Pet owners expect veterinarians to disclose medical errors

To document the opinions of owners presenting to veterinary teaching hospitals regarding the disclosure of medical errors.

This cross-sectional study surveyed pet owners from 7 veterinary teaching hospitals in the US from 2021 to 2022. Data collected included demographics, personality traits, animal ownership, animal death experiences, animal-owner bond, and experiences with medical error. Multivariate regression models were built to assess the relationship between the belief that medical errors are inevitable and respondent characteristics.

A total of 5,026 pet owners completed the survey, and 1,629 people provided descriptive accounts. The belief that medical errors are inevitable was negatively associated with extroversion and positively associated with education level. The majority (72%) indicated that they wanted to know about every medical error, 72% wanted to be notified immediately if an error occurred, and 88% wanted to know if a medical error had the potential to cause harm to their pet. The vast majority of respondents (87%) indicated that when a veterinarian poorly communicated about medical errors, they lost trust in the practitioner. When a veterinarian communicated a medical error well, 58% reported an improvement in trust. Respondents indicated that errors in communication, treatment, and diagnosis resulted in negative patient case outcomes.

Participants in this study wanted to know about all medical errors and wanted to be informed of those errors immediately. Communication, misdiagnosis, and treatment errors leading to poor case outcomes were reasons pet owners believed errors occur.

Veterinarians should be prepared to communicate completely with clients when a medical error occurs.