
Client complaints and malpractice lawsuits are unfortunate realities in equine practice. At the 2024 AAEP Convention, Charlotte Lacroix, DVM, JD, owner of Veterinary Business Advisors Inc., a national consulting firm advising on veterinary business and legal issues, offered advice on responding to complaints and avoiding malpractice claims. Lacroix defined negligence as failing to exercise the level of care, skill, diligence, and treatment recognized as the standard of acceptable and prevailing veterinary medical practice. She said, “You are not negligent!”
Negligence Complaints
Negligence causes harm to a patient and results in a complaint from the client. These complaints are usually handled by the civil court system or the State Board of Examiners. Lacroix reminded attendees that state boards are meant to promote, preserve, and protect public health, safety, and welfare. They accomplish this by regulating licensed veterinarians and technicians, providing and enforcing a uniform statewide regulatory scheme, and overseeing practicing veterinary professionals within the state.
Standard of Care
Lacroix said the “standard of care” is set by advances in science and technology, veterinary colleagues, texts and trade journals, association guidelines, presentations at meetings, and tort or regulatory law. In addition, she said the human-animal bond is changing owners’ expectations of standard of care. She emphasized that standard of care is not established just because the diagnosis was later proven incorrect or the treatment failed to yield desired results.
How to Respond to Client Complaints
Lacroix then offered advice for responding to client complaints:
- Listen to the client.
- Remain calm and objective.
- Communicate clearly.
- Show sympathy and concern.
- Coach the staff.
- Apologize for a result, not an “action or omission.”
- Consult an attorney and your insurance carrier before agreeing to anything.
In addition, she said, “Invite the client to a face-to-face meeting with you, and apologize by saying, ‘We made a mistake, and we’re changing our procedures as a result. How can we make you whole?’”
When responding to a possible or actual malpractice claim, Lacroix suggested asking a colleague for an opinion, contacting your professional liability insurance carrier, contacting your attorney if needed for help drafting a written response, and promptly reporting a claim. She emphasized the importance of choosing a good professional liability insurance policy and company, noting that with AVMA PLIT, each individual veterinarian is insured, the insured veterinarian decides whether to settle a claim, and multiple claims do not lead to increased premiums or loss of coverage. This is especially important for veterinarians working for practices in which insurance covers the employer, not the individual veterinarians, which is common in corporate practices.
In human medicine, Lacroix said, “By promptly disclosing medical errors and offering earnest apologies and fair compensation, MDs hope to restore integrity to dealings with patients, make it easier to learn from mistakes, and dilute anger that often fuels lawsuits. Malpractice lawyers say that what often transforms a reasonable patient into an indignant plaintiff is less an error than its concealment and the victim’s concern that it will happen again.”
Final Thoughts
In closing, Lacroix shared that the most common equine malpractice complaints are prepurchase exams, client consent for treatment, rectal tears, castrations, colic cases, corneal ulcers, and complications of injections or anesthetics.
Related Reading
- The Top Factors Influencing Equine Veterinarians’ Job Satisfaction
- Business Briefs: Managing Dissatisfied Clients in Equine Practice
- Managing Difficult Clients and Difficult Expectations in Equine Practice
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