This is intended as a mild pitting even thought it’s a little long. I realize that there is much that I don’t know about veterinary medicine, the ethics of that profession, and of vetbridge personally including gender. For this pitting, I am assuming male.
In his General Questions thread, vetbridge asked if he had an obligation to recognize mental illness in his human clients. He stressed that he is not a mental health worker and not qualified to spot those times when eccentricities may have become unhealthy.
He gives two examples. One is a woman who brought all of her pets in to be euthanized at one time. Then she went home and shot herself. He has had other patients do this without taking their own lives. So he did not question her mental state.
The other was an elderly client whose niece wrote that she was “obviously crazy” to spend so much money on her pets. (She was spending up to $800 a week on dozens of pets.)
Although vetbridge didn’t encourage these procedures, when the niece wrote the letter, he showed it to the aunt who then cut the niece out of her will.
I don’t know what kind of university would allow him to graduate without a core class in psychology as he indicated, but surely no vet school would let him out without a solid foundation in veterinary ethics.
From Pennsylvania’s Rules of Profession Conduct for Veteranarians:
Principle 7. Veterinarian/client relationships.
How can it be for the welfare of all of a woman’s pets to euthanize them? Did you charge a fee? Why didn’t you just refuse?
Did you protect the personal privacy of the elderly client by forwarding the letter from her niece? Obviously, it upset her and caused problems within the family. And certainly you violated the niece’s confidence when she wrote to you in your professional capacity.
Rules of Professional Conduct for Veterinarians.
Principle 2. Professional responsibility.
(a) The principle objectives of the veterinary profession are to render service to society, to conserve livestock resources and to prevent and relieve suffering of animals. Veterinarians should conduct themselves in relation to the public, their colleagues and the allied professions so as to merit their full confidence and respect.
In other discussions of veterinary ethics I kept running across mention of the vet’s obligation to the public. There was mention of a veterinary oath the pledged concern not only for the care of animals, but for the health of the public. The following are just two examples from one source:
PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY MEDICAL ETHICS
OPINIONS AND REPORTS OF THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL
“Courteous verbal exchange”? Who knew! Maybe vets should be “PC,” as you like to call it, and not refer to the mentally ill as “nuts.” If I were you, I wouldn’t be bragging much about not having taken a psychology class. You might consider a remedy for that in your continuing education requirements.
Cite
The health of your clients at least deserves your concern and attention without the smirk. It isn’t a question of legalities. It’s a matter of professional ethics.