Let The Attacks Resume

No one likes to hold a  mirror up to themselves. It can be painful when the life you worked so hard to build holds you accountable for your own actions. We are so good at blaming, shaming, and pointing fingers. But, we are absolutely terrible at accountability. This is universal isn't it? Aren't we all just a little but guilty of this?

No one likes a whistle blower. If you are an insider there is supposed to be this secret pact of loyalty that prohibits ratting on each other. If there is another way to stop this killing of the unprofitable patients at the excuse of ending suffering I don't know what it is. But I can tell you with an open honest heart that veterinary medicine is killing pets at an unprecedented rate with the excuse that we know better than the pet parents do, and we don't owe these patients anything if they cannot afford what ever increasingly astronomical fee we are asking. 

Yet, everyone is perfect, so, there goes the bubble that is living in denial. 

If the meek are going to inherit the earth they better get bigger and better ways to defend themselves, never mind arm themselves.

Sophia

This profession that I adore is broken. We have become a bunch of spoiled, self affirming brats who feel entitled. Its killing us like a cancer.

Why is it that when there is a problem called out the masses rally around the validation they feel is long overdue, and, the messenger is now the bad guy.

The truth is, (and lets be honest, not all of us want the truth spoonfed to us), is that people love, I mean deeply and without equal, love their pets. There is no greater love in this world for many of us than our pets. The law provides almost no measure of their value. Vets hold so much power that they have forgotten what this costs our clients, these pet parents who come to us in their most desperate of hours, on their hands and knees begging for help and we just don't take the time to meet their pleas with help that matters. We reduce the care their pets need to a list of line items delivered by a messenger that is not the person who yields all the power. We do not start the conversation with a conversation. We start it with a price tag few can afford. We need, we are being asked to help in a manner that is helpful. Why can't we start with an invitation that goes something like this;

"What can we do to help?"

Here is the story of Sophia. She came to us for help. That is just what we did. We did it without all of the lines items that her mom couldn't afford. We did it the old fashioned way. We did it with skill, compassion and a common goal.

Let the naysayers, the haters and the handcuffed to corporate greed agendas come at me. I'm here,, waiting to help the next wet nose who needs me.

Oreo, Clinic cat.

this one is from Heather Sartwell, on Facebook;

I’m glad this dog was saved, but ALL the facts should be laid out there, not just the ones that benefit your hospital.

1. Why exactly does an emergency facility cost so much? Pets in the ER receive a much higher standard of care with state of the art equipment, often in facilities with highly trained registered technicians, board-certified specialty surgeons, and staff that monitor patients around the clock. The ER isn’t a “cut-and-go” facility. They would never recommend doing a procedure that you claim is “simple” without mitigating risk. YOU may not think that IVs, bloodwork, or imaging is necessary, but the ER is going to check for any conditions that a pet already in a compromised condition due to age and presentation has before putting them under so that they can present the owner with ALL their options and reasonable expectations. That is an elevated (appropriate) standard of care! If you have done this for 20 years, you would have had at least one patient in your career that you thought would be fine for a procedure but ended up having complications due to a condition that could have been caught on pre-anesthetic screening. Additionally, the estimate from the ER likely included round the clock medications, post-operative hospitalization, and re-check labs to check for infection. The $7k was also likely on the high end of the estimate (the ER provides a range) and likely includes extraneous fees in the case this pet did not do well post-op. Corporate or not, ERs and general practice have the same goals - to help their patients. If you can offer these services, great! But I don’t think it’s fair to bash on veterinarians that charge higher fees.

2. You claim this is an “easy” procedure, like spaying a cat and “any vet can do that”. It’s important to note that when you are spaying a cat or dog under normal circumstances, this is done often in under 15 minutes. In the case of a pyro, however, you are removing an enlarged, friable organ filled with pus. If there’s any rupture, you risk sepsis. In a small dog like this, it could take only 15 minutes best case scenario. OR it could be a complicated procedure, which you may not know until you are in there. So I’m glad this was an easy case for you!

3. When it comes to cost, it is ultimately up to the owner to be able to provide care. Unfortunately, veterinary care is not like human medicine where you can let it go to collections if you can’t pay. That is why there are options like Care Credit, Scratch Pay, and even pet insurance. Did you know Trupanion covers up to 90% of emergency care for non pre-existent conditions? This is an unpopular opinion, but owning a pet and having it cared for is a privilege, not a right! It’s up to the owner to make sure they have a plan in case of emergencies.

4. There are comments here that state that people who are upset about this video are “Karens”. People are upset about these types of videos because they are misleading and are pretty much fear-mongering people regarding corporate entities, or really just any veterinary facility that charges higher fees that are appropriate to the standard of care they are providing, at a charge that is compatible with and sustainable for the changing times. What happens if you go to the hospital for appendicitis and you don’t have insurance? You will be charged $55k+! And to top it off, Dr M comments on one of these videos that her staff isn’t susceptible to the high suicide rate that the rest of the vet industry is due to the way she runs her facility. But what contributes to this high rate of suicide in the veterinary industry? May I dare say that it could have to do with being told that you’re staying late to accommodate patients that will be seen after your shift ends? That you have no choice but to sacrifice time with family unless you want to be called heartless? Do you think staff feels comfortable advocating for themselves when they see their employer bashing others in the industry? Do you think that veterinarians want to watch an owner face euthanizing a dog because they can’t afford the estimate they just presented, (then be scrutinized on social media because a vet that doesn’t set boundaries for herself or her staff posts misleading videos where dozens of people comment on how greedy and heartless the ER is)? Your website tagline literally says “be kind”. I don’t think this is an example of that message.

This an opportunity to promote spying and neutering early to prevent these issues.

This is an opportunity to educate on pet insurance!

This is an opportunity to support your community and your fellow veterinarians!

Do better! We are all in this together.

My Reply;

Heather Sartwell this diatribe  is a whole page of defending excuses that would have cost treatable Sophia her life. I’m in the trenches everyday trying to save every single patient because my colleagues still doent  see the forest of justification that lacks compassionate pet centric care.

This profession of broken souls is exhausting me because they  refuse to see their  actions as part of the problem.

Yes. I am calling you out   And yes I am saving the patients who aren’t lucrative enough for you to do better

This one is from Dawn Michelle

Dawn Michelle

Jarrettsville Vet Center I'm glad she said it!! I find it in extreme poor taste that you are always bashing the ER (who are some of the hardest working, most compassionate people I know).

Also, the local ER has saved many of your very own patients that you couldn't see yourself. Vet med is in a tough enough situation as it is with trying to cope with the extremely high Dr.-patient ratio. There just aren't enough doctors or techs. You need to support one another.

These ERs doctors and their staff are your colleagues, it should be a community, not a competition!

You should stop putting others down in order to elevate your own ego. You should know better.

Your response to Heather was immature and unprofessional.

She's right, use it as an opportunity to educate pet owners, not to pat yourself on the back.

 

My reponse;

Dawn Michelle I find it ethically unconscionable that vets are euthanizing treatable conditions because it is not lucrative enough for them to find a middle ground. A reckoning is coming. I’m not putting anyone down I am calling us all out that we are responsible for our actions and responsible to save these lives. I am also not patting myself on the back. I don’t need to do that. I am 20 years into this profession. Thirty years into being a professional. I have done more with my life than anyone else here. (Yes. That is a pat on my back),  I have taken an oath  to serve my country. I have owned a veterinary practice for 20 years and in that time I have NEVER put a pet down because of economic euthanasia and I went to Ukriane. So. Please. Tell me how immature I am. You came here for a fight. You get what you give.
Krista.

Seraphina, the Queen clinic cat

.. and  from Renee Mckenna Barker; 

Didn’t you give a rant like this 5 years ago?
Why not promote spaying and neutering your pets before it gets to that point? Then you wouldn’t have to go to the ER.
Or maybe Magnifico could do it all for free?!?!?!

From what I’ve heard, her husband bought her practice for her and she has no school debt. So how she charges will never be the same as other veterinary practices who are dealing with the mountain of college loans.  She’s very frustrating because most of the veterinarians I’ve worked with would do it all for free if that was an option. It’s just not. The cost of staffing and running an ER 24/7, 365 days a year will never compare to the cost of running a primary care practice.  Yet, she leaves all of that out of the story.

My reply; 

Renee Mckenna Barker hello. It’s Dr Magnifico. I have no debt because I went to a federal academy (which required a congressional nomination) and then served my country for 8 years in a naval reserve capacity for which I was given an honorable discharge. Then I bought this clinic and worked the 20 yrs it required to pay it off so that I would NEVER have to be told I COULDNT SAVE EVERY PET.   I would happily share what my staff is paid with anyone else working in the profession. I would bet I pay better and they won’t be part of the statistics that is our professional suicide stats.

Why am I leaving myself open to this cyber-bullying? Why would I continue to call out the transgressions of our profession. The worst of the skeletons we amass in our closets? I am doing this because if I don't who else will stand up for these patients. If you think I am doing this for me I will tell you that I am doing just fine without the caterwauls of Facebook. 

What I am not going to do is sit back and watch the cruelty unfold. I am not going to be silent while others put pet parents into impossible situations. Ask them to make decisions on the facts they want them to have, instead of the plethora of options that exist in every disease and every scenario. We are too quick tp kill and soo arrogant in our belief that we know all and should decide it all for others in their most vulnerable moments and depths of despair..

Sophia's video can be found here.

Her story is not unique, and she is not alone. How many thousands, more ? do we euthanize because its easier to blame, shame, and demonize our clients who we have shut out of affordable care.

There is a reckoning coming. Maybe it will be in the face of a challenge so powerful it further fractures the current model? AI is upon us. How many veterinarians will lose their income to being replaced by a machine who doesn't have a school debt? What about the class action lawsuits from monopolizing care to the point is it secluded to all but the Uber rich. Yes, this current climate of greed based corporate earnings squeezing the care most pet parents need is not sustainable.