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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
The vet, the dog, and the unpaid bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dr. Gary Innocent has found himself in a difficult situation.
Pilot, a mixed breed border collie, was diagnosed with parvovirus, a disease that is often fatal to dogs. The disease could have been preventable with vaccination. Josh Gomez, Pilot’s owner, did not inoculate the dog, resulting in the animal requiring extensive medical care.
Dr. Innocent’s service and treatment save the dog’s life. Pilot should have a normal and healthy dog life. Everyone lives happily ever after. Right?
Wait a minute. It turns out that the care for Pilot ended up being more expensive than Mr. Gomez could afford. An extra $500 meant that Mr. Gomez couldn’t pay the bill in full. Dr. Innocent paid for additional food and lodging. He’s not a bank, not independently wealthy, and there is no insurance company from whom he may expect compensation.
So, Dr. Innocent told Mr. Gomez that if he isn’t compensated for his services, he will send Pilot to the pound, where he may possibly be euthanized.
Nobody wins here. On the surface, Dr. Innocent can be portrayed as an unsympathetic businessman who just wants his money. However, Dr. Innocent is a professional who should rightly be compensated for the service he provides. People who hate animals don’t become veterinarians. Dr. Innocent treated a problem that could have been prevented with simple vaccinations and attention by the owner to the pet needs. He is not in a position to treat all his patients for free.
On the surface, Mr. Gomez can be portrayed as an unsympathetic pet owner who is too cheap to provide for his pet. But he’s a hard working individual dealing with an unexpected financial hardship with few options for recourse. He clearly wants his dog back, and he would willingly pay the $500 if he could find a way to come up with the money.
Georgia law treats pets as property, not as family members. There aren’t a whole lot of options provided by the law to find a workable solution. The two things that these individuals have in common are that they want a dog to live a happy and healthy life, and the veterinarian should be adequately compensated for the good work that he did.
There don’t have to be bad guys here. Maybe the best thing is just to let these people work something out, then go to work on our representatives to get them to enact laws that protect the vet, the owner, and the dog.
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