Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/05/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My dog got into children’s Motrin. I called this vets office and they said it was an emergency, to come right away. When we got there they drug my dog down into a basement where they kept him for hours, never allowing us to see him, or inform us what was happening. Every time we ask, they would say the vet is in a procedure right now. We are too busy. Once they finally brought Winston back up to us they said that someone will be up to speak with us shortly about the treatment he received and what we should do next. And we sat there for 2 1/2 more hours until they closed when they finally spoke with us vaguely about the treatment he received. At this time, they told us we should probably go to the emergency vet, I asked why they didn’t just direct me to The emergency vet in the first place rather than us sitting here wasting precious time and being ignored in the waiting room for five hours total and their response was that they didn’t want us to be charged with the emergency room fee. When I got my bill they charged me over $200 just for their “emergency fee”. When I said that I was never informed of an emergency fee here and that they waited for hours to treat my dog and it didn’t seem like much of an emergency to them, They told me that if I don’t want to pay it, they will just report me for theft, never trying to come to a resolution, or offer consideration. I still never got to speak with the actual vet or get Information about what treatment was given to my dog. When I questioned my $500 bill the girls at the front desk mocked and laughed at me for being upset. I asked multiple times while I was there what was going on with my dog and each time they said they would go check and ask and then they would come back up and ignore me for hours, never answering my questions concerning *******. I still am unsure exactly what treatment was given to my dog, never saw or spoke to the actual vet and I still had to go to the emergency vet after this.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/01/2024

  Yes please!  ****** was the office manager years ago, but has since not been handling much.  I appreciate greatly the chance to respond because this girl has been dragging us through the mud.  We typically perform surgery and do not schedule appointments on wednesdays.  We also are very cognizant when an animal needs immediate care.  At the point of the phone call, we had let her know that we needed to induce vomit immediately.  Our policy was explained on the phone: the later the arrival, the emergency fee increases.  This is to cover the cost of keeping staff here after hours, which we always do when a pet is in need.  Anything after a noon drop off is 205$ emergency fee and that actually increases to 355$ within an hour of our close.  We always offer that they go to family companion urgent care if they prefer an in person appointment.  We will also recommend highland heights metropolitan veterinary hospital, but didn't recommend that far a drive before stabilization and induction of emesis.     We let her know she could bring the pet right up and we would triage and stabilize.  Immediately as the canine came in, the front staff brought it to our surgery and treatment area where the doctor and technicians were recovering, monitoring, and performing surgery as we always do on wednesdays.  We induced emesis upon arrival and monitored what was coming up to see if we could identify the children's motrin in the emesis, which would indicate to us that it had not all been absorbed.  This medication used to induce vomiting is an ophthalmic solution that is metabolized at different rates in different animals.  At this point the owner was aware that the dog was indeed vomiting and we needed to wait until the vomiting ceased to administer activated charcoal.  Good practice for cases such as this is to check the liver and kidney values for a baseline, get as much of the toxin out with emesis, then administer activated charcoal to absorb any remaining toxin.  We then talked with the owner to authorize the blood draw while we waited and monitored for emesis.  The blood work indicated slightly increased liver values at which point we alerted the owner that there was some abnormality and we would recommend a transfer to highland heights.  The owner agreed to the transfer and the activated charcoal was administered.  The pet was still bright,alert, and responsive when she was brought up for transfer.  At this point the owner wanted to speak directly to the doctor before the transfer and it was explained again that she is in a sterile procedure and is unable to leave her patient under anesthesia but would come out when she had completed her surgery.  We assured her the information would be relayed fully to the referral hospital, and the doctor can do a vet to vet consult as is protocol for the larger hospitals.   At this point, the owner did not want to take the transfer immediately, which was acceptable as the triage and stabilization had already been performed.  Again, we let her know the doctor has a full surgery schedule and is unable to "pop out" and speak to her for sterility and biosecurity reasons.  After waiting a while longer, she demanded she was leaving but she was not going to pay.  The office manager then came up to address the situation and let her know that it was her decision, but I will then have to report her for theft of services.  The owner paid the bill and left the clinic screaming at our staff on her way out.  The office manager had provided her the phone number to the board of veterinary medicine to report malpractice as she had accused us of.  The woman then launched a social media campaign and google review campaign accusing us of practicing medicine without a licensed veterinarian.  At this point all the records were sent to our malpractice lawyer and they advised us to respond to the reviews with a statement which is provided here:

   

  
  

  The client called stating the canine had gotten into medications.  Although we had a full surgery schedule, we recommended the patient come right in to induce vomiting.   Within an hour of ingestion, the dog presented to the clinic  bright, alert, and responsive and brought to the treatment area for assessment.  The veterinarian did a stat exam and IMMEDIATELY induced vomiting using Clevor.  We then kept him in treatment for monitoring while we moved on to our next patient.  At this point, a staff member let the owner know that we had induced vomiting and what he had produced.  After allowing enough time for the stomach to empty its contents, we authorized a chemistry panel to check for baseline liver function and to administer fluids.  The owner approved diagnostics and treatments so those were performed as described.  After the bloodwork came back, the doctor sent a staff member up to let them know the liver values were slightly elevated, and we would recommend a transfer to metro for continued monitoring and possible IV fluids.  The client became increasingly agitated as we cannot have clients in the treatment areas due to biosecurity and radiation risks.  The client agreed to take the transfer and we then began administering activated charcoal as per good practice, before transferring.  The owner then became agitated that we hadn’t administered charcoal yet, and she believed it should have been performed already.  The staff member explained the need for time between inducing emesis and administering charcoal, including the risk for aspiration.  After the charcoal was administered, the dog was sent up for the transfer.  At this point, the client was unsure about taking the transfer and wanted to wait to speak with the doctor.  We agreed and let her know that the doctor would be completing surgeries for most of the day, but if they wanted to wait, that was their decision.  As the time progressed before the doctor was able to come out of surgery, the client continued to speak belligerently in the lobby about our staff and our clinic.  Eventually, the client stated she just wanted to pay the bill and leave, which is what we had recommended after charcoal administration.   Upon presentation of the bill, the client refused payment, at which point we let them know we would then need to report a theft of services.  The client did eventually agree to pay the bill, and stated she would report us.  I provided the client with the number to the board of veterinary medicine, which would be a starting point for her crusade.  The client proceeded to speak aggressively to staff until she eventually left the clinic.  While we understand the need to take the patient from the client is not ideal, it is necessary for emergency situations such as these.  The pet was not alone at any time, and although he opposed charcoal administration, remained bright and alert through the entire monitoring period.  We take pride in the care we provide, and the willingness to squeeze in emergencies as they present to us.   A high paced general practice is not suitable for all clients, and we welcome requests to transfer records at any time.  While we hope all of our clients receive the care they desire, that is unfortunately not always the case. 

  
  

  
  

  The woman then further responded with further accusations that we do not have a licensed vet on staff, which we then escalated to another lawyer who reached out to her and other former employees who were slandering on social media and google.  This lawyer sent a letter asking that any further correspondence be sent through him, at which point, she did not respond to the lawyer.  The letter is attached to this email.   This woman had never been here before, and we were legitimately trying to help her pet who had ingested a toxin.  The woman did eventually take the pet to metropolitan as we had recommended earlier in the day, so our doctor/owner spoke directly with the attending doctor there who agreed that the animal was doing much better at the 8PM presentation, and that all the proper steps had been followed at our clinic.    

  
  

  In regards to her complaint directly:  the basement where the dog was taken is actually our treatment room.   That's where our anesthetic machines, monitors, and emergency drugs are located, which is why the pet was taken to the basement.  While she may have felt she was "ignored" in the waiting room, I can assure you, her pet was being treated and monitored and she was informed of each step as we proceeded but she wanted to speak "to the doctor,"  And the lobby was full of other people waiting to pick up their pets from surgery, and those people were in fact mocking her, due to her behavior.  It was not the staff.  We tried so many times to explain to her what was going on but she claimed she was never told what was happening, I personally, the office manager, explained the entire thing to her when she was refusing to pay.  Yet she still claims "we drug her dog to the basement" and in her social media and google posts "where we didn't even have a licensed veterinarian."   At any rate, she paid the standard emergency fee for emergency drop offs after 12:00 PM  and she paid for the medications administered and bloodwork run.  Her pet was triaged and stabilized as per our oath to the patients, and she was just very unhappy the entire visit.  Please let us know if we can provide any further information.  Thanks so much for your time.  

  
  

  Sarah ********, RVT