>seem to have this problem.  Am I just lucky?  I have NEVER had a vet
>who refused emergency treatment, asked me to pay up front, or held
 
Yes, I'd say you're lucky.  There seems to be a severe shortage of kind,
considerate, helpful people in all walks of life these days.
 
Then again, there are a number of people who *used* to be kind and
considerate, but decided to stop after being taken advantage of by the
other sort once too often.  I've been in this boat myself.  If you have
one of those vets who won't extend you credit, consider that they may
have done so in the past but ended up getting fleeced by someone they
thought was trustworthy.  It doesn't help your situation any, but maybe
you can have some sympathy instead of resenting them.
 
Or, if you go to a corporate-owned clinic, it's possible that the doctor
wants to help, but their corporate policy prohibits it.
 
>Maybe that's why I've never had the problem.  I have always had a good
>working relationship with my vets and I've always paid my bills.  They
>know they don't have to worry about it.
 
That's valuable, but unfortunately that's often just the kind of person
who can take the most advantage of you.  Some people have been burned
too often to trust even those who seem perfect.
 
>You don't expect other professionals to give you free service.
 
Apparently you do if they're computer professionals.  Trust me on this
one...  :-)
 
>have tremendous overhead and you're paying for all of the education
>they have to allow them to treat your animal.  They have families to
>support.  And, there's nothing wrong with having a shiny new Mercedes.
 
It depends on the clinic.  Again, if you go to one of the corporate
clinics, the fees you pay end up covering not only the hospital's costs,
but also the CEO's shiny new Mercedes.  Meanwhile the vet that you
actually see gets the shiny new Accord that gets paid for with his or
her salary.  You're right - I don't begrudge paying the vet fairly, but
also paying the invisible corporate entity behind them - that irks me.
 
The place where I had my recent adrenal surgeries done is like this.
It's a fully-equipped 24-hour hospital and oncology center, but
apparently all of that gets paid for by *every* visit.  Those adrenal
surgeries were more than 50% more expensive than the highest I have
ever heard of elsewhere.  But I have to hand it to the vet who did the
surgeries.  She just transferred to this hospital not long ago and
lowered those rates - they used twice as much as that!  (In other words
*three times* more expensive than the highest adrenal cost you've ever
heard of.)
 
Now, I don't know the arrangements for sure, but I don't think she gets
paid out of that.  The hospital gets the money, and she gets paid salary.
I'll gladly pay her fairly, but I do get annoyed paying those kind of
rates just to support the corporation behind the hospital.
 
I'll take responsible private ownership over corporations any day....
 
roger & the wolverine wannabees
missing bear
[Posted in FML issue 4054]