From:
"Shelley Knudsen"
Date: 2002-10-25 22:55:58 UTC
Subject: Paying vets w/loss, vet quality (long)
To: "Ferret Health List" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <003f01c27c79$d3143880$a62bfea9@sknudsen>
Hello,
I have just been catching up on about 2 weeks of fhl's, and while I know th=
is subject was discussed a week ago, I just had to throw my 2 cents in. (o=
kay - vent a little :-) =
The average veterinary student student loan debt upon graduation in the US =
is about $70,000. The average veterinary salary of veterinarians across th=
e board is about $67,000, with the average starting salary of graduating ve=
ts being about $45,000. (This is after 7-9 years of college.) The average=
salary of a human physician across the board is about $125,000. Physician=
s get paid by insurance companies regardless of how the surgery or doctor v=
isit turns out. Veterinarians are dependent on their clients to pay their =
bills themselves, which a large number don't. A few years ago I worked for=
a vet clinic in which the owner's wife had just taken over running the off=
ice. When she took over, 80% of the vet bills were not paid. 80%! She go=
t that number down, but only by hounding clients to pay their bills, and tu=
rning unpaid bills over to collection.
Your veterinarian has to make a living just like you do. Your vet does not=
go into a surgery, or start treating an animal with the intention of doing=
a sloppy job, or not caring how that animal fares. They do their best, an=
d I don't personally know of anyone who is in veterinary medicine that does=
n't care about the welfare of animals. If they didn't care about the anima=
ls, they would have gone into human medicine - it pays better and it is eas=
ier to get into med school than it is to get into vet school. However, whe=
n it comes to treating a live animal, there are things that are not always =
under their control. Sometimes, things just don't go right, or something i=
s missed. Now granted, sometimes things are missed by one vet that might h=
ave been caught by another vet. However, again, your vet does their best. =
If you want someone with tons of experience and training that will do the =
best job, pay 3 times as much and go to a board certified veterinary surgeo=
n who has yet another 4 years of intensive training in just that one area.
There will be times when your animal doesn't survive a surgery, or dies sho=
rtly afterwards. Again (I know, I keep repeating myself), your vet did the=
ir best. Hindsight is always 20/20. A vet that I took my ferrets to for m=
any years (who by the way was primarily a large animal vet, but he was the =
smartest one there, and the most open to new ideas, trying new things, and =
taking suggestions from a client which made him my first choice over other =
small animal vets) told me as I started veterinary college that getting a D=
VM doesn't mean you know everything about veterinary medicine, it means you=
now have a license to learn. And vets will continue to learn as they prac=
tice. Unfortunately, they may learn too late to help one animal, but they =
may learn from it to help the next one. In my 11 years of owning ferrets, =
and 3 1/2 years that I ran a ferret shelter, I lost ferrets to many differe=
nt things, including surgeries. Afterwards I was always, what if I had don=
e that, what if I had done this. But, I learned from past experiences, and=
hopefully helped other ferrets because of those experiences. I'm still le=
arning things, not only in school, but with my own ferrets. And, I know I =
will continue to make mistakes, and to learn from them until the day that I=
no longer function.
Now, not all vets are created equally either. But, if you aren't happy wit=
h the quality of your vet, go to someone else. Now something that was caus=
ed by pure negligence, such as the heating pad burn, that I would expect a =
vet to fix without cost, although that could have been technician or assist=
ant fault too - not the vets. But, if a pet doesn't survive after a surger=
y, unless there was gross negligence such as a sponge left inside the abdom=
en, you should still pay your vet for their time and effort. Anesthesia co=
sts money, surgical supplies cost money, and your vet's time costs money. =
The time they spent doing the surgery on your pet they could have spent tak=
ing care of another animal. In addition, most people want to go to vet cli=
nics where there is high tech equipment, such as an ECG, x-ray machine, ult=
rasound, blood work analysis, anesthesia equipment, and so on. That stuff =
ain't cheap. When you refuse to pay your vet's bill, or ask for your money=
back, you are taking away from other clients. That is money that they don=
't have to spend towards better equipment. The vet I used to work for was =
a huge tightwad, and even reused disposable needles (he cleaned and autocla=
ved them). Now that is something I wouldn't even dream of doing, but consi=
dering 80% of his clients weren't paying their bills, I can understand why =
he felt the need to cut costs so tightly. =
Now I also understand how tight money can be (boy can I understand that), a=
nd how you may feel like you shouldn't have to pay a large sum of money whe=
n you no longer have your pet, or when your pet is still not doing any bett=
er. I'd like to say, if you can't afford the bills, don't have the pet, bu=
t I know how unrealistic that is. But, to sound like a broken record, your=
vet spends their time and effort doing their best, and you shouldn't penal=
ize them for that, regardless of the results.
To summarize, no one is perfect. Your vet does the best job that they can =
with the training and experience that they have. Don't expect them to pay =
the surgical costs out of their own pocket, and work for free just because =
things didn't go right. I guarantee you that it is no different in human m=
edicine, but again, insurance pays those bills, not the client. If you are=
not happy with the results, go somewhere else. Don't expect the vet to fo=
ot the bill because you don't like the results. Just as an example, how pe=
rfect are you yourself? If you mess up something at your job, or don't get=
the results that your boss wants, does he/she just not pay you for the tim=
e you spent working on that project? 'Let he who is without sin cast the f=
irst stone....'
And hey, think of all the times your vets have saved your pet's life. I kn=
ow without veterinary intervention, all of my ferrets would be long gone, w=
hich is a big part of what made me go back to school to become a vet.
Okay, off of soapbox now. :-)
Dooks to your fuzzies,
Shelley Knudsen
Class of 2004 KSU Veterinary College
ferrets@kansas.net sknudsen@vet.ksu.edu
http://www.tcgcs.com/~ferrets
785-565-9041 cel402-984-4217
"There ain't no limit in this life to how far you can get,
but if you're going all the way, you gotta break a sweat."
- Chad Brock
End of ferrethealth Digest
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