The Value of a Pet's Life
Derek Van Ostrand-Fakehany
I just finished reading the thread "Sad News" about the killing of the cats
at the animal shelter by several deranged teenagers, and I'm thoroughly
disgusted. Most states apparently do not consider pets more than property,
and thus they are not worth much to a court of law unless they were "prized
animals"
My wife and I are currently experiencing the helplessness these laws cause.
I wrote here about a month ago about the death of our dog, Marcellus. At
the urging of our vet, we took our dog to the University Vet School for
exploratory surgery (we believed she had some retained ovarian material that
caused her to go into heat). Anyways, she was _spayed_ by the Vet School (a
relatively simple operation).......and died 18 hours later. The cause: she
bleed to death internally due to the negligence of the surgeon. Appears the
sutures weren't tight enough to stop the bleeding...
The Vet School has been whole unsupportive, unhelpful, and downright cruel.
We only discovered this last Friday almost *seven* weeks after Marcellus'
death that the Vet School was to blame for her death. We waited *four*
weeks for an autopsy, another *two* weeks for her to be cremated, etc. In
between, we've had to deal with rude secretaries, evasive administrators,
and cruel comments such as "Your dog is in a bag in pieces in the
freezer..." Absolutely horrible....
My wife and I decided that we wanted to pursue legal action against the Vet
School, but after speaking with a lawyer we're stuck with a system that
doesn't believe that pets are anything but property. Most lawyers just hang
up on me when I say "veterinary malpractice." After speaking with twenty
local law firms, only one lawyer would even speak with us. The lawyer
basically indicated that unless Marcellus was a prized animal and worth some
large sum of money that we wouldn't even be able to recover the attorney's
fees for legal actions. Before we could even bring an action against the
Vet School, we'd have to pay an expert witness $800-$1000 to even bring a
suit. Plus astronomical lawyers fees that are usually on a contingent fee
basis (i.e. they get a percentage of the verdict, and if the verdict is
small they're out of luck) -- therefore, no one will touch it with a ten
foot pole.
My wife and I have lost an irreplaceable part of our family due to the
carelessness of a veterinarian and we have no recourse -- The School is
self-regulated according to the state veterinary medical association (VMA)
-- we've filed a complaint with the state licensing board, but I'm not sure
how much that will do.
What kind of signs do these actions indicate about us as a people? What is
the price of a beloved pet? What can we do to make the legal system take
animal cruelty, loss of companionship, veterinary malpractice, etc. as real?
I'm curious to see if there is something that we could do -- legislation,
petitions, etc.?
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Derek Van Ostrand-Fakehany