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ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN VETERINARY MEDICINE;
MORALLY CONFLICTING ISSUES AND ITS STRATEGIC
INTERVENTION
BY
MEGERSAAKASA DEBELE
A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
FOR THE COURSE SENIOR SEMINAR ON ANIMAL HEALTH (Vetm 5223)
SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
ADVISOR: LAMA YIMER (DVM, MVSc, Assistant Professor)
OCTOBER, 2021
NEKEMTE, ETHIOPIA

ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN VETERINARY MEDICINE
MORALLY CONFLICTING ISSUES AND
ITS STRATEGIC INTERVENTION

OUTLINES
 Introduction.
 Concept of animal ethics and ethical dilemmas.
 Ethical challenges and common moral problems in veterinary practice
 Source of ethical dilemmas in veterinary medicine.
 Impact of ethical dilemmas on veterinarians.
 Strategies to avoid or manage ethical dilemmas.
 Ethical decision making in veterinary practice.
 Veterinary ethical issues scenario/case.
 Veterinary ethical dilemmas in Ethiopian context.
 Conclusion and Recommendations.

INTRODUCTION
 Ethics is a systematic approach to understanding, analyzing and
distinguishing matters of right and wrong, as they relate to the well-being
of and the relationship among sentient beings.
 Veterinarians and veterinary staff need adherence to professional ethics
and code of conduct to fulfill their professional responsibilities to patients,
clients, colleagues, and the public.
 In the practice of veterinary medicine there is a conflict between
professional values, legal obligations and personal values that known as
“Ethical Dilemma”.

Cont…
 Ethical dilemmas can create ethical distress and if left unattended, disrupts
work-life balance and ultimately leads to professional burnout.
 This illustrates the importance of ethical-decision making systems for
facilitating proactive management of ethical dilemmas.
 The objectives of this seminar paper are:
 To describe morally conflicting situations in veterinary medicine; its impacts
on veterinarians and some strategies to effectively handle them.
 To give a clue for veterinary students about ethical dilemma and essential
steps in ethical decision making.

Concept of Animal Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas
 Animal ethics is an academic term used to describe human–animal
relationships and how animals ought to be treated.
 It includes:
 Animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, animal
cognition,
 Wildlife conservation, the moral status of nonhuman animals, the
concept of nonhuman personhood, etc.
 Conflicting responsibilities create what many refer to as veterinary
dilemmas.

Cont…
 Dilemma is used to refer to moral choices that are hard to make
because of contextual factors, such as potential negative responses
from clients or loss of income.
 ‘‘Ethical dilemma is an ethical problem in which the ethical choice
involves ignoring a powerful non-ethical consideration.
 It is a situation or problem facing an individual that involves complex
and often conflicting principles of ethical behavior.

Cont…
 Ethical dilemmas are situations involving conflicting morals claims,
and give rise in such questions as:
 What ought I to do?
 What harm and benefit result from this decision or actions?
 What is good (virtue) or what is duty (right)?
 Do the right thing, but;
 Lose your job, a friend, a lover, or
 An opportunity for advancement.

Ethical Challenges and Common Moral Problems
in Veterinary Practice
 Challenge of allegiance
 One may now ask, to whom should the veterinarians’ primary
responsibility be?
 Should it be to the animal or to the owner? This is a fundamental
challenge of veterinary ethics.
 Dualistic nature of veterinary profession
 A Medical field, and
 An agricultural-based subject.
 Animal as private goods and for economic gains.
 source of ethical dilemma faced by veterinarians.
 negative effect on VCPR.

Cont…
 Bond between animals and the owners
 A strong bond may create a psychological barrier between the
veterinarian and the client.
 A big ethical dilemma may ensue when a veterinarian recommends
euthanasia.
 Nonpayment of compensation for condemned carcasses
at the slaughter houses
 Meat inspection (abattoirs and slaughterhouses) veterinarians;
 ethical obligation to condemn meat carcasses containing zoonotic
lesions in order to safeguard public health.

Cont…
 Selective breeding of companion animals
 Significant welfare problems.
 Ethical dilemmas and moral problems can arise when the clinic is
approached to assist the treatment and breeding of these animals.
 Euthanasia
 Humane killing of an animal for its own benefit and ending the life of an
individual animal in a way that minimizes or eliminates pain and distress.
 The ethical issues surrounding euthanasia usually involve three areas.
 First, is euthanasia acceptable?
 Second, if acceptable, when is the right time to perform euthanasia?
 Third, what method of euthanasia is most appropriate?
 Assessing of the welfare state and quality of life of the animal.

Cont…
 Cosmetic and convenience surgeries
 Advanced veterinary treatment
 Technology and expertise exist to save and extend the lives.
 The ethical dilemma revolves around the decision to treat an animal to
extend their quantity of life and how it affects the quality of their life.
 Another issue in advanced veterinary treatment is the use of unowned
animals for blood transfusions or donor organs.
 Ear cropping,
 Tail Docking,
 Declawing or
 Debarking
surgeries,
 For aesthetic reasons,
 To follow certain
breed
standards or
 For the convenience of
the owner.

Unethica
l
 Criminal

Cont…
 Client confidentiality
 Is an area that crosses ethical, moral and legal grounds.
 Keep accurate and contemporary medical records on their patients.
 Veterinary clinic and practitioner may be asked or required to breach this
confidentiality in the interests of animal welfare, human welfare or public
safety.
 Animal cruelty, mistreatment, abuse, and neglect
 Cause an incalculable degree of animal suffering.
 Causes pain, suffering, distress and/or the death of an animal.
 Neglect, or passive mistreatment/cruelty involves;
 not providing an adequate diet, appropriate shelter or the necessary health
and veterinary care. This may be from ignorance or apathy.

Cont…
 Sterilization (desexing, spay, neuter, castration)
 It is a standard approach to controlling pet reproduction, with the benefits
outweighing the costs and risks of the procedure.
 It has immediate and long term effect on animals.
 Nutrition related welfare issues
 Overfeeding can result in overweight or obesity.
 compromised in both life-expectancy and health-related quantity of life
 Underfeeding may not allow adequate nutrition for growth and maintenance,
and inappropriate diets can result in;
 nutritional imbalance and a longer term positive welfare effect.

Source of Ethical Dilemmas in Veterinary
Medicine
 Differences in valuing animals.
 Strongly anthropocentric views to strongly biocentric views.
 Differences regarding responsibilities to animals.
 The levels of veterinary care for which pet owners are responsible is
open to debate.
 Differences regarding the interests of animals.
 Disagreement is in the assessment of an animal’s ‘‘best’’ interests.
 Differences regarding veterinarian’s role.
 When veterinarians, clients, and staff have conflicting notions of
veterinarians’ moral responsibilities, miscommunication is likely to
occur.

Impact of Ethical Dilemmas On Veterinarians
 Veterinarians find ethical dilemmas stressful.
 Moral stress or stress associated with ethical dilemmas, as stress
arising from the situation in veterinary practice.
 “Uncomfortable Tension” between the desire to treat the animal
and the desire to fulfil the owner’s wishes.
 Severely impact the wellbeing of veterinarians, even
contributing to the high rate of “suicide” in the profession

Strategies To Avoid or Manage Ethical Dilemmas
 Several strategies for resolving the “Ethical Dilemma”(ED) are
known.
 Strategy written as 5P gain this name since it includes five
dimensions of the ED, starting with the letter P:
 Problems, Possibilities, People, Principles and Priorities.
 In the management of the ED there are two basic approaches.
 The first approach focuses on the consequences of what is done.
 The second approach; action or preventive strategies.
 They are implemented in three steps:
 Analyses of the consequences,
 Analyses of the actions and,
 Making the decision.

Ethical Decision Making in Veterinary Practice.
1. Preparation
Time for thinking and
reflection, gain alternative
insights and viewpoints.
2. Describe the options
available
Possible option without
prejudging the decision.
3. Identify factual
influences
List the relevant facts and
phrased neutrally.
4. Identify ethical
influences
Exploring the fundamental
component concerns and be
specific.
5. Identify specific
reasons
Combine the factual and
ethical influences, “what I
should do”.
6.Weight the reasons
Irrelevant,
Low importance,
Medium importance,
High importance and
Absolute.
7. Discount prohibited
options
Mandate any reasons they
prescribe.
8.Identify the best option
Least breaches and/or best
satisfies the reason.
9.Satisfy prerequisites
Options should be
achievable or acceptable
unless prompt
reconsideration.
10. Act
Implementation, care plans, good
communication, public commitments.

Veterinary Ethical Issues Scenario/case
 Veterinarians should focus on those points when handle ethically
relevant issues:
 What are the ethical issues in this scenario?
 How should the veterinarian handle the discussion with the technician and
vice versa?
 What is the source of the ethical disagreement between the technician and the
veterinarian?
 What should the veterinarian say to the client?
 How should the veterinarian respond if the client asks?
 How could this situation have been avoided?

Case : Client Sells Known Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD)
Shedders
 Question
 You are working with a farmer to eradicate bovine viral diarrhea from
his herd. You identify several chronic shedders among some of his
better cows and recommend that these be shipped to slaughter. Several
days later you find that he has sold these cows to another of your
clients without advising him that the cows have been identified as
significant risks for transmitting bovine virus diarrhea.
 Is it ethically correct to maintain client confidentiality in such a case?

Client-1 Client-2
Cattle
BVD
Veterinarian
VCPR VCPR
Responsibility to;
 Animals
 Public health
 Epidemiology of the disease.
 Professional Decision
 Slaughter
 Vaccination of herds
 Disinfection of the farm.
Innocent
Keep medical
records
KEY

Veterinary Ethical Dilemmas in Ethiopian Context
 Ethiopia has tried to address bioethics issues in different ways; however,
this is yet to be strengthened.
 Due to the lack of national standards, the governance of professional and
research ethics is not very well defined by decree and a research act does
not exist.
 Ethics in veterinary medicine has a great concern, but in developing
country like Ethiopia, is not much developed and practiced and this lead to
moral crisis on veterinarians.
 As part of veterinary training programme in accredited veterinary school
and colleges, veterinary ethics and jurisprudence are taught during the
programme to expose students to a set of moral principles and values,
including laws governing the practice of veterinary profession.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 Animal ethics is an academic term used to describe human–animal relationships
and how animals ought to be treated.
 Ethical and moral issues arise commonly in all spheres of veterinary practice. It
arises when there is uncertainty or a conflict about what to do and this will often
centre on a difference of values or perspectives.
 Ethical dilemmas represent a situation in which two or more values are in
conflict, and no clear consensus as to the “right” thing to do. This makes a
decision difficult.
 Veterinary ethics is crucial in resolving ethical dilemmas in the practice of
veterinary care through appropriate decision making process.

Cont…
 Based on the above conclusions the following recommendation is forwarded:
 The different levels of veterinary care and their professional duties being offered
should clear to the client. This is essential to address clients’ expectations and
reduce the reputational risk to veterinary professionals.
 Veterinary ethics education and ethical decision making should be promoted as it
helps to further equip veterinarians to demonstrate their ethical competence even
in the midst of obvious ethical dilemma.
 Research on veterinary ethical issues should be encouraged to assist translation
of ethics theory and reasoning into applied practices.
 An up to-date information and guideline for all practicing veterinarians in line
with the dynamic field of veterinary ethics is needed.

THANK YOU
Veterinary Oath
 I will strive to promote animal
health and welfare, relieve
animal suffering, protect the
health of the public and
environment, and advance
comparative medical knowledge.

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