If we only knew then what we know now…
need to know
Pets are classified as “property” in california
This classification limits legal recourse in the event that a veterinary hospital acts irresponsibly, commits fraud, is negligent, or even harms or abuses your pet and family member while they are being trusted to care for them.
proving malpractice or negligence is
very difficult
The AVMA rarely provides diagnostic criteria, best practice treatment recommendations, or even best practices operationally - which means proving malpractice or treatment failures is very difficult for owners.
VETS ARE only
held LIABLE FOR “REPLACEMENT
VALUE”
Even if you’re able to prove malpractice and negligence, it’s possible that the vet who harmed your pet will only have to provide you with enough money to purchase a new pet (in the case of death) or the cost to “repair” your pet to it’s former condition (kind of like a car - not a living, breathing member of your family). And they are very very rarely required to reimburse legal fees you incurred.
This means it’s almost always TOO costly for pet parents to pursue legal recourse.
one internship program touts that:
“One year at a rotating internship can be equivalent to three to five years of clinical experience.”
It’s also important to know that
the avma does not oversee the quality and safety of internship programs
According to a 2017 Newsweek Article, which interviewed former interns from VCA, “many senior veterinarians and technicians consider internships to be a kind of hazing—a right-of-passage in which hardship for hardship's sake is institutionalized”.
Additionally, a more recent Reddit thread on veterinary internships notes that veterinary interns are over-used by some supervising veterinarians who assign cases far beyond the intern’s experience level and reasonable capacity for someone with entry-level experience (note that VCA is not specifically highlighted on the reddit thread). At the same time, these supervising veterinarians likely receive increased “bonus compensation” for the higher caseloads, increased tests and procedures that are happening “under their care”. This is against the AVMA’s guidance that “The primary purpose of an internship is to provide a sound educational program for the intern rather than a service benefit to the hospital.”
According to this reddit thread, some former interns (we don’t know where they interned) cite poor animal care as a consequence of these practices, and note that there's zero regulation or recourse when AVMA “best practices" are violated.*
There are not consistent healthcare outcomes measurements in veterinary medicine
Unlike in human medicine, (where Medicare and healthcare organizations measure various healthcare outcomes including length of hospitalization, readmission rate within 30 days, death and complications rates during hospitalization), the California Veterinary Medical Board doesn’t require that any of these Quality of Care Indicators are measured. Neither does the AVMA, or any other regulatory body. Or health insurance companies. Or even the clinics themselves (from what we can tell).
there are no established veterinary to patient ratios, or vet tech to patient ratios for emergency and critical care Pets in california
California mandates specific nurse to patient ratios for different specialties in human medicine. However, there are zero requirements for this level of attention within the veterinary field in California. The California Veterinary Medical Board does not even provide guidelines for patient tovet tech and patient to veterinarian ratios.
most complaints to the california veterinary medical board do not result in any disciplinary action
From 2017 - 2019, only 2.2% of complaints filed to the California Veterinary Medical Board resulted in disciplinary action. Why? Some experts hypothesize that it can be very difficult to prove what happens behind closed doors, when you are not there. Unless the veterinarian documents that they accidentally harmed your pet, it’s difficult for you to prove that harm was caused by the vet.