Legal advice needed (for recovering veterinary fees)

I'm involved in some unpleasant business regarding a complaint to the RCVS, part of which now involves trying to recover some costly vet fees for treatment/surgery to rectify errors made.

Just to be clear, this complaint does not involve any of my own animals or my vets.

And to put people's minds at rest, the animals made a full recovery and are now OK.

Due to the circumstances and the process we are going through, I can't say too much so I apologise for being sketchy with the details. The following just gives a brief outline of the circumstances.

I'm acting as the representative for a rescue in this matter. Mistakes were made which resulted in costly corrective surgery. This corrective surgery/treatment was undertaken at another practice. We have good reasons for needing to go elsewhere and for not taking the animals back to the original practice. I have requested that the original practice cover the costs incurred for correcting their mistakes, which they said they would consider. However, they have now come back to me saying they will not pay as the animals should have been taken back there for any follow up treatment. In fact the animals were taken back there immediately, but after overnight hospitalisation they were discharged the following morning in the same unacceptable state, hence our decision not to go back to them, particularly as by now time was becoming an issue (ie they can deteriorate quickly).

I am fine with the RCVS side of things and I have all the documentation in hand, it's the legal side of trying to recover the cost of corrective surgery that I'm feeling a bit lost with. I feel I need to do something to at least attempt to get this amount back.

This is a rescue, so obviously money is an issue and there aren't funds available to just go ahead and appoint a solicitor.

Has anyone ever used one of those 'no win, no fee' solicitors? Would this be the best way forward? I can't think of any other way of doing it, but any suggestions would be very welcome.

I'm worried about making a bad choice and ending up with a dodgy 'no win, no fee' solicitor, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

Would it be worth me making an appointment with Citizens Advice? Is their advice/expertise very general, or can they advise on specific or more unusual cases, such as this one.

Thanks in advance.

You could try this

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

But to be honest I doubt that you will get very far as the fact that a second Vet was consulted (understandably) without prior agreement from the initial Vet, the initial Vet cannot be held responsible for covering the costs incurred. Even if it was to put right their error. I think that is how it is in law anyway :?

I would try CAB, Tracy.
The behaviour of the fist vets is appalling! :evil:

You could try cab as has already been suggested, and/or you may have legal protection through your house insurance or car insurance, so that might be worth looking into. We used the legal protection on our house insurance to resolve a dispute of right of way to our land which had been cocked up by our solicitor/land registry on purchase of land. (Sorry, I digress :lol and it didn't cost us a penny.

Is the 2nd vet willing to say the corrective surgery was necessary due to incompetence of the 1st vet in the form of a written statement? You could take out a money claim online but seek legal advice 1st either from cab or a solicitor Cab may be able to pass you to a sol who will give you some advice for a small fixed fee Good luck. There will also be court fees to issue a claim but this can be reduced or you may be exempt depending on your income

You may find a solicitor prepared to take on the case on a no win no fee basis if they feel there is merit to the claim.

Was the surgery from the second vet necessary to rectify poor treatment from first vet or was it that you felt first vets were not competent and so you continued treatment under second vets?

Was the treatment by first vets negligent (and do second vets support that view)?

Thanks for all your replies. :wave:

Mattie_G said:

You may find a solicitor prepared to take on the case on a no win no fee basis if they feel there is merit to the claim.

Was the surgery from the second vet necessary to rectify poor treatment from first vet or was it that you felt first vets were not competent and so you continued treatment under second vets?

Was the treatment by first vets negligent (and do second vets support that view)?

Click to expand...

This was a routine surgical procedure that went badly wrong on two animals. It was apparent from the moment the carriers were opened back at the rescue that things were not right. The animals were immediately returned to the practice and they agreed to keep them overnight. They were discharged the following morning in the same state, but now with the added complication of being very swollen. No ongoing medication was prescribed, so no antibiotics or pain relief. After being discharged in an appalling state for a second time, we had now lost all confidence and trust and were not prepared to take them back again.

I took them to the second practice as we were seriously concerned about the state they were in and we needed someone who was competent to look at them. Both were a mess and were badly infected and both ended up having surgery to remove infected tissue. One was so bad that it was touch and go as to whether he would pull through the op.

The additional surgery was absolutely vital, both would have died without it. I suppose the original practice will claim that they could have done the extra surgery, had we taken them back there for a third time, but when you have lost all confidence how can you risk giving them a third chance, particularly when you know that time is running out.

I don't hold out much hope of getting anything back as it sounds like we are on difficult ground if you need the permission of the first practice to go to a second. I have enough evidence in the form of clinical notes, witnesses and photos to prove what state the animals were in following their routine procedure and immediate follow up 'care'. What we can't prove is that if we had taken them back there a third time, whether or not the first practice would have eventually recognised that there was a serious problem and whether they would/could have done the necessary surgery to put it right.

This has all been really horrible and very stressful. I'll be glad when it's over and I can draw a line under it.

CAB will be able to give you a short appointment with their legal advisor Tracy and they should be able to tell you whether there is a chance of a claim.

Most CABs have a local solicitors firm that offer these free consults and some CAB volunteers are often legal folks too.

And in case you haven't had a look yet, this might help (haven't looked at the relevent bits myself). http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_professional_and_financial_services_e/consumer_vets_and_pets_e/consumer_vets_e/complaining_about_misconduct_or_negligence_vets.htm

Talk to CAB, also read the small claims court docs as they have general info about putting a claim together. Does the rescue have insurance? That may also include a legal advise service.

Just thinking about it as a 'service': if someone carried out work, did it badly, were given the opportunity to put it right (you did take the rabbits back to the original vet), but still didn't rectify, surely you would be entitled to go to someone else and charge the original workman?