When you take your pet to the vet, you assume that the business is ran by professionals with policies, rules and procedures in place. This is not only important to the quality of care that you and I received, but it is also to protect the hospital/business and in some cases show compliance to city/state/government laws.
In this case, a simple form for surrender ownership would have made sense. Hometown Animal Care did not use one in my case. Why? Do they not have adequate policies? Or did individual(s) just choose not to follow them. Or even worse, did individual(s) chose to violate them. I have listed just a few topics describing events that occurred that occurred with the surrender.
No Documentation
There was no forms. No papers. Nothing signed. Why wouldn’t this business protect itself by having an owner sign an agreement simply stating that they acknowledge that they are giving the veterinary practice ownership of their pet and all contact and rights are severed. Despite several opportunities, a signature was never asked from them
Price Hike
The vet who saw my pet was Dr. Joni O'Hair. She is not only a relief- vet...she is a part-time relief vet of Banfield in Georgetown TX. Dr. O'Hair provides a quote of $1000 and in fact withholds the identification of CareCredit when i stated I had credit, but couldnt remember the name of the credit company. Despite this, I am able to make contact with CareCredit, call back and disclose my spending limit. Now its not enough and all that could be done is put him to sleep or surrender ownership. Dr. O'Hair says that the surrender was not planned ahead of time and was offered up by Dr. Morelli who "overheard" the phone conversation when I called back. It's hard to overlook this very ridiculous explanation. To imply that her immediate peers were not aware of a serious case she was working on and only became aware of it because of her super hearing is to imply that this temporary, part-time relief vet was not being supervised as a temporary employee should be.
Doctor - Client Relationship
I have never met Dr. O'Hair. All contact was done over the phone. She took Hunter away from me over the phone. She gave me 6 minutes to choose between euthanasia and surrender.
TEXAS OCCUPATIONS CODE CHAPTER 801 VETERINARIANS
Sec. 801.351. EXISTENCE OF VETERINARIAN-CLIENT-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP.
(a) A person may not practice veterinary medicine unless a veterinarian-client-patient relationship exists. (c) A veterinarian-client-patient relationship may not be established solely by telephone or electronic means.
Emergency Overnight Care
The cost that was directly responsible for being forced to surrender was the Intensive Care/monitoring the cat would need overnight at a separate Emergency animal hospital. Hometown Animal Care's costs were not the issue, it was the separate fees and billing of the animal ER. THEY NEVER SENT HIM THERE. Instead he went home with an employee named Amy. This is the same technician pictured handling the cat a day and a half after surgery negligently. Captured is also her co-workers comments on her behavior.
Refusal of Visitation
On the day of surgery, I was discouraged from seeing Hunter due urgency. However, records show that it was 3-4 hours before surgery start time. The next day, I stopped by to see Hunter and say goodbye. Dr. Morelli prohibited any visitation and gives me the option to leave a note for Amy to ask her to let me know how Hunter is doing. Dr. Sutton (owner) revealed that Dr. Morelli then instructed Amy not to make contact.
Approval For Free Medical Care & Give the Pet to an Employee
Dr. Sutton states that he was unaware of the details of the surrender and did not become aware until I posted a Review a month and a half later. No only did they not request approval, they never informed them of their actions.
In this case, a simple form for surrender ownership would have made sense. Hometown Animal Care did not use one in my case. Why? Do they not have adequate policies? Or did individual(s) just choose not to follow them. Or even worse, did individual(s) chose to violate them. I have listed just a few topics describing events that occurred that occurred with the surrender.
No Documentation
There was no forms. No papers. Nothing signed. Why wouldn’t this business protect itself by having an owner sign an agreement simply stating that they acknowledge that they are giving the veterinary practice ownership of their pet and all contact and rights are severed. Despite several opportunities, a signature was never asked from them
Price Hike
The vet who saw my pet was Dr. Joni O'Hair. She is not only a relief- vet...she is a part-time relief vet of Banfield in Georgetown TX. Dr. O'Hair provides a quote of $1000 and in fact withholds the identification of CareCredit when i stated I had credit, but couldnt remember the name of the credit company. Despite this, I am able to make contact with CareCredit, call back and disclose my spending limit. Now its not enough and all that could be done is put him to sleep or surrender ownership. Dr. O'Hair says that the surrender was not planned ahead of time and was offered up by Dr. Morelli who "overheard" the phone conversation when I called back. It's hard to overlook this very ridiculous explanation. To imply that her immediate peers were not aware of a serious case she was working on and only became aware of it because of her super hearing is to imply that this temporary, part-time relief vet was not being supervised as a temporary employee should be.
Doctor - Client Relationship
I have never met Dr. O'Hair. All contact was done over the phone. She took Hunter away from me over the phone. She gave me 6 minutes to choose between euthanasia and surrender.
TEXAS OCCUPATIONS CODE CHAPTER 801 VETERINARIANS
Sec. 801.351. EXISTENCE OF VETERINARIAN-CLIENT-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP.
(a) A person may not practice veterinary medicine unless a veterinarian-client-patient relationship exists. (c) A veterinarian-client-patient relationship may not be established solely by telephone or electronic means.
Emergency Overnight Care
The cost that was directly responsible for being forced to surrender was the Intensive Care/monitoring the cat would need overnight at a separate Emergency animal hospital. Hometown Animal Care's costs were not the issue, it was the separate fees and billing of the animal ER. THEY NEVER SENT HIM THERE. Instead he went home with an employee named Amy. This is the same technician pictured handling the cat a day and a half after surgery negligently. Captured is also her co-workers comments on her behavior.
Refusal of Visitation
On the day of surgery, I was discouraged from seeing Hunter due urgency. However, records show that it was 3-4 hours before surgery start time. The next day, I stopped by to see Hunter and say goodbye. Dr. Morelli prohibited any visitation and gives me the option to leave a note for Amy to ask her to let me know how Hunter is doing. Dr. Sutton (owner) revealed that Dr. Morelli then instructed Amy not to make contact.
Approval For Free Medical Care & Give the Pet to an Employee
Dr. Sutton states that he was unaware of the details of the surrender and did not become aware until I posted a Review a month and a half later. No only did they not request approval, they never informed them of their actions.