Should vets care more for the animal or for the people connected to the animal? Vets are often called ‘advocates’ for animals. Advocacy could mean public and policy support for animal welfare generally. But sometimes calling vets ‘animal advocates’ means that a practitioner’s primary ethical obligation is to her patient – rather than to the client, employer, or public. Yet the true ethical role of veterinarians remains unclear and disputed. From one perspective, it seems to be just obviously true that practitioners should put the wellbeing of their patients first. Healing and caring, after all, are at the centre of veterinary work (Rollin 2013). Also, since the 1970’s (e.g. Singer 1995), animals have begun to be taken more ethically seriously by society. In addition, the public, and Veterinary Boards, now demand high medical standards from practitioners. However, the veterinary profession has a long association with animal industries. Moreover, it is widely recognised that vets have strong obligations to their clients (who legally ‘own’ the patients) and to public health. Consider the risk certain animals might pose of zoonotic disease or epidemic. Clearly, the interests of the patient on the one hand, and various stakeholders on the other, can conflict. To clarify the veterinary practitioner’s role, we need a clearer view on what ‘patient advocate’ and (related to that) ‘primary ethical obligation’ can and should mean. Comparisons with human physicians can be useful. For example, Gillam (2016) argues that when paediatricians disagree with parents over the treatment of an ill child, the doctor should follow the ‘Harm Principle’ rather than the ‘child’s best interest’ principle. Arguably, that is consistent with a defensible ‘patient advocate’ approach. But should vets be patient-advocates in the same sense? Or is that both morally undesirable and practically impossible? This is a task for philosophical and ethical reflection. References Gillam, L. (2016). The zone of parental discretion: An ethical tool for dealing with disagreement between parents and doctors about medical treatment for a child. Clinical Ethics, 11(1), 1-8. Rollin, B. E. (2013). An introduction to veterinary medical ethics: theory and cases. John Wiley & Sons. Singer, P. (1995). Animal liberation. Random House.
