I think everyone, including vets, make mistakes.  The measure of a person,
however, is how they handle the mistakes they make.

As a lot of you know, Bandit was severely burned by a rice-filled heating
bag when she got a dental cleaning last year.  I didn't find the burn until
a week later when her hair started sloughing off of her belly and the skin
had become gangrenous.  Since it was almost 10:00PM when I found it, we
rushed her to the emergency vet.  The emergency vet hedged and would only
say it *looked* like a burn and wouldn't speculate on how it got there (even
though we told them about the recent dental).  I was racking my brains
trying to think about what around my home may have caused this burn - I
didn't once think it might have been caused by the vet since it didn't
appear until almost 10 days after her dental (I may have twigged to this
later, but didn't have the chance to as per below).

When I brought Bandit into her regular vet the next morning the vet
*immediately* said, "This had to have happened during the dental, the
heating bag must not have been monitored well enough."  She performed two
subsequent surgeries to remove the burned and gangrenous skin on Bandit's
stomach (and from the burns that cropped up on her back and side later), she
did extensive bloodwork and urine testing, provided pain medications, burn
medications, and antibiotics - all free of charge - and reimbursed me for
what I spent at the emergency vet's office.  She also called me twice a day
to ask about Bandit the whole time she was recovering, and continually
expressed her regret and concern over what had happened.

I was angry and upset that my baby had to go through all that pain and
suffering, but I couldn't fault the vet for how she handled the mistake they
made.  If she had tried to hide their mistake, or had refused responsibility
for correcting their mistake, I probably would have considered legal action.
But since she *did* admit she made a mistake, and did everything in her
power to correct that mistake, I felt Bandit was well cared for and I
continue to see this vet.  [They threw out the rice-filled heating pads and
reported the incident to the AVA, other vets and vet hospitals in the area,
and all other associations she was affiliated with.]