Ethical Issues in Veterinary Practices
Ethical business ethics regarding veterinary practices refers to moral values and principles guiding the society and veterinary sectors and include the policy formulation to provide guidelines. Employees and clients witness different veterinary practices done by their employers or the management of their organizations. Veterinary services are offered to pets and livestock to cater for better health and well-being of the animals. Veterinary officers are mandated with ethically providing the best quality care to the animals they handle. The ethical issues have a great interest in the rights and privileges of people, animals, and the officers. The paper outlines the ethical dilemma in veterinary practices, decisions, and solutions involved with the practice.
Scenario: Blue District
According to the Blue District Scenario, Isaac demonstrated a local farmer having an intention of transporting his herd of cattle to another location for grazing purposes. The herd was to move to Green District, where there were good grazing lands and the legislation for the existence for the same. Isaac has a private veterinary officer as a cousin who is mandated with aiding him to comply with legal, social issues provided by society. The cousin was perpetrating crime through his process of bringing the blood samples that ought to be sampled from the animals. The blood samples and the results were fake since its originality had been interfered with and cooked to satisfy Isaac’s needs since he wanted to move the animals very soon (Beauchamp & Childress (2012).
Socially, Isaac violated the virtue of integrity that is incorporated on the social values of veterinary medicine and practices. Through using fake samples, results will negatively influence the decisions of the officials in charge of animal transport hence growing the evil of dishonesty. Besides, the virtue of responsibility was violated by the private veterinarian as she is obligated with the role of being responsible for both human and animal well-being. The local farmer acts as a bad influence and role model to the growing generation with the passion of being farmers due to his bad practices. The action will harm the animals and people in the Green District in a scenario when the animals have Brucellosis, which is highly infectious (Reiss, C. S. (Ed.). (, 2016).
Legally, the action done by the veterinary was against the legal oath provided by the law in the Bourgelat oath that states the veterinarians not to harm as the prime value by the law. The use of fake results by Isaac and supplying wrong lab results by her cousin was the first harm to society and the animals. The law states that before the transportation of animals, the owner is to provide the certificate of animal health approval. The animals are supposed to be tested Brucellosis and should be negative to be fit for the movement to another district. The harm presented by Isaac is unintentional since he is unaware of the danger exposed by the practice (Main, D. C. (2006).
The beneficence business ethical aspect should be reflected and determined if Isaac’s action and the veterinary was the best approach. The social context advocates for doing good to others and the external environment, including the animals. Doing good is supported by religious and traditional settings, as it is highlighted in their teachings. The social welfare of daily living is considered to be the core value and should be well embraced. Isaac is set to benefit from the act, and it shows the aspect of beneficence but on the expense of other animals and human beings. It is motivated by the urgency, and the desire, such as Isaac wanted to move his animals to better grazing land as soon as possible, and complying with the process would cause a delay to him.
In the context of care and respect of the animals and human beings, the detritions act by the two relatives diminished the care provided to the animals and against the ethical practices in veterinary medicine. Failure to test the animals’ health before transportation expressed minimal care by the local farmer since it was mandatory to check their health regularly. The surrounding shows respect to animals and human beings through having an enabling environment for sustenance. Veterinarians are pressured to act with the greatest care and respectfully in different health, public, and animal perspectives. Lack of respect by the private veterinarian poses the greatest burden to her career as it is considered professional negligence that is punishable by law.
Divided loyalty between the animals and the need to transport the animals to Green District for better grazing land and pasture. It made Isaac be squared in violating the ethical issues in veterinary practices. He was concerned by the urge to move the animals to have good fodder to enhance their health and assumed the primary issue of testing them. A private veterinary officer also had divided loyalty between his cousin and his distinguished career. The inability to decide whether to disgrace the relationship with Isaac and his professional formed the basis of doing unethical behavior. The safety and public health are tested by the Blue District’s setting and the actions presented by the local farmer and her cousin.
The concept of moral distress has affected Isaac and private veterinarians because of the ability to identify ethical actions and failing to perform them. The practice is high among the health workers and the veterinary officers mandated with taking care of the patients and the animals, respectively. They find themselves in situations where they are unable to act ethically and violate the ethical standards by doing against. They tend to perform their roles against the regulations of the organization and against their primary roles of not harming. The actions in different situations are helpful to the owners and veterinary medicine practitioners.
The ethical issues are useful in decision-making in different circumstances, and the legal, social issues are applied in the extensive process of decision making. The four principles of ethics in veterinary practice helps in providing solutions through its involvement in decision making. Nonmaleficence agitates if the action done by Isaac and the private veterinarian was needed according to the context or it was wrong. It provides the solution that moving the herd to Green District will positively impact his living standard. In contradiction, if Brucellosis diagnosed, one of the animals will negatively impact his herds and other people. The animals would be adversely affected as their health within the districts will be bad due to possible infection, and it is against the ethical veterinary practices.
The justice system stands for fairness among everybody, whether human beings, animals, and the environment. It helps in the process of decision making to establish if Isaac has to do the retest of the animals and wait for the actual results. The system provides fair weight to Isaac, the public, and the animals. To Isaac, it will be unfair to order him to do the animal samples’ retest since the animal feeding will be put on stake. To the animals, it will be of best interest to allow the animals to be tested and transported to Green District to access better grazing lands and feeding. The society and the animals are affected by the actions that promote the unethical behavior of law violations and pose a danger to other animals’ lives.
Respect and autonomy provide the forum for decision-making and its impact on society, human beings, and the animals in this context. The actions to be undertaken should be responsible and respectful to enhance society’s decision-making on various issues. Society interest has to be considered due to the exposure to infectious diseases and the effects of using fake results. Each interest has to be considered public health, and interest is superior to personal interests. High population and public health emergencies are the determiners of decision making in autonomy and respect (Mullan, S., & Main, D. (2001).
Beneficence is a virtue and principle of ethical veterinary practices that outline the consequences of decisions made on the expense and benefit of people. Allowing the animals to be transported will be advantageous to Isaac and the animals and disadvantaged to other animals and people when the animals are positive. In a case of limited resources, scarcity, and insufficient medication, it will be advisable to avoid taking the samples due to lack of medication and resource wastage. The community will be affected by Isaac’s benefit and when Isaac is denied the chance to transport the animals.
The ethical principle of care shows the need to defend the relationship between Isaac and the private veterinary officer in malpractice and non-professionalism. The principles express that any decision should be treated and managed differently since the story’s setting and plot differ. It gives powers to the morality of taking care of other people, as stated by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu that “My humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound to yours.” The existence of care within the society set-up upholds the basic norms and rules of living. The decisions to be made are based on the moral actions and ethical standards presented by the relationship existing between the parties involved.
Personally, the violations of ethical issues in veterinary practices present different dangers to the public and advantages. Transporting animals to different parts without taking samples and results makes society damage the law by failing to follow the rules and regulations. The owners’ interests are selfish due to focusing on personal benefit rather than the public’s interest concerning public health (Morgan CA, McDonald M. (2007). Legally, it is against the law under fairness and justice for the above veterinary practices since it provided that certificate of approval for the testing of animals be done before transportation.
In conclusion, ethical issues in a society should be observed to enhance morality, care, and self-responsibility. The community members should consider the public health interest before acting on their interests to present danger to the health of animals and people. The decision-making process should be accommodative and also be made on consideration of the unethically standards practices. The mechanism to be implemented for decision-making has to adhere to resource scarcity and be diversified to provide viable and compatible solutions. Truly, various preference is likely to exist among the clients and veterinarians on veterinary participation in decision-making, and it extensively varies.
References
David Castellan &Heather Simmons Texas A&M University, Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases contributors
Beauchamp & Childress (2012). Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Main, D. C. (2006). Offering the best to patients: ethical issues associated with the provision of veterinary services. The Veterinary Record, 158(2), 62.
Morgan CA, & McDonald M. (2007) Ethical dilemmas in veterinary medicine. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 2007;37(1):165-x. doi: 10.1016/j.cvsm.2006.09.008
Mullan, S., & Main, D. (2001). Principles of ethical decision-making in veterinary practice. In Practice, 23(7), 394-401.
Reiss, C. S. (Ed.). (2016). Neurotropic viral infections: Volume 2: Neurotropic retroviruses, DNA viruses, immunity, and transmission. Springer.