The Ethics Of Choosing Welfare Over Profits

One.

There isn't one hour of any day that we don't discuss the financial impact of veterinary care and its influence on the pets we share our homes with. 

The strategy for balancing care and cost is to prioritize animal welfare and focus on providing the most effective, cost-efficient care possible. This may involve recommending alternative treatments or procedures that are less expensive but still effective, or working with clients to develop a treatment plan that meets their needs and budget.

I have been asked to give a talk on ethics in vermed to the SVME, or, Society of Veterinary Medical Ethics. Now maybe every veterinarian doesn't spend as much time in the veterinary mire as I do, but, every veterinarian, heck, every human is muddling through this minefield every day.

For me it comes down to who I am. Why I am here. What veterinarian did I set out to be all those years ago. The years when I was small, helpless, feeling overlooked in a world of other meek beings who were always at the mercy of someone bigger and stronger. The perspective of need was the place I dwelled. I was alone in a world that had other creatures around me in the same bucket of existence between luck and mercy. I grew up primarily on a farm. For all of the beauty and joy it held there was disease, suffering and death. I was never a child to go quietly into the night. I was, as those around me taught me to be, resourceful, resilient, and determined. Every dog, cat, sheep, horse, bird, bug and other showed me how to be at one with my surroundings yet waiting for fate to come challenge you at your most vulnerable. I learned this at a very early age. I learned value was relative. It came with a perspective that dictated fate based on the pocketbook, whim, and emotional value its own placed upon them. I also learned too early, that I had little to say in matters of care when a bill was included. When our dogs found porcupines and cried in the laundry room all night awaiting the vets office to open. When the cat got stuck in a fence but wasn't worthy enough for surgery. I never accepted that my dearest companions were any less worthy than any other being around us. I failed miserably at state fairs, thanksgiving dinners, and any other event/entertainment that allowed animals to be used for amusement or waste at our expense. I was shaped by so many instances of seeing the world differently because the animals who insulated my life brought love and I couldn't be a part of cruelty to any of their brothers or sisters. 

I was, and remain the same girl. The girl who looked so deeply into the eyes of her sheep and horses that she saw a reflection of herself within them. At least a reflection of gentle kindness she wanted to be. Those moments of companionship for comfort were my first biology, anatomy and ophthalmology lessons. I was learning as I was being cared for and to them I owe lifetime of debt.

When medicine came I knew that I was here for more than a professional reimbursement. I was here to put them, their health, happiness, and liberties above profit and gain. For as much as vetmed emulates and follows human medicine we have lost the connection that binds us so passionately to our professions purpose that we cannot be dissected from it. My mission, the seed of the soul of who I am and why I am here is so metastatically entwined with how I practice that I would walk away from medicine before I would surrender her to it. There are few cases where a humans life is endangered by my patients, these are the choices that I struggle with. The behavior cases, the rabies suspects, the ailing parents who cannot manage their pets care and cannot see that they are incapable of seeing the part their forgetfulness plays in their pets lives. These are the ethical dilemmas I call my minefield. These are the places I cannot tell if I am enabling cruelty albeit disguised as loyalty and ownership.

If human medicines primary ethical obligation is to the patient, why then can't mine be the same? Why would I put a Standard of Care above the ability to provide care? Why does money always find itself at the root of all evil?

If this profession wants to reap the benefits of following in human healthcare, all of the advancements, miracles and yes huge profits then maybe it's time to remind ourselves why our clients are willing to seek, and yes, pay for them. Maybe it's time to remember that our clients come to us because they, just like the little girl I was, and am, want to protect the being in their lives that give it peaceful acceptance and purposeful worth. Maybe it's time to gaze into our clients eyes and see a reflection of ourselves as we want to be seen.

Cookie. How I adore this girl.
Addisonian. The purpose lies within

The physician’s first professional obligation is to his patient, then to his profession. His ethical obligation to his community is the same as that of any other citizen.