Has Anyone Here Filed A Complaint Against A Veterinarian?

[johnmiic]

My sister's dog died on Christmas Eve after having surgery preformed for laryngeal paralysis. We suspect the Vet was careless in over-sedating pre-surgery and monitoring his recovery post-surgery because people who work there have different stories that don't jibe.

I have been searching the AVMA website and not surprisingly I cannot find protocol for making a complaint or even looking for complaints against Veterinarians. Seems to me they protect their own by making it harder to start the ball rolling. I also tried the BBB but can't find anything on complaints against Veterinarian businesses. That might be because people don't generally go there to complain when their pet dies.

Does anyone have any leads or ideas? I would contact ChrisDVM for advice as he is a Veterinarian but I haven't got his contact info.

[thunderbolt]

I want to know the answer to this one, too. I've had two dogs get Cushing's that were under the care of the same vet, and I know at least two others in town that go to him and have had the same problem.

[johnmiic]

I found this blog which had few useful tips. Some of these links don't come up right away and I have had to refresh them to get the page to come up. That could just be my WiFi tho.

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/vet

One link led to this page with some tips but not many useful direct links:

http://www.dogs4dogs.com/checkoutvet.htm

I also found this website but again, I am still digging for answers and direct links:

http://aldf.org/resources/

[Figuremod73]

Is this of any help: http://www.aavsb.org/DLR/

[johnmiic]

Some useful info here but again, no direct link to a complaint hotline:

http://aldf.org/resources/when-your-companion-animal-has-been-harmed/what-to-do-when-you-believe-a-vet-has-harmed-or-killed-your-companion-animal/

[thunderbolt]

^^^ I was just reading that page, I need to talk to Punkin's new vet. She seems to think there is a link between Cushings and over doing cortisone shots.

[mikeMc6]

Just saw this thread, sorry about your loss. I arrived at the family homestead on the 23rd on the east coast and at three in the morning Christmas morning us menfolk had to take the ancient family dog to the vet hospital and put him down. Dog was in terrible pain, long illness. Afterwards we hit the 24 hour diner at four a.m. and then returned home for the kids to wake up for gifts. The day prior the dog had steroid shots to get him through holidays, I should read those links above.

[johnmiic]

Don't let it get to ya Mike. I assumed every Vet was qualified and competent. It turns out in my case that is not so.