1053. Sunday Jul 29,
2013 Interesting
Cases: Abuse of
veterinarian
Sunday, July 29,
2013
"I don't like your
attitude," the man
in his 30s, heavy
built and has some
tattoos in his left
arm pointed his
forefinger to within
10 cm of my
spectacles. He
shouted again. It
was 11 am on this
bright sunny Sunday
morning. He came
with his elder
sister to view his
dog that had passed
away after 3 days of
treatment. I had
phoned him and
texted him at 9 am
to inform him that
his dog had passed
away. He phoned and
said he would be
coming.
At the Surgery, his
sister had asked:
"Why did the dog
die? Is it because
we sent the dog late
for treatment?"
"The dog is 9 years
old," I said. "He is
old. He is also very
thin and had anaemia
and kidney disease.
His total white cell
count had gone up a
lot indicating a
bacterial
infection."
For this comment,
the brother blasted
me. On the day
before, I was
working and had
checked on his sick
dog. The rectal
temperature had
dropped to below
37.6 C. The dog had
no appetite. I had
phoned and texted
him to let him know
that his dog was
seriously ill. He
had come in the
afternoon to see the
dog.
As for me, I am
aware of abuse of
service personnel as
there were many
notices put up in
the Singapore
General Hospital
warning clients to
treat the service
staff with respect.
Some veterinary
practices have such
notices too. So, I
did not engage him
with replies to
provoke him. It
seemed he was ready
to assault me giving
his lack of anger
management control.
All he needed was
provocation.
I said: "This dog is
treated by Dr Daniel
who will be working
in the afternoon. He
will talk to you as
regards any queries
on why your dog
died."
The elder sister
said: "Let the dog's
death be peaceful.
We will bring him to
Pasir Ris to
cremate. The next
day, he texted
wanting to speak to
the vet who treated
his dog. Dr Daniel
spoke to him and
said all was
resolved. He had
been very busy and
had not sent the dog
down for treatment
for the past two
weeks of vomiting.
As for me, I had my
man to "WhatsApp"
the haematology
results and comments
to him and had
phoned him on
Saturday morning to
let him know that
his dog's health had
deteriorated and
blood test had shown
kidney disease too.
He denied I had told
him about the kidney
disease on Saturday
morning.
From this
experience, it is
best to write down
every communication
with the owner in
the medical records
and blood test
reports. Usually I
ask my assistant to
What's App the blood
test to the owners
and in this case,
the attending vet
was Dr Daniel and
not me. I was
covering his morning
duties and so got
the brunt of the
anger.
Vomiting dogs might
need prompt
veterinary
attention. I think
of installing
closed-circuit TV.
Abuse of vets is
rare but seem to be
common in the last 5
years. This may have
to do with the
highly stressful
lives of some
Singaporeans. As for
such cases, it is
best not to provoke
further with words.
He had the
hematology results
in his handphone and
he showed me. I had
WhatsApp the results
to him on Friday,
but I did not
WhatsApp the kidney
results to him since
I had spoken to him
on Saturday morning
by phone. I was not
in the Surgery in
the afternoon when
he came to visit his
dog as I was off
In such cases, I
should be hands off
this case and leave
it to the attending
vet. Vets who are
off-duty should be
"on duty" to
communicate with the
clients whose dogs
are ill but this is
expecting too much
of the younger or
older generation who
values "work-life"
balance.
Last year, I was
verbally abused by a
client of Dr Vanessa
and I had written
about it in an
article. In that
situation, the son
pulled the father
away as the irate
man kept shouting at
me that I should pay
him so that he can
educate me about his
dog case. There was
something abnormal
about the man as he
was asking for a
fight. I just kept
quiet to prevent
further provocation.
As the senior vet, I
do participate in
case consultation of
the associate vets
to uphold a
consistent standard
of performance and
care at Toa Payoh
Vets and verbal
abuses by clients
are very rare. I
take such abuses are
part of the
diversity of human
behaviour and so do
not get upset over
the unusual
shouting. Maybe I
should have some
tattoos on my right
arm. A fiery dragon
perhaps.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
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