When Things Go Wrong: How To Protect Your Integrity & Reputation

Individuals offering a scanning service to breeders are often put under pressure to give numbers, due dates and – with some animals – even the gender of the foetus or foetuses. Unless you are a qualified veterinarian, it is strongly recommended that you do not do this, as it opens you up to criticism or even litigation.

Below is the email conversation one of our technicians had with a customer. This customer insisted that a due date was given, because her usual scanner always provides this and (how many times have you heard this before?) “she’s never got it wrong!” Our technician was very careful not to give such a date during the scan, and instead took the gestational sac measurements back to the office to give a table reading of the estimated gestational age, which she was careful to point out was not a confirmed reading and a follow-up scan was highly recommended to confirm its accuracy, which she offered to perform free of charge.

Despite all of these precautions, the customer still attempted to hold our technician responsible for the unexpected/premature birth of her pups. Luckily, our technician had this written log as proof that no definitive date was given, but this incident highlights just how careful professional scanners need to be when carrying out their work.

Email log displayed below. How would you have handled this situation with a customer?

Names have been removed to protect privacy.

 

From: Technician
Sent: 08 January 2014 18:27
To: Customer
Subject: scans

 

Dear Customer,

Thank you very much for your time today. Please find attached one of your scans. I’ve also uploaded a short video clip for you.

According to the gestational age tables, she is around 38 days as measured by the sac diameter, and if this is correct then we should be able to clearly see the ribs and spine in a couple of days. If you’d like me to come back next week at the same time (well, let’s say 11.45am for total safety so I am not late again) to compare how they’ve grown, I am more than happy to do so at no charge.

Thanks again,

 

Technician

 

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Dear Customer

I was very distressed to hear today from my colleague that your dog gave birth 6 days early, and that you have lost the puppies. This is devastating news. I haven’t spoken to you personally so I’m not entirely clear on what is going on here, but he indicated to me that you’re somehow holding my scan responsible for the loss of your pups?

Please could you clarify for me?

I feel I did make it very clear when I was with you that we do not give people due dates on their puppies, just as we do not give people a number count. I appreciate that your usual scanner does, and perhaps this is what has led you to believe this to be standard practice in the industry, but it is not, and for very good reason (this being the reason). We work with government institutions, universities, veterinarians and sonographers across the UK, and the consensus is that a gestational age cannot be determined through ultrasound measurement for dogs within a tolerance of less than 5 days either side.
Your usual scanner may give you precise dates, using her eyes, or palpation, or her knowledge of your dogs, but using the ultrasound callipers there is always going to be a margin of error. I absolutely know that when I was with you in your home, I explained this to you. I did not give you definite due date, and I said I would do my best to take measurements and look it up on the gestational age tables for you, which I did indeed do, and I then emailed you to explain that as measured by the gestational sac diameter, she was at around 38 days. I also offered to come back a week later, free of charge, to re-scan her to see “if this was correct” by seeing the changes of development which had occurred between the first and second scan (which, again, I did also explain to you in person – that there are various developmental ‘landmarks’ we can use to help you with dates, but that more than a single snapshot in time is required for me to do this for you). I received no response to this offer.

If you feel that I have been in any way unprofessional in my conduct, I will gladly refund you your scan fee, but I do feel that this is a terribly unjust accusation. It is extremely sad and unfortunate that on one of the few occasions that you’ve used somebody other than your usual scanner, this tragedy has happened, but I feel that to make the link between the two is quite unfair.

I can understand how you must be feeling now, and I am so very sorry to hear such sad news. I am sure this email is not what you want to read right now, but not having been there to take your call, I wanted an opportunity to address your concerns myself. Please let me know if you disagree with anything that I have said.

Sincerely,

Technician

 

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From: Customer
Sent: 31 January 2014 18:49
To: Technician
Subject: Re: FW: scans

 

I completely disagree with you.

I only use a person who scans to give me correct dates the amount of puppies inside isn’t an issue with me as I don’t need to know.

Knowing full well that my dogs have sections the dates are of utmost importance. I made this clear when booking and also to yourself.

You didn’t at any point tell me you could not give me a rough due date and I made it clear this was needed for the purpose of a csection.

If you make guesses as far away from the truth as yours has been then I suggest you don’t even bother trying for the future.

I have now lost between £12000 and £15000 due to your scan results which I made plain I clear I was relying upon. Refund on scan is an absolute insult.

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On 1 Feb 2014, at 02:11 pm, Technician wrote:

Dear Customer

 

I understand that you only use a person who scans to give you dates, but unfortunately this is not a service that we (or any of our trainees) provide. I know that I did say to you before I even began scanning that I could not provide you an exact delivery date. I expressed surprise at the fact that your usual scanner does this. It’s against every bit of advice and training in this industry.

I explained to you that I could only tell you the approximate gestational age with my scanner, and that if you liked, I could go back to the office and check the measurements against the gestational age tables and let you know the reading, but that these were not precise (I even recall telling you that they were adapted from human tables and that as different breeds mature at different rates, readings can be out a few days). At no point did you tell me not to proceed.

I’ve looked back on my email to you and even at this point I’ve made it very clear that the age reading given is approximate and according to the tables only, and that a second scan would be required to increase the accuracy of the estimate, which I was eager to come back and do for you at no charge. If knowing the age of the puppies was so important, and you knew I had not provided this for you, I’m confused as to why you did not allow me to come back to at least give you a more accurate window. I’m also puzzled as to how you’re so adamant that the tables even were six days out, i.e. how you know that she did not deliver them a few days early, given how common this is.

Obviously this is very upsetting for me too, as in 5 years of scanning, I have never had a single unhappy customer. My only solace is that I do know in myself that I did my utmost to be crystal clear with you on what was going to be possible.

The basic facts of the matter are:

 

• I told you at time of scanning that I could not provide a delivery date, and that the service provided by your usual sheep scanning lady was out of the ordinary.
• I offered to take sac measurements and compare with them with gestational age tables. You agreed that you’d like me to do this. I emailed you this result, making it clear that it said “about 38 days” and that if this was the case, we could expect to see further developmental milestones.
• I offered to return for a second scan to confirm this for you, free of charge. You never replied, despite knowing that the accuracy of the 38 day estimate needed confirming.
• Your dog delivered her pups, quite possibly prematurely, and for some reason this is now my fault.

 

I can accept that you are devastated, as I would be too, but what I cannot accept is that you are attempting to blame somebody for this. This is nature. This happens. When my cat had kittens, she delivered unexpectedly early and we came back to find dead kittens. We were heartbroken, but we didn’t call up the vet and tell him it was his fault for not telling us exactly which day our cat would deliver on. If I had said to you “ultrasound is the modern version of the crystal ball, and has the capability to predict precisely when an animal will give birth. This is the date,” I would understand, but at no point did I ever imply such a thing was possible. If your usual scan lady has told you that it is, fine, but on HER head be it – not mine.

Your usual scan lady offers a service that nobody else dares to offer, for this reason. I was very careful never to promise you any exact dates, for this reason. I wanted to come back to check on the development of the pups, at my own expense, for this reason. That you are holding me to account for this tragic incident regardless of these facts is beyond reasonable.

Clearly, you are angry and want somebody to blame, and nothing I can say is going to change this fact. I sincerely hope, however, that you will sit down and reconsider the facts once your emotions have died down, as trying to defame the character and reputation of an individual and a company who have done nothing wrong is a step too far.

Once again, I am very sorry for your loss.

 

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From: Customer
Sent: 01 February 2014 16:07
To: Technician
Subject: Re: scans

 

You are very out of line and talking to me like I’m a complete idiot.

I have not blamed you or your company for what has happened I gave advice that you should not attempt to date scan and that was all I was intending to do.

I have been breeding for nineteen years and don’t need anyone to tell me how to conduct myself.

My dogs who have csection clearly don’t rely on nature and the scan tells me a rough idea when they are due so I can plan things for them.

My puppies weren’t born early by nature they were born early due to me listening to your dates. Even as a rough guess this was extremely far out so I feel u should not attempt to do this again as it obviously has massive consiquences.

 

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