The place I took my cat for an emergency totally mismanaged my cat's death

I brought my dying cat to the emergency small animal hospital this past Saturday wrapped in my black sweater.
The receptionist whisked took my beloved cat from me, then whisked me into the grieving room without giving me any explanation and said "I'll be right back."
Fifteen minutes later a vet shows up with my dying cat and a catheter and paperwork.
She shoves my beloved cat at me, tells me to sign the paperwork which she sloppily placed on top of my dying beloved cat and doesn't tell me what I'm signing.
I don't ask because I'm in the throws of hysteria and confusion because my 17 year old tuxedo female cat is taking her last dying breaths.
I sign the paperwork, the vet is about to insert the catheter when my cat passes away. She takes out her stethoscope and can't hear a heartbeat from my now-dead beloved 17 year old cat. She takes the paperwork, my now-dead beloved 17 year old cat away from me, leaves the grieving room and now I'm alone wondering what the hell just happened.
Another 15 minutes later, a blonde bubbly vet tech female student in her early 20s comes in and dumbly asks me how I'm doing and if I'd like any water or anything.
No paperwork.
No cat.
No return from the vet who just stole my now-dead beloved 17 year old cat from me to explain to me what paperwork I signed, or give me a copy of said signed paperwork.
Eventually, I leave the grieving room and drive home in a state of shock. I didn't even think to ask for the paperwork that I'd just signed. For some reason, it bothers me that the vet hasn't called me 4 days later -- or any representative from the emergency vet hospital where I took my now-dead beloved 17 year old cat -- to update me on their post-death processes for the bereaved pet owner regarding paperwork, autopsy, etc.
So, I decide to drive there today to ask myself in person, what is going on? And, I come to find out some very bad news: there was no autopsy done. The vet who shoved the paperwork at me while I held my now-dead beloved 17 year old cat, didn't TELL ME what I was signing, or what boxes to check or not check. What i sign
NOW I WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT MY CAT DIED FROM.
I feel betrayed.

triceps said:

Thought I'd wait a day to reply. Just lost our 16 year old cat about a month ago. He was definitely part of the family as I'm sure your cat was. Just want to say how sorry I am.

Click to expand...

Thanks Triceps. I'm sorry to hear that you also lost your 16 year old cat a month ago. It's just a heart breaking experience to go through.

Rinka said:

I'm so sorry to hear of what you have gone through. When i lost my cat and had to have her put down, it was the worst time. Especially because i was not able to be with her. My cat seemed to have had a heart attack and my mother drove her to the vet. At that time, my grandmother, who lived in a care home 200 miles away needed my mother. Therefore, my mother drove off. Leaving me at home unable to go to the vet (no car) 20 miles away. The vet called me and informed me about the condition of my cat. She was in pain and dying. They needed me to decide what will happen. I tried to call every friend i had with a car, but no one was available. So over the phone, i gave the ok to have my little one put down.
That was really bad.

For that i absolutely understand your frustration and anger. It's as if your grief had been used against you, just to sign something. They should have talked to you much more and explained in plain words, what needs to happen and what will happen next. It seems as if it's certainly neglect on their side. Are you able to file a formal complaint? Isn't there a law, that prevents contracts that have been signed during such situation being valid? In a way you have not been corpus mentes.

Click to expand...

Thanks Rinka. I can't believe that your mother just left you there, and that you couldn't be with your cat when the vet euthanized her. That is absolutely heart breaking. I am sorry you went through that alone. I can't imagine your anxiety and frustration and anger not being able to be with your cat when she had a heart attack and your mother not letting you go with her.

Yes, I'm very frustrated and angry at the vet. It is exactly like my grief is being used against me conveniently by the vet hospital's patient/client advocate who deflected my email detailing the event, with phony platitudes like "I can tell that you really loved your cat," and excusing the vet, "well, you did sign the paperwork," to "I have to let you know that we can't cremate or do an autopsy on your cat."

I sent the patient/client advocate a 2nd email today warning her that if she doesn't investigate on my behalf and get me my cats remains, I will hire a medical malpractice attorney. Since the vet hospital is attached to a rather large university here, I will definitely have to follow through with my legal threat b/c this patient/client advocate hasn't done any advocating for me, but instead is protecting this vet who clearly violated my rights as a pet owner. I emailed a few malpractice attorneys this weekend, telling them my story. I Hope they email me back to tell me that I definitely have a case against this vet and the vet hospital.

If that doesn't work, I will write an article to my local newspaper detailing the event, include my emails and the horrible patient/client advocate emails to me, and the report from the vet who wrote down my cat's name wrong, and lied on her report that she euthanized my cat (she didn't; all she did was insert the catheter and then my cat died in my arms). If I have to, I will post on their Facebook page too. I will do whatever I can to ruin this place's reputation and this vet's credibility as a reliable, competent vet. If she had just treated me with respect, treated my cat with respect, I'd have peace of mind knowing what my cat died from with an autopsy, have her ashes, and emotional closure. But I will never have emotional closure now. And that's eating me up inside.

If I ever decide to adopt a cat(s) again, it will be a long time.