Is It Legal for Veterinarians to Force Clients to Purchase Medications From Their Clinics?

It's not a matter of being legal or not; since of course your vet cannot force you to buy anything from his clinic except the services he has already supplied to you. If you feel coerced, intimidated or "blackmailed" by your vet into purchasing either prescription or non-prescription medicines only from him, find another vet. You obviously aren't communicating with this one.

However, if you respect your current vet and trust his medical capabilities, it would definitely be worth your while to have a candid talk with him about the costs and various options you have for purchasing medicines and health maintenance care products.

With the advent of discount supply houses, mail order medicine, and on-line wholesale suppliers, the issue of what you pay for your pet's medical care products has become a very touchy issue.

There are two sides to this issue - and they are both right!

Here's my vet's argument: My vet owns his own clinic, and if I step into his shoes for a moment I'll find a good case can be made for why he charges me more for medicines he prescribes and supplies in his clinic than I might pay elsewhere:

• He maintains only limited quantities of many products and does not store or distribute wholesale medicine.
• The medicines he supplies I receive on the spot, along with expert instruction for immediate treatment, which in some cases has been very important to my pet's care and recovery.
• He, like many dedicated and traditionally trained vets, receives his animal patients on a health need priority, not on the owner's ability to pay, meaning he discounts expensive treatments for owners who would otherwise not be able to pay for treatment, and charges "what the market will bear" from other patients to subsidize this policy.
• His is a community practice, and I know he's been strong armed into plenty of "pro bono" work for the local humane and rescue service which he tries to offset somewhat or he won't be in business for very long.
• He owns a typical small veterinary practice, and his "bread and butter" business is in supplying pet health maintenance services (vaccinations, spaying and neutering, teeth removal and cleaning, health checkups, etc.) - and the accompanying medicines and care products these procedures require. The less frequent procedures (surgery from accident or illness, or chronic conditions, boarding patients, etc.) require more expensive facilities and equipment. Again, he is applying the profits he makes on routine services to emergency and costly cases where his profits are lower... or he would have to charge more than a pet's owner would be willing to pay.
• He's a typical small businessman offering a service to his community and needs to offer the widest range of services and products he can to be competitive. He can't pick and choose only the lucrative procedures.

Now let's look at my side as a pet owner: If my personal vet steps into my shoes for a moment, he too will no doubt agree with me.

• I want the best veterinary care for my pets, but I don't want to be charged unreasonable prices - not by my private vet, not by the veterinary clinic or hospital, not by the pharmacy... in short, not by anybody.
• My education costs a lot too, and I also work hard, so I have a right to shop carefully for my family's health care, including the pets.
• I also have an interest in supporting animal rescue and humane society activities, but prefer to have a choice in what form this takes.
• I live in an interactive community and wish to support local services, but not when the prices are exploitive.
• I don't live in a large city, but when I compare pet medication prices online and see how much less I could be paying for medicines I get upset.
• I would prefer to work with my vet to solve the problem of overpriced maintenance products rather than look for another vet who doesn't know my animals.
• Bottom line: I'm willing to pay more for accidents or unexpected operations, X-rays and tests - and give him my continued loyalty - if he'll charge me competitive prices for veterinary medications and pet care health maintenance products.

It sounds like we could come to a mutually agreeable solution, doesn't it? If only I just dared bring up the subject...

In the meantime, I have a 14-year-old dog whose life he saved last year and a cat with a chronic bladder condition which is only under control because of high-priced antibiotics and special food I purchase from my vet. He also takes calls on weekends.

Hey, now you're beginning to understand the problem.

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