Dog owner faces £4300 vet bill as Virgin refuse to pay up for surgery

Jun 29 2008 Additional Reporting By Jane Barrie

DEVOTED dog owner Kevin McGaw was devastated when his cuddly Newfoundland pup was diagnosed with a rare heart condition.

Mason, now a year old and barely able to walk 100 yards, was insured with Virgin Money and Kevin believed the treatment would be covered under his policy.

But Sir Richard Branson's firm refused to pay, blaming a pre-existing medical condition and leaving him to foot the £4346 bill.

Kevin, 41, said: "Mason is still very ill and his medication costs £200 a month. He only has months to live.

"Virgin claim to offer peace of mind but they just don't care."

It seems Mason is a victim of a growing reluctance on the part of insurance firms to pay vet bills.

The policies became popular in the 1990s. Now four million dogs and cats are insured and the UK market will be worth £600million in three years.

But complaints to the Ombudsman are up 20 per cent on last year.

Kevin and partner Nicola Cotton, 26, bought Mason for £1000 last July and paid £254 a year for insurance.

In October the pup was diagnosed with pulmonic stenosis. Aheart valve had narrowed and was likely to lead to heart failure if untreated.

Kevin said: "Mason is a bundle of fun - a lovely, happy big dog. To see him suffer was awful. We had to do what we could for him."

He was referred to a cardiology specialist and ended up having two heart operations at the Royal (Dick) Vet School in Edinburgh. Kevin, of Falkirk, said: "It involved inserting a balloon to try to open up the artery but it did not work.

"They tried again with a larger balloon but still it was unsuccessful.

We were heartbroken. We didn't want to put him through more ops."

Kevin, who has a daughter Samantha, 16, submitted a claim to Virgin while the surgery was being carried out.

He said: "We didn't have time to wait for the insurer to come up with the cash. I paid from my own pocket, fully expecting them to cover it."

But Virgin rejected the claim, saying the dog's condition existed when he took out the policy.

I got Virgin to reopen their files but they still refused to budge. They told me: "The clinical history for Mason clearly shows a heart murmur at an examination on July 6, 2007.

"The surgery the family wish to claim for relates to a pre-exisiting condition and is not covered."

But that's not the opinion of the family vet Graham Leathers, of The Lawrie Vet Practice in Falkirk.

He wrote to the insurer asking them to reconsider and saying the murmur didn't necessarily reflect any significant defect. Kevin said: "Mason had what the vet called an innocent heart murmur as a puppy, which normally disappears within six months.

"Lots of puppies have it but Virgin are using it as a get-out clause."

Kevin is taking his case to the Ombudsman.

On behalf of all owners with pet insurance his dogged determination must win through.