Our mare foaled in the early morning hours. The horse is worth about $10,000 and the foal already cost us about $4,000 so they are pretty valuable foal and mare. We call for a vet to come. The on-call vet calls back and sez they don't come out for a birth. We call back and beg and plead because the foal hadn't found the milk yet and the mare seemed distressed. She wouldn't come. When the office opened I called and asked what the policy is and they asked how everyone was doing. They said it would be a good idea to send out a vet and draw blood on the foal but they wouldn't just come out for a normal birth. (Back up 2 years, this mare gave birth and retained her placenta which the vet came out and fixed)
The vet didn't come out all day. The next morning, the mare is down and near death. The vets come running out and spend all day. She had a retained placenta and it nearly killed her. The bill to fix the mare is over $1500. should I pay this bill or is it the vets responsibility? They would have found the placenta and fixed her and there would be no big bill if they had attended us as we asked and begged. What do you all think? Am I right or what? Do vets have some sort of malpractice protection? The vet that did come out said he always wants to be there for a foaling and the top vet in the office said the same. The vet on call that morning just didn't want to get her a$$ out of bed and deal with my problem.
The vet didn't come out all day. The next morning, the mare is down and near death. The vets come running out and spend all day. She had a retained placenta and it nearly killed her. The bill to fix the mare is over $1500. should I pay this bill or is it the vets responsibility? They would have found the placenta and fixed her and there would be no big bill if they had attended us as we asked and begged. What do you all think? Am I right or what? Do vets have some sort of malpractice protection? The vet that did come out said he always wants to be there for a foaling and the top vet in the office said the same. The vet on call that morning just didn't want to get her a$$ out of bed and deal with my problem.