Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I took my dog ****** to ER on 1/21/23 back legs were giving out on him. They ran tests on him and gave him meds. the office called me and told me he was ready for pick up. The person working there gave him to me his eyes were dilated I took him outside to see if he needed to pee and his face was in the grass. I got him home to rest and he couldnt get up. He was worse off then when we came in. I called the office and they told me to bring him back, I told them to have the dr. call me. the dr. called me and I told her how can you let a dog go when he isnt standing on his own . the Dr. said they should have not let him go without me seeing him first due to them being so busy. she apologized and told me she was going to talk to them. I was up all night with him and missed work to take care of him. This is the worst place ever I will never go there again. I took him to his primary Dr. and they gave him medicine. Thank goodness he is fine now. I am asking for my money back for giving him back worse then when I brought him in. also having to go to my primary dr and having to pay again. The reason I am filing a complaint now is because I have the time now to submit this.

  Business response

  04/08/2023

  To Whom It May Concern:

  
  

  Complaint ID: ********
  

  
  

  Due to the lapse in time from initial visit/interaction with the client/their pet and receipt of complaint, I have requested all staff involved in case to provide me with further details and/or recollection of visit and client/patient interactions.  To reach a fair and appropriate decision regarding the clients request for refund, a thorough investigation into all client communications and services provided is being conducted.  Once I have concluded the investigation, I will respond directly to the client in an attempt to meet a favorable resolution for both parties.

  
  

  Regards,

  ****** *******

  Practice Manager

• Initial Complaint

  09/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  9/8/22 took 6 week puppy to vet they lied and said he had new strain of parvo ( later found out it doesn't exist) said 7,000 to treat him said only other option is to kill our puppy or give the full custody of puppy had lap work done and his laps were 100 percent fine they tried to take our puppy and take advantage of us. There more to the story but a lot to write out. i have more documents i want to send

  Business response

  09/29/2022

  Dear *****,

  
  

  First and most importantly, we hope that “*********” is continuing to do well and that you were able to continue his care after the treatments our hospital provided him September 07-08, 2022.

  
  

  Second, in response to your grievance, we will take a moment to step through the sequence of events that transpired, so that all reading this are provided a fair representation of what occurred when “*********” was seen and treated by our team.

  
  

  You presented your puppy “*********” to our hospital on Wednesday night, September 7, 2022 at approximately 9PM, as a 2-month-old puppy that was exhibiting lethargy, vomiting and bloody diarrhea symptoms.  Additionally, our team was informed “*********” had not yet started a vaccine regime and was unvaccinated. The VERY FIRST thing that was done was an IDEXX CITE Snap PARVO test, which was negative. As the attending veterinarian correctly stated, there is a new variant/strain of the PARVO virus that is circulating around the country that is not being picked up on the in-house PARVO tests.  However, this strain, upon further expensive and days delayed PCR testing, is proving to be PARVO (supporting articles included).

  
  

  Nevertheless, we still treat symptomatically to control the vomiting and diarrhea, treat dehydration and address any other issues that arise from blood testing like a CBC (complete blood count) and chemistry panel. There are 2 options for treatments- outpatient care with subcutaneous fluids, anti-vomiting medications, antibiotics, probiotics and anti-diarrheal medications; the other is hospitalization with all of the same, but with an IV catheter, IV fluids and injectable medications, continual 24/7 monitoring, repeat lab tests to monitor the improvement or decline of the pet.

  
  

  It is our responsibility to the pet first, to discuss and provide recommendations to the owner for an optimal diagnostic, treatment and care plan that will give the pet the greatest opportunity for recovery. These recommendations were discussed with you and an initial 12-24 hour estimate ($1,800-$2,700) for diagnostics, hospitalization and supportive care was presented and reviewed with you by our team. It was during this time you inquired if we have payment plans, which our team informed you we do not and in turn, provided you with information for CareCredit.  You then informed the team you needed time to discuss with your spouse. After taking time to discuss with your spouse, you advised the team your spouse wanted a “firm” price for the treatment and care of your pup to which our team politely advised we could not do and explained why we could not provide an exact price; we cannot predict the outcome or how long “*********” would need to be hospitalized, so there was no way we could set and stick to a set price for the duration of the stay and all treatments, testing that needed to be done. It was then that our team asked if you wanted to try outpatient care and explained what outpatient care would consist of and you informed our team you could not care for the pup at home. A 24-hour hospitalization plan was then discussed as you stated you couldn’t afford $7,000, and when our team questioned where the $7,000 came from you informed the team member your spouse calculated the high-end of the estimate x3 days. Our team member politely corrected that calculation and advised why it was not accurate and continued to discuss treatment and care options, including inquiring if there was a “budget” you could comfortably work with so our team could better tailor-make a treatment plan for “*********”.  When all options discussed were still not agreeable to you and your spouse, including an outpatient option, you questioned what “other” options you had.  The team advised: hospitalization, outpatient care, take home with no treatments (which is ill-advised) or humane euthanasia.  You informed the team that you would euthanize and you brought up again that you could not care for the pup at home due to children and other dogs/pets in the home.  The attending veterinarian was informed of this and advised the team she was not comfortable euthanizing your pup given the pup’s current condition was treatable and asked the team to discuss with you if you would consider relinquishing “*********” to her care instead as she was willing to pay for treatments to help “*********” and then adopt him out to a new home if/when he recovered. Understandably, this was a difficult decision, but you agreed to relinquish “*********” and signed the relinquishment form approximately 2 hours after originally presenting to our hospital and our team supported you and your family when it was asked if you could say “goodbye” to *********.

  
  

  Directly following the “goodbyes’, “*********” was immediately hospitalized, an IV catheter was placed, and he was started on IV fluids and medications as originally recommended by our team. He had lab work performed which showed mild anemia, low protein levels and an elevated potassium level.  Contrary to what was outlined in your grievance, “*********’s” bloodwork was not “normal”.

  
  

  You called the hospital at 8:30 AM the next morning (about 12 hours later from presentation the night before) and THANKED the staff for taking over the care of “*********” and that after thinking about everything that had happened the night before, you decided to reconsider the relinquishment and wanted “*********” back. You offered to pay for the services that we had performed up to that point. After speaking to all involved including the practice manager, who was out of state, we determined that we would be happy to give “*********” back to you if all charges were paid. We discussed options of continuing care at our hospital as was originally discussed the night before, transferring to a daytime hospital that may be less expensive or just taking home with the recommended outpatient care discussed. The entire process of how PARVO (and other such/similar viral diseases) affects dogs was discussed including possible detrimental things that could be coming in the near future. You were informed of the treatments that were already performed, which included a plasma transfusion, which helps their protein levels and provides antibodies to help fight viral infections for things such as a PARVO infection. 

  
  

  You were informed of the current charges which were at $1,544.75 and were given an estimate for the next 12 hours of treatments and you decided that you just wanted to take “*********” home at 3-4 PM (it was currently about 9 AM). You were informed that if you did not take “*********” home now, any continued hospitalization and treatments would continue to accrue charges in addition to the current charges and then any oral medications to go home at the time of discharge. You needed to discuss this with your husband and would call us back. You called back 2 hours later and said that your husband was on his way to come pick up “*********”. You were informed that oral medications still needed to be made up and you said to not worry about that as you were going to get them from a regular veterinarian, which you then stated that you did not have yet. You were informed that if you were not going to be able to get into another hospital that day, that it was in “*********’s” best interest to get oral medications to continue the treatments and not backslide from what has already been provided. When your husband arrived, he stated that you were transferring “*********” to a particular daytime hospital. Your final charges of $1,551.25 were paid in full. We called that hospital to confirm the transfer and they informed us that you were indeed supposed to transfer and that there were about 9 patients in line ahead of you. The staff had your husband sign an AMA (Against Medical Advice) just in case care was not continued as recommended. “*********” was discharged at 12 noon.

  
  

  We have since contacted that hospital and all that was done there was a PARVO test, which was also negative, and your husband declined getting “*********” examined by their veterinarian.  You then took “*********” home without any further treatments from that hospital and were seen at a 3rd hospital 4 days later (9/12) and “*********” was doing well and received his first set of vaccines.

  
  

  We are all happy and thankful that “*********” made a full recovery and hope that he continues to stay in good health.

  
  

  Back to the initial statements that you made:

  -Our staff did not lie to you about a possible new strain of PARVO virus that is not being detected on in-house lab tests, it is well documented and updated as of last week, and not just in Michigan, but nationwide

  https://cvm.msu.edu/vdl/news/2022/parvo-like-illness-reported-in-northern-michigan-dogs-updates

  https://www.wilx.com/2022/08/23/michigan-veterinarians-warn-dog-owners-potential-new-strain-parvovirus/

  
  

  -Regardless if the PARVO test was positive or negative, treatments are very similar, treating symptomatically; there is no special medication that cures PARVO, if the tests were positive, you have to treat the symptoms

  
  

  -You were the one that ultimately decided on euthanasia, our staff did everything within their power to work with you and your husband to find an optimal treatment plan to care for “*********” given your financial constraints and limitations with providing at-homecare, including relinquishment. The veterinarian on duty felt that “*********” had a good chance of recovery with appropriate treatments (which he started to receive at our hospital) and she did not feel comfortable euthanizing. Relinquishment was an option that you elected then decided not to, after treatments were performed. Staff did NOT tell you that you had to pay $7,000 or we were going to euthanize or take “*********” from you.

  
  

  -His labs were not bad or the worst we’ve seen at presentation, but they were also NOT “100% normal”. They were also not part of the deciding factor on recommending hospitalization as they were performed AFTER the pet was relinquished. It is VERY common for pups to present with or without PARVO and have fairly good labs to start with and as the PARVO virus (or other viruses) attacks their body, it can get worse in a very short period of time.

  
  

  -NOBODY was trying to take your puppy or take advantage of you. If/when he recovered from the treatments, he was going to be adopted out to a new family. All involved were looking out for the best interest of “*********” and the staff did everything within their power to help you and “Moonlight”. There were 5 options: do nothing and hope he survives; outpatient care; hospitalization care; relinquishment; and euthanasia.

  
  

  We have tried numerous times to contact you since you called on September 13, even up to yesterday 9/27, and either your voicemail box was not setup/full or we were hung up on by an adult male that would not speak with us. If you would like to have a calm, rational and respectful conversation about this matter further, please feel free to contact us. You have all the contact information that you need.

  
  

  Sincerely,

   

  Fresno Pet Emergency & Referral Center/BluePearl- Fresno 

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