Oh man....this sounds so....so cover-up-ish, I'm not yet sure WHAT I'd do. But as a start, I think I'd first ask WHY you can't be given the information about where that vet's gone. What's it to the clinic owner, to cover that up.....unless that vet did a LOT of things wrong already, and so was let go, so they want no guilt by association? To me, this sounds like another case of "doctors protecting their own" no matter what. This makes me very angry, as it's so rampant everywhere, and does the client/patient no good. (so there goes the first part of their oath to "do no harm"!)

I just caught this before heading out tonight, so I'll think about it some more later...but much depends on whether you'd ever be using that clinic again, too. Ya know how it is..........

You might think of checking into seeing if there is a State Vet Board. I know some States have Medical Boards where you can find out the current address of where a vet is working. I believe they have to notify a Board of change of address as a license requirement.

Maybe there is a way also to ask on the Internet about how to find out where a vet is located, or maybe another vet you might know elsewhere might tell you how the best way would be to find a particular vet. In fact, you might ask one you don't know well by saying you wanted to write a compliment to the vet but didn't know where to send it as she has left where she was.

Just some ideas on maybe finding out where she is as what happened should be made public, like you said...where it happened...that owner should be aware how you feel about what happened, and if possible, either the State Medical Board for Vets may tell you over the phone they will take a complaint letter for the file or to be investigated (doesn't hurt to try) or her new employer should be aware of what happened. Maybe that is why she is gone. If it was something she is responsible for, whatever you can do may help prevent another kitty having to go through the same thing.

Unless it was someone else's responsibility and she left rather than stay with that knowledge.


Just some thoughts.
Judy

I would write the letter. If nothing else, it will help you work through your feelings of anger etc. and hopefully the message will get to the vet in question and she will learn from it. Sometimes just putting things on paper gets the poison out of your system.

The treating vet who took care on the care of my Goliath on the night he passed away missed something VERY important and sent us home. Less than two hours later Goliath died in my arms.

I did meet with the vet and also with the administration where I had the opportunity to express to them just how much Goliath meant to me. There were alot of questions going around in my head and I needed some answers. I just wanted them to help me understand what had happened. They listened to me and were very patient as I told them about Goliath and showed them my scrapbook of stories, pictures, and memories we made together. Every single peron who was in that room had tears pouring down their faces. Some of my questions were answered and others were not.......at least to my satisfaction they weren't. Shortly after that I sent the vet a copy of the letter I had writtten to Goliath. It did my heart alot of good when I let it all out with them. Though I'll never know for sure what happened on that dreadful night, I still think they do.

If I were you, I'd write the letter. Perhaps you can run a google search with the vets name. If nothing comes up, then the vet is probably not employed elsewhere as yet. In that case, the clinic would not be allowed to give out a home address. The ER I took Goliath to have meetings where they discuss what goes right and what goes wrong. Whenever there is a death, the entire staff gets together in discussion of why, how, and could it have been prevented. Just as human doctors cover for each other, so will vets. So, I'd write the letter and hope they pass it onto the vet who treated Jason. I'd be very upfront about the need you have to communicate with this vet. I do think by doing so, at least your heart will become less heavy. Ask around if anybody knows where the vet is praticing. You don't have to give any details to them except that you would like to send her a letter.

May you find some peace soon friend. I know it was important to me to let the vet who treated Goliath know exactly how I felt and how much he meant to me.

Hugs of love and understanding,
Beth

I will never use them again. The clinic is within five blocks of my home and across the street from our business so I have to see it almost every day. Not a good sight! It's ironic but after Jason died so many people told me horror stories about this vet and how poorly their pets were treated at this clinic. I have to say that before this last visit, I didn't have a problem with them, in fact, their vet techs are wonderful but Jason had never been treated by this inexperienced vet, only the owner/DVM. I can't do a face to face meeting with any of them yet but am still debating on sending the letter. In any event, my new girls have a new vet that specializes in cats. He's my husband's cousin and while his practice is great, it's not close by our home. I guess I'll trade a longer drive for my peace of mind.


Thanks for all the support.

Oh, wow....I can't even imagine how awful that must be to have to look at that place every day! I've not even been to any of the clinics my girl went to, since, and even driving by some of them from a distance....I always turn my head away, for I can't bear to be reminded of her illness near the end (and we didn't even have a fatal event happen at/with any of them). So you have my utter sympathies for that! OUCH!!!

Our local vet was a good 45 min. drive away, the closest specialist clinic we had was at least 30 mins. away (some closer to an hour, with traffic), so don't let that time/distance deter you. You couldn't have PAID me to use the vast majority of the closer clinics, the vets are all so deficient! So for me, my main concern became just WHO we'd happen to get if we had to visit one of the Emerg.'s (still 20 mins. away for the closest one), and the lone time we did have to use them for Nissa, they ended up sending us to the very FARTHEST one anyway, as they didn't have anyone on staff who could effectively diagnose and treat our girl for her sudden/acute glaucoma situation anyway! (yes, she lost her sight in that eye, and was the beginning of the worst and most frequent of our vet trips ever, since it was due to a sudden spike in high blood pressure) But at least they knew who could help her most on that particular Sunday.

As for your letter (or whatever action), I guess I was just too rushed yesterday, but I just remembered that I'd already posted a topic dealing exactly with such matters! It's called Bad Vet Resources (click on this), and lists a whole whack of sites where people have stood up in one way or another to confront vet mistakes, blatant malpractice, and the like. If you take a look at each one, even briefly, I'm SURE you'll get a whole BUNCH of wise and practical (not idealistic) ideas, not to mention very specific resources & support from those who've already gone this route, and so know all the 'tricks' and vital info. one needs before acting, in order to get good/better/best results. I think it's utterly pointless to act w/o this end goal in mind, as it will likely only ADD to the frustration, anger and grief from such incidences &/or attempts at rectification afterward. Again, I speak from my own experiences here, and had I known at the time that there were such groups/sites already existing, I would have turned to them for advice, too, in my own situations. There have been many of us here whose attempts failed because of ill thought out plans and who've ended up even more hurt by the vets involved -- and I was one of them once.

I'd posted this just FOR people like you, who'd had bad experiences &/or fatal mistakes made & weren't sure of how to handle things, much less where to turn to for "expert" & very experienced help.

[A general note that I'll take the opportunity to say here: I do wish folks would take a look at the topics in other, specific forums, or at least use the "Search" feature up top more often, as that's exactly why I post informative info. on various topics of concern -- so they'll have answers at their fingertips when they need it. Or, for those of you who HAVE seen these topics, please refer people to them when there's a need]

Oh my gosh. When my kitten Nemo died 5 years ago (I had taken him in to get him neutered, and he never came home), I had a really, really hard with the emotional part towards the vet also. I guess I will always wonder if I had taken him to a different clinic, if he would have lived. But I will never really, truly, know. Anyways, I have to drive by this clinic all the time, too! For years, it literally made me sick to my stomach to drive by, knowing he passed there at that clinic, without me. It's very, very, HARD!! I still get a upset occasionally when I drive by, but now I have settled into the fact that Nemo's spirit is not there, it is with me at home and wrapped in my love.

For your question about the letter- I don't know what I would do either. But do what-ever you need to do, what-ever makes you feel good. The fact that the owner behaved that way has to be very frustrating. I'm sure they are worried about getting sued. But this was a life we are talking about, and some compassion would have went a long ways from them.

Hugs
~NM

It's been almost nine months since Jason died and I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with his death. I think of him every day and still wonder if I did all I could for him. I have two new kitties that I love very much and wouldn't want to be without but I still miss my boy. I just wanted to let him know I'm thinking of him and missing him.