Do i still have to pay the vet even tho my cat died?

[cadby]

so 2 months ago my cat got in a fight and was hurt pretty bad, i went and took her to the emergency vet which opend at 6... i got there at 6.02. after waiting outside for 15 min i called and drove around looking for another vet around, i then get a call saying they are now open... at 6.30. i left my cat in there care and asked if the worse had to happen to let me know first. i called them around 10 that night to check on everything since i didnt hear from them, they said my cat still hasnt been seen and prolly wouldnt b for another hour. then i get her back the next day, they told me she was gonna b fine. i watched over her every min for 24 hours. she ate and drank nothing. and when she did move around she fell back down cuz she was dehydrated. ud think they woulda gave her somekinda vitamine or somethin to help. anyways, easter sunday night, she passed away in pain. i got a call from the vet today askig me to pay800 dollars.... if they take me to court can i make a case for malpractice or sumthing like neglagence? cuz i dont feel i should pay after they couldnt even open the doors on time and didt see my cat for 5 hours

[boyce]

If the vet performed any services of course you have to pay

[iden]

don't pay, they definitely didnt do their maximum to save your cat. my sympathies for your cat.

[gilleabart]

You would have a hard time proving anything. All they would have to say is that they did their best and here was some unforeseeable complication.
The only way you could win that is to Pay another vet to review the records and possibly do an autopsy for cause of death, and have That vet say the other was negligent. This is going to end up costing more than $800.

You May be able to quilt them down in the price, but that's probably the best you can do.

[khalid]

Yes if u have bills yes cause they never go away

[sheridan93]

Yepp. You have to. Our dog was at an Emergency Vet a few months ago and they "Did everything they could". We had to pay over $900 for a dead dog.

[calin]

Yepp. You have to. Our dog was at an Emergency Vet a few months ago and they "Did everything they could". We had to pay over $900 for a dead dog.

Let me see if I understand your situation.
Your cat was in a fight and you took her to a vet that said they opened at 6AM and you waited until 6:15 AM and drove off. (When did your cat get injured, that morning? last night, days ago?) Then they called you at 6:30 AM and said they were open.
So you went back and dropped off your cat? (you didn't wait to talk with the vet or be seen with the cat?)
They didn't call you, but you asked to be called if the cat got worse.
They didn't even look at the cat for at least 4 hours after you dropped her off????
They didn't call you to tell you they were keeping her overnight???? They just wanted to "watch" her???
She didn't eat or drink for 24 hours???? At home or the vet???
Then she died.
I think there is a lack of communication between you and your vet.
If the vet kept her overnight, they must have had some reason/diagnosis. No, they don't watch them every minute for 24 hours. She must have had IVs and medications.
Vitamins don't treat injuries from a fight.
Call your vet and get more information and a better understanding of why you have a $800 bill. By leaving your cat, you have given consent for treatment and authorized a bill.
I understand your anger and I am sorry for your loss.
But you did authorize treatment.

[rheged]

That's a really sad story, I am really sorry for your cat. I don't know the laws and rights of that, but bring that up! If they treated your cat already you have to pay, but you can get a major discount through that! Tell them your story. I think they they should of taken your cat in earlier and let you stay with her since she is your cat! I mean, if you legally own her you have the rights to stay with her. I am sorry for your cat. Maybe you should justify that case with a lawyer or something. Good luck trying to right the wrong. Get some insurance to cover that.

[boyce]

I am very sorry about the loss of your cat.

I just have to answer here although I know I will not get best answer. Now it does not seem like the clinic did what the should have, but did they tell you what they did for your cat? Did they give you a print out of what you were going to have to pay for? Always ask what they did and for a print out of it.

And I do not know of a veterinary clinic let alone an emergency veterinary clinic that would let you have your pet back without paying the bill first. I know that sounds horrible, but it's true. Or at least not without some kind of payment plan and down payment.

Now do I think they did the right thing? No. But I also think you should have demanded to know what they had done. I can tell that since they let you go without paying anything, they don't have all their marbles.

I am a veterinary technician. And if people do not pay their bills then the staff don't get paid and we don't get to pay our own personal bills. So with the many many people that ask me if we have payment plans and I have to turn them down because if we offered payment plans to everyone MOST of those people would never pay another dime of the payment after the down payment and the clinic would go under with jobs lost. It is sad really it is. But this is a business. We try to give as much caring as we can to each and every owner and patient, but at the end of the day without money staff can't get paid, supplies can't get bought and so there is no more clinic to go to.

When you sue someone you have to have proof. And the only way you would get proof (possibly) was if you had a necropsy (animal version of an autopsy) performed on your cat. But that in itself is expensive. Not to mention suing is expensive.

I am curious, did they tell you you would have to leave you cat there to be treated? Did they even tell you what was wrong with your cat? Usually they would take you into a room, examine your cat, then tell you while you are there what they are going to do for your cat and see if that is okay with you before they did it. Unless you signed something to consent to let them do whatever they needed to do for your cat. They needed some kind of permission from you. Did you even sign anything to leave your cat with them? It seems like this place is very sketchy. And I am sorry for that.

If you can afford to sue them you can try, but I really feel you will not end up winning. This is the animal health world of things and sadly it is not taken as seriously as the human health world.

Although I do not feel they did what is right for you cat, I still do feel like you need to pay the $800. And again I am sorry for your loss.

[curran]

First, I'm sorry your cat passed away.

However....I don't understand why you just dropped off a badly injured pet and drove away. I'd hav stayed with my pet, and if she wasn't seen in a timely fashion, I'd have been there to complain about it. Further, you watched her "every min for 24 hours. she ate and drank nothing"--why did you just sit there watching and not take her to a vet? You knew she was in trouble.

Anyway, regarding the bill: ask for an itemized statement and see if you can find anything unfair about it. You *might* find the vet reduces the charges somewhat if asked to detail everything that was done....

In order to prove negligence, you'd have to have had a necropsy (animal autopsy) done, and since you didn't mention that, I gather you didn't do that. So you have no way of knowing why she died, and if the vet could have done anything to save her. Obviously the vet was wrong when he said your cat would be fine, but that's not something you can sue for.

Bottom line: if you go to court, you'll also have to pay court costs if you lose. Chances are the bill will be sent to a collection agency instead of going to court, and they will hound you as much as the law allows. Rather than put yourself through the ordeal of going to court or dealing with a collection agency, it would be better to ask the vet to give you a bit of a break. Don't ACCUSE him of anything, just appeal to him--you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

"cuz i dont feel i should pay after they couldnt even open the doors on time and didt see my cat for 5 hours"
You're going to need better reasons than that. And since you don't have a necropsy, chances are you can't prove your case. Besides, the clinic released the cat the next day. If you have any case at all, that is where it should focus: that the cat was released when it was still very ill.