeat bloats are a heartbreaker.

Unfortunately, I have some negative info for you on suing the vet. I'm retired lawyer by the way. Now remember I'm saying that following is the statistical probabilty of the outcome.

(1) Forget class action - that is only where the identities of the people affected are so numerous as to be impossible to determine. Here there are always the vet clinics records where you could track down other clients - and you could get the records through the discovery process when suit is filed.

(2) Contingency fees - if you can find a one of my ex-colleagues who would take on a medical malpractice suit against a vet over a dog (no matter how much you loved your pet)unless that dog had subsantial breeding value and was produing litters that sold for a lot or other factors such as being a service dog.......well, this is not the kind of thing that any lawyer would do on contingency. Med mal cases are expensive - expert witnesses (and not just your current vet) and all other kinds of costs. Minimum attorney fees ALONE for a full blown lawsuit (and this is just a guess) - small claims about $1000 - $3500 and for the next court up, with the full discovery and other pretrial stuff - well, we are talking $10,000 or more. The second rule of law school (the first is that law and justice have nothing to do with each other) is never take a case where the client is not going to get more in damages than it will cost.

(3) The majority rule in the states is that pets are like refrigerators in terms of giving them value - what it cost you to get the dog. They generally do not recognize emotional distress over a pet.

I would suggest that you file a complaint with the states where that vet is licensed but ONLY if you can produce another vet who will give you a written statement in advance that the first vet committed an egregious mistake that is not within the reasonable parameters of judgement over treatment options and that it was the vet's conduct that caused the dog's death. If you can't get that statment, you will just end up frustrated and get no where. Usually the burden of proof is on you to show the vet did something wrong - beyond just normal "bad call" didn't work out like it should have.

Even if the vet is now in a different state, most professionals have to report any complaints made in one state to another where they are also licensed.

Ann

I am so sorry about Auster -- I knew you have had problems for so long but this is terrible.

I can tell you from personal experience that a lawsuit (this was for a totally unrelated thing) can consume your life, and drain you financially, and if you lose (even though you KNOW you are right)the sting is even harder.

In college, you have so much to work for; I know it is hard to let it go.......

Very sorry to hear about your losing Auster. No matter why, and even when you know that you have done the best thing for the dog, it still hurts terribly.

As far as 'waiting too long' - I am assuming you took her to this vet at an emergency clinic. Having worked for a year at Univ Penn's vet hospital, 3 years at the school, and actaully most of my adult life working on and off in vet med in practices which offer emergency surgery, I can attest that like human hospitals, vet emergency services operate on 'worst case' first. If the doctors were in surgery on a critical case when you got there, or a more ctitical case came in after you, you would have to wait.

Also, I have several friends - both vets and trainers - who have done expert witness testimony in malpractice as well as other types of loss cases on some very expensive horses. Months of preparation go into these cases and every detail is examined. Unfortunately bloat is very common in our breed, and I do not believe the statistics will work for your benefit.

Another point you make is that your parents declined to have a post mortem done on Auster. Without this documentation, you will have nothing but speculation on what happened. A post would at least have have had a chance of validating your theory that the original surgery was not properly finished. Without some cold hard facts, you have no grounds other than your understandable doubts.

You can file a complaint with the board of the state where the vet practices, and possibly find out if other complaints are filed.

Again - I am very sorry to hear of your loss..

Lee

There was more staff on call, that she didn't even call in UNTIL MY PARENTS GOT THERE, even though she had 45 minutes notice that a bloat case was coming. It's a good thing I wasn't there, or I would have gone in the back and started prepping Auster for surgery myself. I'll have to request that they fax me the records and see if any of it has a time stamp, so it can be compared with when we visited the first vet who sent us there.

Looks like I will have to take this to small claims court myself, and possibly ask Student Legal Services if they can provide any advice (free consultations for students, but I am in a different state now).

Looks like lawyer fees would cost about the same as law school tuition.