To Be Informed or Not To Be Informed?
"whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or stick thy head under thy pillow...' | 3 min read
As he squinted in the sunlight of a fine June afternoon, Eric quietly marvelled at the sums of money people were still prepared to pay for top quality horseflesh. Even though the ‘lockdown madness’ increase in horse prices had receded somewhat, he couldn't help feeling the beast in front of him, an admittedly rather splendid dapple grey Irish Sport Horse named Leonardo apparently destined for top class eventing, was, at £25,000, a rather expensive venture for the novice purchaser, who had so far only experienced the horse via a YouTube video. Nevertheless, Eric revelled in the minutiae of a pre-purchase examination, one of two peculiarities for which he was famous within the practice, the other being his refusal to embrace modern mobile technology, insisting as he did on carrying an ancient mobile phone incapable of any function other than making calls. As he passed his experienced hands over the noble steed, Eric noted what appeared to be a minor abrasion with some very faint swelling located caudally on the right upper lip, immediately adjacent to the commissure. For a fleeting moment the spectre of a sarcoid popped into his mind but after careful examination and palpation, he adjudged the lesion to be nothing more than superficial skin trauma, possibly as a consequence of an inappropriate bit or overenthusiastic schooling and of no clinical significance. He recorded its presence in his notes but didn’t add it to the certificate or indeed inform the owner. The expensive equine sailed through the remainder of the PPE process and Eric duly made the phone call, giving the distant owner the good news. It was two weeks later when the spectre reappeared out of the early morning mist in the form of a somewhat incendiary letter from the purchaser’s solicitor, detailing how the seemingly innocuous lesion had erupted within a matter of days of Leonardo’s arrival now bearing all the characteristics of a sarcoid and a nasty one at that. This assertion was backed up by some rather grim photographic evidence of the lesion, which appeared to have tripled in size, together with a detailed and damning report from the purchaser’s own veterinary surgeon, indicating the lesion’s location and aggressive nature made the horse potentially unrideable. The icing on the cake was a claim for the purchase price, treatment, and various other sundries, such as transport, livery (which from the price appeared to have been at The Savoy) and new tack totalling some fifty thousand pounds.Lurking beneath the surface | 3 min read
Illustrations by Rhiannon Wright @rhimalous
Eric’s blood, like his morning coffee, had gone cold. Whilst he, like most equine practitioners of his thirty-year vintage, had encountered the odd complaint, he had to confess he was now in unknown territory. Regaining his thoughts, he picked up the phone and called the Society. The equine veterinary world is still a small one and Eric was relieved to hear the Claims Consultant’s familiar voice, recognisable as it was from years of lectures (and lively conversations at the bar - Ed) at BEVA congress. Eric recounted his tale of woe, still confident in his opinion of the lesion at the time. The Claims Consultant calmly expressed his sympathy, agreeing it was time to relieve Eric of his burden and for the Society to take the helm in this case. He pointed out that while Eric’s opinion of the lesion at the time was valuably recorded in his clinical notes, its absence from the certificate and the lack of any advice or warning to the owner introduced an element of weakness into what would otherwise be a robust defence of the claim, particularly given the progressive nature of the sarcoid. The Society therefore took the view in this case that managing expectations early on was key to a satisfactory and financially sensible conclusion. Consequently, after much correspondence with the purchaser’s solicitor, an agreement was reached whereby the horse would be returned to the vendor, with the purchase price being reimbursed purely on an ex gratia basis by way of a 50:50 split between the Society and the vendor. Eric breathed a sigh of relief when, after a few weeks, the Claims Consultant called him to report the matter had been settled, with honour preserved all round and for considerably less than if the case had found its way to court. With the Society’s advice still ringing in his ears, at every PPE Eric could now be seen taking photos and dictating copious notes into his shiny new smartphone for every prospective purchaser to enjoy.
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