We're beginning to contact some of the individuals listed in our public records request. The complaints, while useful, don't always tell the whole story, nor do they provide the subjective experience of someone's firsthand dealings with veterinary care and the state veterinary board.
If you've received one of our letters in recent weeks, you'll likely be quite interested in this article. Contact information was provided in the letters you received as well as on our website. I'd be very interested in talking to you either on or off the record. If you don't want to respond, we can also understand your concerns, and we wish you all the best.
Here at the Veterinary Victims League, we take it as a given that many of your veterinarians aren't up to the job, and above them, the veterinarians and friends regulating them aren't up to the job either. That's not even to say that they're incompetent; it's just that what constitutes competence can sometimes be a rather low threshold. We're trying to understand more about how and why they fail, and we're trying to use that information so the public can understand how truly broken the entire system actually is.
Part of any investigation (or appeal for redress of grievances) begins with talking to people with firsthand experience of the problem you're trying to solve. In this particular situation, the people with the most to say are those who had a problem with the veterinary health care system, did all the right things, and then had their complaints thrown in a trashcan while their pet's ashes rest on a mantel.
Because of a rather interesting public records request detailed elsewhere (link) we have not only most of the complaints and investigative paperwork for several hundred complaints filed in the past few years, but also the names of the people who filed them and the pets who weren't so lucky. What we didn't have, because of redactions, is your contact information.
Given the sheer volume of records we've reviewed, we've prioritized certain cases and individuals to reach out to. From there we've tried to take your names, the locations of the offending veterinary centers, and a cornucopia of public information (web searches, county assessor's records, corporation commission and trade name filings, and so much more) to narrow down where you might be now.
We've probably not always gotten it right, but we've done our best. Much like sailors tossing out a message in a bottle or Navy man John Fitzgerald Kennedy communicating by coconut, I hope my words reach you.
Assuming my words have reached you, I hope you'll consider getting in touch. While I have the resources to pursue this little veterinary safari into the heart of darkness, you're collectively the ones with the actual power here, more so than any veterinarian, bureaucrat, or politician. Your words have the potential to fill in so many blanks, and they also have the potential to start a long-overdue conversation regarding the smallest members of our families.
I've read each of your complaints, and I thought about each of your stories as I checked the letters and sealed the envelopes. Individually you tell us of particularly unfortunate and often avoidable events, of misrepresentations, suffering, and even death. Together you paint a picture of a veterinary system in a state of crisis and of a regulatory system that could never be fit for its intended purpose. Much like my own stories regarding my late Cody, together we constitute the primary witnesses to an unpleasantness that must be faced. It's never easy to be the first to speak up on an issue, but by doing so, we make it easier for those that follow.
Change is possible. You consider your pets as family or you would probably never have filed your complaints in the first place. I believe our pets would speak up for us if our roles were reversed. I hope to hear from you soon, either on or off the record. Regardless of what you decide, my thoughts are with you.
My thanks go out to those brave men and women who have responded to the initial mailings. I'm grateful for your time in speaking with me and sharing your stories regarding both your pets and your experiences with veterinary care and the Arizona veterinary board. Sadly, in our conversations so far, it appears we're largely telling the same stories with different details. I'm also looking forward to adding some of your happier stories you've shared regarding your pets to the site. In each statistic there was, more than anything else, a life.
Each conversation has been a reminder that the threats our pets face are not limited by any social boundary. Regrettably, each conversation has also been a reminder of the tragedy, pain, and loss inherent in each and every episode of veterinary misadventure. Meanwhile, the outreach effort continues, as you can see below. If you've received one of these, I implore you to get in touch.