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Veterinary ethics


Veterinary Ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgements to the practice of veterinary medicine. As a scholarly discipline, veterinary ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. Veterinary ethics combines veterinary professional ethics and the subject of animal ethics. It can be interpreted as a critical reflection on the provision of veterinary services in support of the profession's responsibilities to animal kind and mankind.

Animal welfare has been a subject that is studied in great depth, it largely looks at the ways in which an animal may suffer in particular circumstances or how their lives may be enriched. Animal ethics is another well documented subject where philosophers, since Aristotle, have commented on its importance. Often referred to as “the animal problem’ the questions that seem to be asked in this field are at their foundation trying to determine what the morally relevant difference is between animals and humans, and if there is no difference how do we justify treating animals a certain way and if there is a difference then what is it about this difference that allows us to treat animals in a certain way.

Veterinary ethics is a modern subject that does not have a defined start point. As it combines the study of animal welfare and animal ethics as its root and uses information from this as data for its deliberations it could be said to have a long history, however as an academic discipline it is only recently that works have been published on the topic.

The two academics seen to have written on veterinary ethics for the longest are Bernard Rollin (Colorado State University) and Jerrold Tannenbaum (University of California, Davis). They can be seen as the founders of the subject in veterinary ethics. Currently, most veterinary schools teach veterinary ethics and it is often combined in teaching with animal welfare or with law.

The subject is very similar to that of human medical ethics in that the study of the relationship between the doctor and the patient relates closely to that of the veterinary surgeon and animal owner. However, the subject differs greatly in the consideration of the uses of animals, while a doctor’s duty may to preserve life at nearly all cost, the veterinary surgeon needs to adapt their attitude to health and longetivity of life to the purpose of the animal (E.g., farm animals).


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