Pet cat dies when he goes to the hospital for vaccination. The owner asks the hospital to compensate for the losses

Recently, the owner took his pet cat to the hospital for vaccination, and even died shortly after leaving the hospital. The pet owner sued the hospital in court, demanding compensation for mental and property damage, but the court did not support the pet owner's request for compensation for mental damage.

On July 11, 2015, Zheng went to a hospital to inject vaccination into the pet cat. After leaving the hospital after the injection, he found that the pet cat was lying down and spitting bubbles, so he returned to the hospital for emergency treatment. Although the hospital took rescue measures, the pet cat eventually died after failed rescue efforts.

Zheng sued that the hospital's medical staff Guo had not obtained a Beijing veterinary practice license during the diagnosis and treatment. Before injecting the cat with a vaccination, the hospital did not inform a few individuals that they would have allergic reactions such as shock after being vaccinated, and they were fully responsible for the cat's death.

The first instance court held that the hospital staff member Guo did not obtain a veterinary practice certificate when injecting the vaccine for the pet cat, which was within the scope of work defects. Therefore, the hospital should only bear certain responsibility for the death of the pet cat after being vaccinated with the pet cat.

Regarding the content of the plaintiff's request for mental damage compensation, the court held that mental damage compensation is limited to the situation where the natural person's personality rights and identity rights are infringed. In special circumstances, mental damage compensation can be requested when "specific souvenir items with symbolic personalities" are infringed. However, pets do not have this characteristic, so the court does not support it.

Because there is no fixed price for pet cat purchase and feeding in the market, and Zheng has not submitted evidence, the court will refer to the market price and the degree of fault of the hospital, and finally ruled that the hospital compensate Zheng for the loss of 2,000 yuan.

Zheng was dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment and appealed to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. After trial, the second instance court held that the first instance court clearly determined the facts and applied the law correctly. The final judgment rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.