Do vets and doctors face similar ethical challenges?

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1227

BMJ 2005;331:1227 (26 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1227

News

Do vets and doctors face similar ethical challenges?

Rebecca Coombes

London

What does a vet do when a pet owner wants them to carry outheroic surgery on a dying animal? Rebecca Coombes asks whetherdoctors and vets can learn from each other's ethical dilemmas

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The ethical problems facing doctors and vets obviously differin some ways. A veterinary surgeon, for example, can decidewhen a treatment is no longer valuable and opt for euthanasia.This course is not open to doctors. And a doctor has to seekthe consent of a patient for treatment whereas veterinary surgeonsneed to steer a course between their own professional opinionand the wishes of pet owners. The animal itself has no rights.Moreover, there is no NHS for animals, and decisions about euthanasiaoften have to be made in the light of an owner's ability topay for a lengthy course of life extending treatment. But, whenconsidering these ethical issues with members of both the veterinaryand medical profession, some interesting parallels emerge.

Could child cruelty, such as that sufferedby Victoria Climbié (above), be reduced if vets wereobliged to report cases of pet cruelty . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Human and animal health: strengthening the link: Child and animal abuse are linked: M E Jan Wise
BMJ 2005 331: 1408. [Extract] [Full Text]

One medicine?: Graham Easton and Martin Alder
BMJ 2005 331: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Euthanasing Healthy Animals: H. Mendelson
bmj.com, 28 Nov 2005 [Full text]
Links between Child & Animal Abuse: M E Jan Wise
bmj.com, 28 Nov 2005 [Full text]