Bane-field

Another mailing arrived today. Such a lovely brochure: neatly laid out, pleasing to the eye, the pictures of happy people. I gaze at it wistfully. No, it is not a vacation brochure. It is a recruiting letter from Banfield. It looks so enticing – vacation, flexible scheduling, good pay, CE, 401K (401K??!!! Do vets actually get those in practice?!). Every time I get one of these, I read every bit of it. Sometimes, I go online and check it out on their website. Could it be? Could it really be so wonderful?

My finger itches to make the call. Just to find out. But I don’t. I hear my husband: “No way, you would be miserable there. You’re too independent to practice cookbook medicine.” I hear my colleague: “Don’t do it. You will be blacklisted. There is not another practice around that will hire you again if you go there.” I hear another colleague: “No. You don’t wanna go there.” What is it? What is it that is so bad, veterinarians feel so incredibly negative about Banfield?

I imagine you have heard the stories too. You have to follow the set protocols. No ifs, ands, or buts. If Fluffy comes in for Disorder X, you must run these diagnostics. You must dispense this medication. No ability to exercise your professional assessment and decision-making abilities, like you were trained to do. No ability to stretch yourself professionally when you hear about a new technique or medication you may want to try. No right to say, “Okay, Mrs. Jones, I understand you and your husband are both out of work. It might be good to run this $500 battery of tests, but it may not be necessary at this point. Let’s try this out first, then see if we need to go further.”

You’ve probably heard the stories from clients, too. The ones that come in when their pets become ill. They’ve been taking Mojo and Buttons to Banfield for shots, but Mojo started vomiting the other day, and look what they did/wanted to do there! They want a second opinion or are unhappy with their experience for some other reason. Some come in implying they were being strong-armed to do testing they did not want to do, did not think was necessary, or could not afford.

Then I read this: http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Whistleblower-vet-sues-Banfield-pet-hospital-chain-92622394.html. A fired Banfield vet suing the chain, claiming he was fired for making repeated complaints that the hospital was putting profits over what was best for the pets. Okay, I tend to be skeptical whenever someone files a lawsuit against a large company, especially if they were fired. I know that there are some unsavory people out there who just want to get some money or are looking for revenge. And I realize the media often skews their reports in favor of the perceived underdog. But this does look rather intriguing in the face of all of the other things we tend to hear about Banfield. Apparently, Banfield has had other issues in the state where this is occurring (Oregon), as well as in the adjacent state of Washington, with 163 complaints made to the Better Business Bureau. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. [Editor's Note: The lawsuit has since been dismissed.]

And it would be interesting to hear what your experiences and impressions are of Banfield. Any takers?