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Old November 17th, 2008, 12:58 AM
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danam314 danam314 is offline
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How do I find a lawyer? - Vet Malpractice

Hi all. I have a question and I'm hoping that someone will be able to provide me some information. My husband and I have been through a lot recently with our dear Koda. This situation arose from inadequate and incompetent veterinary care, in our opinion. We have done a lot of research and have our facts in order. We also have reports from other vets and 2 independent lab reports. They all point in the same direction... Now we would like to contact a lawyer regarding Veterinary Malpractice. I really am not too sure how to go about this. I've never been in this situation before. Are there specific lawyers that practice veterinary malpractice? Would I contact a civil lawyer? How would I find one? Does anyone have any information or legal council contacts they could suggest? We live in Edmonton, Alberta. Who else should we be contacting? Some sort of Vet licensing board?

Thank you. I appreciate any and all help! Koda does too!

Also, if you have been through a malpractice case and could let me know what to expect, I'd love to hear from you. I do not want to post specifics in this thread due to slander and liability reasons to this wonderful site.

(If you don't want to post you can certainly send me a PM)
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Old November 17th, 2008, 07:27 AM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Did something happen to Koda?

Perhaps a lawyer that is experienced in medical malpractice may be a place to start? They may have somebody in their firm who has done vet lawsuits.
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Old November 17th, 2008, 08:13 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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I really don't know anything about veterinary malpractice cases, but I did find this law firm in Edmonton that lists it as one of their areas: http://www.lawyers.com/Alberta/Edmon...4453866-f.html They do free consultations, if that helps.

In the U.S. especially, animal law is a rapidly growing field and many of the big law schools are now offering related courses in their curriculum.

Here are some more links for you (although with a U.S. slant):
http://www.aldf.org/article.php?id=249
http://www.aldf.org/article.php?id=243
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Last edited by sugarcatmom; November 17th, 2008 at 08:15 AM.
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Old November 17th, 2008, 09:44 AM
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I know this is an american link, but you may find some good info:

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/qvusvetmal.htm
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

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Old November 17th, 2008, 04:42 PM
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danam314 danam314 is offline
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Thanks so much guys! I'm really gung-ho to get started on this.

I'm not really sure how much I can say on here without getting anyone in trouble so I will give the short version of events. Koda is diabetic and he was given an overdose of steroids. We knew something was up when we got such strange looks from other vets, and eventually from the ER staff too after they read that he was given these meds. We got 2 lab reports back that concluded he was given an overdose of steroids. This caused him to go into ketacidosis state and he barely made it home. Over $6,000 in bills, time off work, 6 days in the vet ER and a few other roadblocks, now we're ready for our old vet to take some of the responsibility. We found 3 other people that have had similar experiences with this vet, so we know we aren't alone. Also, through my own research I have found specific articles on these drugs that say "Diabetic patients should NEVER take this medication unless there is a life-threatening reason to take it". All my poor koda had was itchy skin

(If I posted to much info please feel free to remove it. I really don't want to step on toes here!)
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Old November 17th, 2008, 06:02 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by danam314 View Post
(If I posted to much info please feel free to remove it. I really don't want to step on toes here!)
As long as you don't name names, there should be no problem with your info.

I remember in another post when you mentioned the previous vet had given Koda a steroid shot, I had a WTF moment. Now I ain't no vet, but even I know that's a no-no. I'm not saying no diabetic should ever get steroids (again, it depends on the situation), but this was for an itchy foot!! Hardly on my list of life-or-death.

I wish you all the best with this and hope you can recoup your losses.
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Old November 17th, 2008, 07:29 PM
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Not sure about that but could that be a case for ''small claims court''?
I wish you luck anyway!
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Old November 17th, 2008, 10:31 PM
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danam314 danam314 is offline
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Thank you. I emailed that lawyer you gave me the link to and gave her a run-down on our situation. Now we just wait and see what she thinks.

Also, on another matter, a friend was asking me and I have no idea: is there any sort of regulation that says a licensed vet needs to be on premises while the clinic is open for business? or is it ok to just have a vet tech running the show and calling the licensed vet about how to diagnose each patient?

Is there anywhere I can look up "rules" that clinics must follow? I don't even know if this is covered under provincial or federal.

Thanks again!

EDIT: I think I found her an answer Here

Last edited by danam314; November 17th, 2008 at 10:43 PM.
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Old November 18th, 2008, 10:07 AM
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Lise Lise is offline
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A friend of mine lost her dog due to an incompetant vet.She had necropsy reports etc,but no other vet would go on record and say 100% the vet caused the dog to die.One of our horses had his shoulder badly bitten by another horse,the vet took too long to get here,said the wound couldn't be stitched,didn't clean it,had to be told to give horse pain meds and seemed to afraid of the horses to do much of anything useful.Our current horse vet said although he missed a lot of things that should have been done for the horse we couldn't say he was incompetant.At least not legally
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Old November 21st, 2008, 01:41 AM
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danam314 danam314 is offline
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Thank you all for the stories and information.
I heard back from the vet I emailed and she seems quite interested in what I've told her so far. I am going to call her next week and see where we go from here! Wish me luck!

Oops, I forgot to add:

Lise... Our new vet also seems hesitant to say anything negative about another vets practices, but we do have lab reports stating that they found "overdose of cortisol steroids". My vet said that points to the dexamethasone, since that was the only steroid he was given. At least we have that going for us!

Last edited by danam314; November 21st, 2008 at 01:45 AM.
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  #11  
Old August 13th, 2013, 08:48 PM
DAX DAX is offline
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Vet Malpractice

Please contact me, have same
problem.
Dax

Last edited by hazelrunpack; August 13th, 2013 at 09:14 PM. Reason: No personal emails, pls
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Old August 13th, 2013, 09:17 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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DAX, this is a very old thread and I don't think the OP is still around. However, I'm going to have our Admin set up your Private Messaging so that you can send and receive PMs. That way, you can contact the OP or she can contact you.
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