Vets - a dogs friend? Not so much anymore

When the call came in late one evening that a dog we had rehomed was laying on the floor shaking with a very bloated abdomen, my advice was of course "get to the vet now". Bloat can become gastric torsion very quickly and I think that most people are now aware that once that occurs your window for treatment is very slim. As seems to be the case with most vet surgeries these days, an out of hours "emergency" service had to be used and the dog was immediately rushed in for treatment. The vet on call subsequently told the owners that it was not (thankfully) a gastric torsion but that the dog had a large amount of undigested food trapped which had expanded and caused the abdomen to swell. They said they would keep him over night, give liquid paraffin and try and encourage the dog to pass the food. The following morning the dog was still a bit swollen and the owners were told that in order to prevent the gastric torsion from reoccurring they would need to undertake a £2,000 operation!!! Hang on a minute ... didn't they say it wasn't a gastric torsion? so where did the £2,000 operation come from???? Of course these people don't have a spare 2 grand just laying around ready to give to someone who thinks it would be a good idea to perform surgery for a condition that hadn't occurred? If they can't afford it does the dog get sent back poorly or do they decide to put the dog to sleep because they simply don't have the money to make him well?
These kind of stories are not uncommon sadly, a dog rehomed with dry eye was duly taken to the vet for a check up as we ask them to do, only to be told that his eyes would cost them over £100 per treatment. Where on earth did that figure come from? Dry eye simply needs the eyes keeping clean and artificial tears applying daily (you can pick that cream up in the chemist for £6 a tube), in the worse cases where ulceration of the eye has occurred the treatment will be slightly more expensive but £100 a go? Again, this kind of attitude simply cause people to send their dog back to us because they just can't afford the treatment. Thankfully in this case we were able to reassure the new owners, and I worry that some of these vets try and make as much out of these situations as they can - very unfair to the dog who could find himself back listed for adoption when he had a perfectly good home first time around who was scared stupid by the vet.
Not so long ago we had to help a couple out who's vet would only allow them to take 2 antibiotics a day paid for on collection because they couldn't afford to pay the vet bill in one go. I know of vets who have refused treatment because the owners didn't have the money to pay for it? When did the veterinary profession stop caring for animals and start putting money first? If it's an offence to withhold veterinary treatment as a pet owner, where does the law stand if it's the vet that's withholding treatment based on the fact that they might not get paid.
I'd love to hear your experiences on this subject!