Liability of veterinary clinic: legal questions

Questioner

Is a veterinary clinic liable for a so-called dog-injured exogenous nosocomial infection? The dog had fully recovered from his abdominal surgery (this recovery was measurable, with perfect blood values, etc.). The recovery lasted more than 48 hours, after which he died due to a bacterium in the bloodstream, which must have come from outside (as soon as the staff detected a fever, they replaced the IVs, so they were also looking in that direction). Does it make sense to make a case out of this?

Lawyer

How sad for you that your dog has died. I can imagine that you are quite upset about it and that you have thought about how this could have happened. But with every operation there is a (small) chance of infection. The mere fact that a bacterium has been found in the bloodstream is therefore insufficient to hold the vet liable. To do so, you will have to be able to prove that the bacterium entered the bloodstream due to an error by the vet or one of his employees. That proof will probably not be easy to provide.