Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Virginia

I have a valuable horse that just gave birth to a valuable foal. The birth took place between 1:00 and 6:00 AM. When we discovered the foal had been born we contacted our veterinarian and asked them to come to our farm and do check up on the new foal and the mare. They said they don't make visits just for births. We called again and pleaded for them to visit. They said they will not come but that it would be appropriate to come after 12 hours to do a blood test on the foal. I called when the office opend and asked if it was their policy to do a check up. They asked how they were doing. I indicated that to my untrained eye, they appeared fine. They said there is no need for a vet to come out. No vet attended our farm that day. The next morning, the mare was near death from a complication of a retained placenta. They came out to the farm and did hours of work and saved the mare. The bill for their services is over $1500. It seems that they should not charge me because the complication of the retained placenta is a common life threatening complication for mares and they would have discovered it if they had attended in a timely manner. The last time this mare foaled, she also had a retained placenta and they came out and worked on her. If they had come out and attended when they were called, there would have been a simple procedure to fix her but because they delayed, the problem became an expensive crisis. Is the veterinary office responsible for paying for the extra work like I think they are or is there some law that permits a veterinarian to not attend, allow an animal to become critically ill then come out and save the animal and bill the client for all work done.

Thank you for your input.

Mark


Asked on 5/11/11, 2:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

As far as I am aware, there is no law in the Commonwealth that compels veternarians to come to attend to mares in the process of foaling newborns, no matter how critical the mare's condition may be.

And, as long as the $1500 represents a reasonable charge for the services

which were eventually provided, then you're probably stuck with having no

alternative but to pay it (unless you can convince the vet to voluntarily reduce it for the reasons which you've cited and, of course, in the interest of promoting customer relations.)

Read more
Answered on 5/12/11, 8:54 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility questions and answers in Virginia