[Felvtalk] Felvtalk Digest, Vol 30, Issue 10

[Amani Oakley]

Boy, did that not make sense when I re-read it!

Just to be clear, I was trying to say that most people DO NOT sue at the drop of a hat, but insurance companies have spent a lot of money trying to convince everyone, that we have an over-litigious society. If you look into the spin that people have been hearing for so long about nutty folks suing for everything, you will be shocked at the truth. (For anyone interested in the topic, I highly recommend a documentary called "Hot Coffee" to you. Watch it and be amazed at what you will learn.)

As I mentioned to Bob, I can tell you, as a lawyer, that litigation involving injured or killed pets is almost non-existent because it would never be economically feasible to proceed with such litigation, unless the client is a billionaire and doesn’t care about spending money because there is no way that a court would award that much, even if you were able to prove that a vet was negligent AND that BUT FOR the vet's negligence, your animal would not have been injured or died. Obviously, with a FeLV cat, that second arm of the test is almost insurmountable since you would have to lead evidence that, more likely than not, had it not been for the negligence of the vet, the cat would have been fine. This is quite a hurdle when dealing with a cat with a serious and usually fatal infection like FeLV.

And by the way, even if money was no object and a client wanted to take litigation forward and pay for it with no chance of remuneration at the end of the case, most lawyers wouldn’t take it on because they would very likely be very badly abused by judges, who would be angry that "precious" court time was being "wasted" on a cat. You don’t want to be the lawyer who gets dumped all over by an angry judge, saying you are wasting their time with a frivolous lawsuit. Sadly, that is how one like this would likely be seen.

Amani

-----Original Message-----
From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Amani Oakley
Sent: October-05-16 3:46 PM
To: Margo; felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Felvtalk Digest, Vol 30, Issue 10

You are correct Margo. No vet would consider experimenting if he thought his client might blame him later for things going wrong. But again, that presumes that a whole lot of people seriously misunderstand the realities of litigation and have bought the insurance companies' spin that there are all these crazy people who will sue at the drop of a hat. Sadly, that is probably true.

Amani


-----Original Message-----
From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Margo
Sent: October-05-16 6:21 AM
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Felvtalk Digest, Vol 30, Issue 10


Funny, my thought was that a Vet would be LESS likely to try anything even slightly out of the norm with a potentially litigious client. That they would go strictly "by the book" in order to be able to defend what they did, should here be a problem.

But then, there are Vets and there are VETS. "My" Vet has her last day at the practice Friday for maternity leave, and won't be back until January. I have no idea what I'll do. She says she'll be available by phone and email, but I have my doubts. Although I DO think she'll be bored ;)

Margo

-----Original Message-----
>From: ROBERT CHAPEL <bchapel at optonline.net>
>Sent: Oct 4, 2016 9:03 PM
>To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
>Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Felvtalk Digest, Vol 30, Issue 10
>
>Amani...
>I don't know how things work in Canada but I KNOW that were I a lawyer 
>I would get more cooperation from my vet....  As Vets begin to charge 
>more and more and large corporations begin to buy up small practices 
>here in the states the model is now moving toward the downside of human 
>medicine.... discrete scheduling time periods to maximize profits...
>little time to " discuss" options and an aversion to moving on to 
>topics that could cause spending extra time.....  As prices rise so do 
>owner resentments at not being " cared about" or listened to just as in 
>human medicine..... and that( at least in the US) is when lawsuits are 
>most likely to be filed.... Most of us can forgive a vet making a 
>mistake when we feel he/she has put real thought and concern into a Tx 
>plan but putting our pets at risk because an alteration in plan causes 
>him to have to step outside his comfort zone( and spend some extra time
>thinking) or simply doesn't appear to care.. That doesn't fly when we 
>are paying Hundreds of dollars to save our precious pets..
>Malpractice lawyer pet owners ( or patients in human medicine) are 
>likely surreptitiously treated with great care when moving through 
>waters fraught with potential for terminal errors..... and likely get a 
>bit more cooperation from their vets...   I am glad for your cats that 
>you ARE in the profession that you now are...
>So... it is , in my opinion, both good fortune and a dose of 
>deferential caution that gets you the kind of cooperation you get from 
>your vet????   Yeah.... I'm pretty jaded at this point  : )   That is 
>why I HAD to retire a bit early....
>
> 
.

_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
_______________________________________________
Felvtalk mailing list
Felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org