So-- I feel for a lot of the people on here. I think when you read some of the reviews, I think people have a lot of heart ache.
Yes, the hospital is expensive. I found the pricing on par with the Vet School. I can understand that people are upset that VSH will "let your pet die" if you cannot pay in full. However, as callous as this may sound to some, what do you expect them to do? Everyone would love to be able to save Fluffy or Bandit but unfortunately if you can't afford the surgery/treatments they are not obligated to save your critter. I think they may be a little more numb to this than say your local vet because their techs and vets see A LOT of trauma, day in and day out. As someone who has had a horse in surgery at the vet school I can also tell you that if you can't pay- they aren't going to do the surgeries. In fact back when she had surgery I asked if I had to pay all up front or could we do a payment plan-- bless them they kind of giggled at that.
It is the pet owners responsibility to do research and to understand what they are putting their put through when opting to do a treatment. My cat was just hospitalized for 5 days due to diabetic ketoacidosis. The treatment was conclusive, compassionate, and diligent. The doctor spent a lot of time with me talking and answering my questions-- more so than my regular vet. In fact, I am moving my cat's diabetes care to this internist (doctor during the day) as she has lots more experience and knowledge than my previous vet did as a general practitioner. The vet was impressed I knew so much and how pointed my questions were.
Wrong diagnosis etc. This is tragic and I myself had a scenario where my cat who was treated with asthma and a heart condition at VSH later died the same day of more than likely either FIP or heart failure. At first, I was angry at the ER vet until speaking to my regular vet-- both vets at the practice made mention that at the ER they are triaging based on NO information about the pet-- only what the owner may or may not recall. Somethings are just not easily identifiable and someone may go down another path. It is awful, but it happens and it is not even uncommon in human medicine (how many times has my neighbor kept going BACK to the doctor with her head pain, etc).
The care is expensive-- that is undeniable and I thank my blessings that I was able to afford to pay and put aside on a low interest card the remainder of the bill for my cat. The truth of the matter what my cat had would not have been any cheaper at the vet school-- and no local veterinarian would have been able to provide the 24/7 care that was required in ICU.
I feel horrible for the poor lab-- I think that the doctor that treated your dog definitely missed things and honestly--and there are probably a bunch of woulda coulda shouldas-- I know even recently with my cat, I requested an extra day in the hospital even before discharge JUST to make sure that he was truly ready to come home-- I had learned that lesson from other pets in the past. MY heart goes out to you.
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