Dear rexy55113-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting question.
It is a shame that the Veterinary Hospital was not more sensitive to
your tragic loss. While you probably don?t have a basis for a valid
lawsuit against them for their actions you certainly have a reasonable
complaint. What you alleged happened to you as you described it is not
necessarily a matter of incompetence as it is a disheartening example
of rude behavior and unprofessionally. Remember, the people you spoke
to on the phone may very well be receptionists or other non-medical
staff and I?d bet that the Veterinarian who own or operators the
business would be just as disappointed as you to know that his staff
laughed at your problem. My guess is that he will respond accordingly
to your complaint in insure that it does not happen again, up to and
possibly including a disciplinary action or even the termination of
those responsible. If you don?t get satisfaction from the Veterinarian
at the clinic you called, you can probably get his attention by
contacting the Veterinary Licensing Board, in this case the
Connecticut Board of Veterinary Medicine and sharing your experience
with them:
CONNECTICUT BOARD OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
P.O. Box 340308, MS #12APP
410 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06134-0308
Executive Officer: Jeffrey Kardys, Board Liaison
Telephone: 860/509-7648
Fax: 860/509-7553
Disciplinary Information
Phone: 860-509-7603
Fax: 860-509-8457
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VETERINARY STATE BOARDS
http://www.aavsb.org/dlr.asp
As it turns out however, their recommendation that you contact Animal
Control or the Police Department is indeed the correct procedure to
follow even though their alleged behavior leading up to it was
abhorrent. Being a member of law enforcement myself for more than 20
years I can tell you that such a call is not at all unusual and my
department does in fact respond to such calls.
If the dog had been killed intentionally and a law regarding cruelty
to animals is an issue (as you suggested when you used the term
?murdered?) both the police and Animal Control will follow up on that
complaint. But, if the incident was merely a tragic accident as you
suggest when you said the person didn?t see the dog and stapped on it,
then you probably have no basis for a criminal complaint. You should
contact the Police Department anyway though and they can contact
Animal Control on your behalf (or you can contact them yourself) and
an officer will respond to dispose of your deceased pet for you. Many
Animal Control agencies require citizens to first report their problem
to the police and in smaller jurisdictions the Police may even handle
their dispatching duties ? meaning that to contact Animal Control you
must first contact Police who will in turn dispatch an Animal Control
officer to your location via radio, pager or telephone.
Ultimately, unless your Animal Control agency has other provisions,
they will likely cremate the deceased pet for you (usually at no
charge). Some, like mine, may even return the ashes to you upon
request for a small fee. They may even be able to recommend a pet
cemetery to you if one is available in your area and this final
disposition of your pet?s remains is of the type you are looking for.
Again, the procedure recommended to you is the correct procedure. You
should call the Police or Animal Control in order to have your pet
properly disposed of. Alternatively, you might call your local Humane
Society or even a more receptive and professional veterinary clinic
for advice about disposing of your deceased pet by other means. You
can locate the Humane Society nearest you using this link:
CT HUMANE SOCITEY
http://www.cthumane.org/contactbranch.asp
I?m very sorry to hear about your loss and I hope in the end that this
terrible experience does not become a lasting bad memory for you.
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
CT HUMANE SOCITEY
http://www.cthumane.org/contactbranch.asp
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VETERINARY STATE BOARDS
http://www.aavsb.org/dlr.asp
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINES USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Veterinary licensing board CT
Human Society CT |
