Family Pet Hospital

It is hard to read a response that is in ALL CAPS; very inherently unprofessional*** a year old pug was brought in at 11:AM on Sunday May 8, This is after hours; we are only open AM to AM on Sundays for patient releases, vaccinations, and medication refills
The doctor performed a physical exam on ***The patient was in bad shape; multiple wounds; on the neck and abdomen/flank areasStabilization + labs + surgery was recommendedThe owner (or who we thought was the owner at the time) was presented with an estimate which they seemed agreeable to until someone else walked in and became argumentativeThe new person only wanted the neck wound fixed but not the other wounds including the deep abdominal woundThe doctor declined to do this as any reasonable vet in the US wouldAll wounds needed surgery and the patient needed to go on intravenous fluids and basic laboratory work needed to be doneAfter about minutes of vacillation, the owner was told to go the ER down the street as we would not do a partial procedure on a dog that needed surgery on ALL woundsThe owner refused to pay the $owed for the visit and leftThe account was placed on frozen statusThe owner's mom called to ask for information related to another pet on the account (who we have not seen in years and as such no pertinent current medical information for a "senior" pet) and was informed that the account was frozen and the owner of the account had to come in to clear up any issuesJust because the surgery was not performed here does not mean the client is off the hookThe doctor stayed minutes past closing time and spent her time to examine a patientA charge of $is exceedingly cheap (and was told to the client before the exam was performed)For reference the ER charges upwards of $for an examLegally medical records can only be released to the owner of the account in questionThe owner of the account in question is *** ***, on all of our signed paperworkLegally, we are allowed to charge an administrative fee for medical recordsFor records to be released on this account, the owner needs to come in to clear up any issues related to this matter (basically the administrative fee of $which coincidentally is the amount that is owed on the account) and sign an authorization to release recordsFamily Pet Hospital has not done anything wrong legally and frankly it is ridiculous that this matter is being brought before the Revdex.comI have to add that slanderous statements were made in the rest of the complaintFamily Pet Hospital has the largest client base in Stockton, with well over 29,clientsWe are the busiest veterinary hospital, even more so for the fact that we do not really advertise short of googleWe must be doing something right eh? There are veterinary hospitals in Stockton, all of which are good but cater to different clienteleI am glad that the client has found a hospital that suits her (it must be pointed out that we were not her first hospital; according to the paperwork she has jumped ship from at least other hospital prior to us)You can infer of that what you willNo further response will be posted to this matter unless further slanderous statements are madeIf that happens this matter will be turned over to legal counsel

I am rejecting this response because: HOW I TYPE OR WHERE I CHOOSE TO TAKE MY PET IS IRRELEVANT TO WHAT MY COMPLAINT IS ABOUTI DID NOT "JUMP SHIP" I CHOSE FAMILY PET HOSPITAL BECAUSE IT WAS CLOSER TO MY HOME WHICH I ADMIT WAS A BIG MISTAKE ON MY PARTI WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO SILENCE, THE REASON I CAME TO THE Revdex.com IS BECAUSE TALKING TO ANYONE AT THE BUSINESS IS USELESSAGAIN I WILL NOT BE PAYING FOR A SERVICE THAT WAS NOT PROVIDED TO MEAT THE END OF THE DAY MY DOG WAS TAKEN CARE OF AND SO WAS MY MOM'S DOG WHICH IS ALL THAT MATTERSIT'S SAD THAT A BUSINESS WOULD RATHER "WIN" INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT'S RIGHT

Review: On 05/04/13 I took my dog into the hospital to be seen for breathing problems. The vet requested that x-rays be done along with some other tests to determine what the problem was. The amount all together was $287.50. For anesthesia $50.00 & for x-rays $140.00. vet said anesthesia would be necessary for X-rays. After leaving dog for hours and returning for god I was told my dog had an enlarged heart. X-rays were shown to me on computer only. When I asked to have copied of x-Rays I was told I had to go online to my email address they would send them to me then I could print out. I've discovered that there is no way to print these x-rays out at all through the web site they use to send these X-rays. And also they erase after 30 days.

And if this is the was the way the x-rays were going to be through this website that does not allow you to print or download them for your own having then I would have never spent such $ on these particular x rays.Desired Settlement: Please refund be back the charges for services that I didn't receive or to give me my x-rays.

Business

Response:

On May 4, 2013, we did see the client in question's pet. In-house blood analysis and radiographs were performed. As per normal procedure, an estimate of the cost of the procedure was given to the client who acknowledged and agreed to everything quoted.

Per the complaint, it is our understanding the client is disputing the charge for radiographs because they are digital. Most veterinary hospitals utilize digital radiography currently. We use Cuattro (www.cuattro.com) who supplies the hardware and software for x-ray and ultrasound on both the medical and veterinary fields. They have sold thousands of units.

It is a "cloud-based" software. Radiographs are not stored locally (on hospital hardware) and are immediately uploaded to cuattro's servers as soon as the radiographs are taken. Copies can then be sent via email thru Cuattro's ViewCloud program.

According to our internal records, the client made multiple requests in October 2013 for x-ray copies which we dutifully emailed. As for the 30 day expiration; yes the link in the email does expire after 30 days (from my understanding that is a security feature of Cuattro to protect their servers) and is by no means unique. For instance, VCA Animal Hospitals (http://www.vcahospitals.com/) which operates over 600 hospitals in the US also emails copies of digital radiographs whose links expire in 30 days as well.

California Code of Regulation section 2032.3 states that radiographs are the property of the facility that originally ordered them to be prepared. (http://www.vmb.ca.gov/consumers/faqs.shtml)

The bottom line is that if the client had a medical complaint they could and should file a complaint with the California Veterinary Medical Board. However, neither the attending veterinarian on this case or any hospital staff did anything wrong.

As for the Revdex.com complaint, the client brought a patient in for a medical condition. The doctor recommended a x-ray. The doctor told the client the price of the x-rays. The client agreed and paid the price of the x-rays. Radiographs were taken in-facility of the patient on the same date. The doctor explained the results of the radiographs (we have computers in every exam room that are capable of showing the radiographs) to the client.

It is inherently impossible to "print out" on a piece of paper an x-ray and have it show the same level of resolution and quality that you can get on a digital DICOM image (DICOM is the standardized image format for x-rays in both a medical and veterianry setting). On a digital viewer, you can zoom in to your heart's content, tweak contrast, add captions, etc. It is a limitation of the physical medium that you cannot accomplish these same things with "traditional radiography." It is for that reason that it is considered gold standard for most good hospitals to have digital radiography.

We did not refuse to provide copies to the client, in fact we emailed copies. There is no law saying that we have to tell the client that we don't "print out" x-rays before the procedure is performed. I do not know of a single reputable veterinary hospital that offers to print out "hard-copies" of radiographs for clients. There are a myriad of medical conditions where it could be difficult or impossible to diagnose and/or detect on a "printed" hard-copy of a radiograph.

I hope that the Revdex.com will deny this client's claim on the basis that it has no basis. The client paid for a radiograph that we performed and the doctor explained the results fully to the client. Please contact me if you have any further questions regarding this case.

Yours,

[redacted],

Hospital Director

Family Pet Hospital

Consumer

Response:

I was told that x rays would be taken. I was never told that radiology x-rays would be taken. And that I would only be able to view the x-rays by computer and use a software I know nothing about. I also was not informed that the x-rays could not be printed nor that they would expire after 30 days and erased and that id have to continue to call the family pet hospital so that they could resend the x-rays again. X-rays at hospitals can always be shown on computer screen and then printed out for patient paying for x-rays to have at all times.Also I was never told what my dogs condition was after paying for all tests to find out what her problem was. All I was told was that she had a larger heart than what she is suppose to have and also that she had scar tissue on lungs. I had to go back to vet 3 times to get a better understanding of what it all meant and what medicine could be provided. Vet prescribed 2 medicines in pill form that costed me another 16 17 dollars which than made dogs problem worse 2 days had to go back and vet said stop giving medicine. So I had all the pills still but 2 from each bottle and wasn't refunded for any if them. And I didn't complain or say anything. But this the x-rays I will dispute. I want my money back or printed out copies of my dogs x-rays that were taken. Because that is what I paid for.