Save Our Pets From Bad Vets! Change the Law to Make them Accountable for Malpractice
Save Our Pets From Bad Vets! Change the Law to Make them Accountable for Malpractice
The Issue
One evening our dog Massimo, a Saint Bernard and Poodle mix, became seriously ill. When we took him to our local veterinary emergency room, they performed test after test and ultimately kept him overnight. When we picked Massimo up the next day, the vet gave us medication for him and explained that he didn’t know what was wrong. We also got a very large bill.
About a month later the same thing happened. We ended up in the same emergency room, they gave us more medication, and we got yet another large bill, but still no answers.
And then another month after that, it happened all over again.
The vet said he still did not understand what was wrong with Massimo, but that he recommended we put him to sleep. He called Massimo a “lemon”. We told the vet we would not put Massimo to sleep without knowing his illness. We believed that if we could figure out what was wrong with him, maybe we could save him. Massimo was part of the family and deserved answers and better care.
Thankfully, Massimo is alive today. He has Addison’s Disease and so takes one pill every morning and gets one shot every month. But to get to this point of diagnosing a very treatable and common disease in poodles, and finding proper care for him, Massimo and our family went through hell and back, and ended up with a bill for over $30k.
While in the care of the veterinary emergency room, Massimo was misdiagnosed, over-tested, and incorrectly medicated to the point where he was exhausted, his stomach became full of ulcers and bacteria, most of his hair fell out and in short, he almost died.
As awful as that was for Massimo and our family, our story is not nearly one of the worst, in fact it’s a lucky story. How do we know? Because once the story of Massimo appeared in the news to highlight the dangers of veterinary malpractice, dozens of people who had pets that died from malpractice reached out to us to share their stories. Most of these tragic deaths were also accompanied by enormous medical bills.
In Massimo’s story, we sued the veterinary hospital to be compensated for medical malpractice and found out that the veterinary clinic was able to hide behind a big legal loophole. You see, New York law does not value our pets and considers them simply “property,” which means if your vet performs malpractice, other than recouping the bills associated with it, you have limited recourse.
Most of us think of our pets as members of our family, but the law in New York State sees it differently.
We've all heard of pets who have died unnecessarily due to veterinary malpractice, and also heard that there is very little recourse for the victims of malpractice. Sometimes healthcare for pets can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars, but if a pet is harmed or killed due to malpractice, the recourse under New York law is the amount of money you paid that vet, plus the "value" of the pet. In other words, whatever you paid for your pet when you bought them is the "value".
We think New York law needs to change to allow people to sue for veterinary malpractice up to $1 million in damages for things like pain and suffering and loss of companionship. We also believe that veterinary practices in New York State should be required to carry at least $1 million of malpractice insurance to protect the vets and their patients. Demand the New York Senate and New York Assembly change the law to better protect veterinarians, pet owners, and pets.
Here's a recent article with more information.
Please sign the petition.
The Issue
One evening our dog Massimo, a Saint Bernard and Poodle mix, became seriously ill. When we took him to our local veterinary emergency room, they performed test after test and ultimately kept him overnight. When we picked Massimo up the next day, the vet gave us medication for him and explained that he didn’t know what was wrong. We also got a very large bill.
About a month later the same thing happened. We ended up in the same emergency room, they gave us more medication, and we got yet another large bill, but still no answers.
And then another month after that, it happened all over again.
The vet said he still did not understand what was wrong with Massimo, but that he recommended we put him to sleep. He called Massimo a “lemon”. We told the vet we would not put Massimo to sleep without knowing his illness. We believed that if we could figure out what was wrong with him, maybe we could save him. Massimo was part of the family and deserved answers and better care.
Thankfully, Massimo is alive today. He has Addison’s Disease and so takes one pill every morning and gets one shot every month. But to get to this point of diagnosing a very treatable and common disease in poodles, and finding proper care for him, Massimo and our family went through hell and back, and ended up with a bill for over $30k.
While in the care of the veterinary emergency room, Massimo was misdiagnosed, over-tested, and incorrectly medicated to the point where he was exhausted, his stomach became full of ulcers and bacteria, most of his hair fell out and in short, he almost died.
As awful as that was for Massimo and our family, our story is not nearly one of the worst, in fact it’s a lucky story. How do we know? Because once the story of Massimo appeared in the news to highlight the dangers of veterinary malpractice, dozens of people who had pets that died from malpractice reached out to us to share their stories. Most of these tragic deaths were also accompanied by enormous medical bills.
In Massimo’s story, we sued the veterinary hospital to be compensated for medical malpractice and found out that the veterinary clinic was able to hide behind a big legal loophole. You see, New York law does not value our pets and considers them simply “property,” which means if your vet performs malpractice, other than recouping the bills associated with it, you have limited recourse.
Most of us think of our pets as members of our family, but the law in New York State sees it differently.
We've all heard of pets who have died unnecessarily due to veterinary malpractice, and also heard that there is very little recourse for the victims of malpractice. Sometimes healthcare for pets can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars, but if a pet is harmed or killed due to malpractice, the recourse under New York law is the amount of money you paid that vet, plus the "value" of the pet. In other words, whatever you paid for your pet when you bought them is the "value".
We think New York law needs to change to allow people to sue for veterinary malpractice up to $1 million in damages for things like pain and suffering and loss of companionship. We also believe that veterinary practices in New York State should be required to carry at least $1 million of malpractice insurance to protect the vets and their patients. Demand the New York Senate and New York Assembly change the law to better protect veterinarians, pet owners, and pets.
Here's a recent article with more information.
Please sign the petition.
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on May 29, 2019