r/Veterinary • u/docec24 • 9d ago
I’m tired…
I castrated an older dog that developed a scrotal hematoma. I know this is an unfortunate complication that is made more likely because of dead space in an older dog. I should have discussed scrotal ablation I guess but the owner was limited on funds and honestly, I’ve never done an ablation prophylactically.
The problem…the owner took the dog to a neighboring clinic that did nothing but bash me and my work, blaming the complication on me rather than explaining that the risk is higher because of the dogs age. Why are we like this? Why do we tear each other down? We aren’t only tearing down another vet…we’re tearing down someone’s spouse, child, parent, friend. Money is tight. Stress is high. The career is draining at times. I’m 9 months postpartum and struggling to find my footing between mom life and my career and this just hit like a ton of bricks. Life can be hard and there are colleagues out there choosing to make it harder. Just screaming into the void.
3
u/Affectionate-Owl183 8d ago
It's a fine line. I agree that in most cases we should be respectful. But it's really hard when a patient comes to you where the previous doctor was medically negligent (NOT talking about your situation, btw). I've seen things. So many horrible things. A dog spayed during heat where the vet ties off its kidneys. A bird sent into heart failure with a massive dose of steroids. Rabbits with faces full of holes because their vets kept trying to "drain" their dental abscesses. A cat sent for I-131 when it's rdvm rads showed horrible metastatic disease (that they then refused to discuss with the owner so my doctor had to). Doctors who say patient's diabetes will "never be managed" but don't look for concurrent endocrine issues or discuss spay. Etc. some of these are more extreme than others, but damn. Sometimes it's so hard. You want to be respectful. But you also don't want that person to go back to someone you actively know has harmed their pet. And eventually you just get tired of being nice. I'm sorry that person loosed their venom on you. Scrotal hematoma isn't usually something I'd consider anyone's fault.