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I stopped into one of our hospitals today to drop off paperwork, and got told this story.
Yesterday, a woman was furious about some medical charges on her bill. She and the vet argued for awhile. Finally, she declares "Here's what I think of THAT!" and stomps out the door.
They immediately noticed three things.
1. She hadn't paid yet.
2. She had left behind her dog.
3. She had left behind her daughter.
They waited for her to return, but she didn't. Ten minutes passed, and finally the vet took the little girl by the hand and led her outside, telling her to point out mommy's car. But mommy's car wasn't there. They check the woman's records and call the number listed, but no answer or voice mail.
A couple hours later, and the little girl is still there, eating a cashier's lunch and watching Disney in the break room with a vet's son. The dog is simply kept boarded. Repeated calls to the listed number give no result.
Around dusk (24 hour hospital, no closing time), the manager calls up child protection services, and a cop comes by to fetch the girl.
Today, they get a screaming phone call from the woman, furious that we "arrested" her daughter. The vet reminds her that we still have her dog. "Keep the effing dog!" she screams, and hangs up.
The dog is staying at a vet's house, and if never claimed, will probably get adopted by him, or become a resident mascot/blood donor pet (and be pampered and played with by everyone in the hospital). As for the medical charges, we had her signature approving the amount, so we just went ahead and billed it to the credit card number on her file.
(I'd like to end with a note about abandoning pets at a vet hospital. Not a good idea. In my state, we only have to keep a pet 10 days after you don't claim it. And then we can legally have it destroyed. My hospital almost never does that, but we could.)
Yesterday, a woman was furious about some medical charges on her bill. She and the vet argued for awhile. Finally, she declares "Here's what I think of THAT!" and stomps out the door.
They immediately noticed three things.
1. She hadn't paid yet.
2. She had left behind her dog.
3. She had left behind her daughter.
They waited for her to return, but she didn't. Ten minutes passed, and finally the vet took the little girl by the hand and led her outside, telling her to point out mommy's car. But mommy's car wasn't there. They check the woman's records and call the number listed, but no answer or voice mail.
A couple hours later, and the little girl is still there, eating a cashier's lunch and watching Disney in the break room with a vet's son. The dog is simply kept boarded. Repeated calls to the listed number give no result.
Around dusk (24 hour hospital, no closing time), the manager calls up child protection services, and a cop comes by to fetch the girl.
Today, they get a screaming phone call from the woman, furious that we "arrested" her daughter. The vet reminds her that we still have her dog. "Keep the effing dog!" she screams, and hangs up.
The dog is staying at a vet's house, and if never claimed, will probably get adopted by him, or become a resident mascot/blood donor pet (and be pampered and played with by everyone in the hospital). As for the medical charges, we had her signature approving the amount, so we just went ahead and billed it to the credit card number on her file.
(I'd like to end with a note about abandoning pets at a vet hospital. Not a good idea. In my state, we only have to keep a pet 10 days after you don't claim it. And then we can legally have it destroyed. My hospital almost never does that, but we could.)
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