An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics: Theory and Cases

by Bernard E. Rollin

One of the most difficult issues that confronts veterinarians and staff today concerns the profession’s obligation to the animal and the sometimes conflicting demands from clients, peers and society. The veterinarian’s role has become more complex with new ethical challenges posed by issues such as growing public awareness regarding animal welfare, increasing economic value of companion animals, growth of veterinary specialization, experimentation with alternative and complementary medicine, and concern for pain management and mental well-being of animals. Written by an acknowledged pioneer in veterinary ethics, An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics addresses the ethical challenges that veterinarians face daily as they seek to balance obligations to animal, client, peers, society and self. The book offers a highly readable and approachable introduction to the nature of ethical theory, reasoning and decision-making, and its practical application to veterinary medicine. Now with over 100 real-life veterinary case histories and analysis, this edition also includes new discussions of animal pain, distress and happiness, ethics of critical care, alternative medicine, legal status and value of animals, and Aesculapian authority. An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Theory and Cases, Second Edition is recommended as essential reading for all veterinary students and practitioners, as well as those interested in general animal welfare.

Genres: Nonfiction

350 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 1999

About the author

Professor Bernard E. Rollin is University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Animal Sciences and University Bioethicist at Colorado State University. His scholarly interests include both traditional philosophy and applied philosophy and much of his research is focused on animal welfare. He has been a valued member of the Voiceless Scientific Expert Advisory Council since 2009.

Bernard has a Bachelor’s Degree from the City College of New York and a PhD from Columbia. He is the author of over 400 papers and fourteen books including Science and Ethics and Animal Rights and Human Morality which won an Outstanding Book of the Year Award from the American Association of University Libraries. He has consulted for the US Department of Agriculture and for a number of multinational corporations including United Airlines, PETCO, DuPont and the US Soybean Association on a variety of agricultural and animal welfare issues. He served on the Pew National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP) and on the Institute for Laboratory Animal Resources (ILAR) Council of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he mediated a historic agreement between the Humane Society of the U.S. and Colorado agriculture resulting in legislation advancing the welfare of farm animals.

Rollin was named to the Distinguished Faculty Gallery by the College of Veterinary Medicine at CSU in 1992. He has twice been awarded the Brownlee Award for outstanding achievement in Animal Welfare Science by the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada and is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association. In 2005, he was awarded the Henry Spira Award in Animal Welfare by Johns Hopkins University Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing and received the Humane Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2007.

He recently contributed to the documentary film The Superior Human? which challenges the Cartesian duality which hierarchically divides humans from other animals.

Reviews

[Weina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had several complaints with this book.

First, I didn't quite agree with his "alternative medicine = unethical" statement. Nor was his argument persuasive at all. Just because you 'support' or suggest alternative medicine as different/alternate options for a client just NOT necessarily mean you are putting down the veterinary (or human) profession. Even if you are putting down the veterinary profession (which wouldn't make sense if you're a veterinarian), how would that be UNETHICAL? Does he know what "ethical" means? Saying that alternative medicine is unethical as his ending 'conclusion'/argument makes me question his understanding of what "ethics" or "ethical" means, which kind of defeats the entire purpose of his book.

Second, I wish he would have also included other ethics, as veterinary medicine does not include only companion, lab, and farm animal medicine. For instance, I would have liked to see some examples of wildlife or conservation medicine and how his explanations would work for and how he would approach these less client-based fields. For example, dealing with the federal/state government for endangered species cases, dealing with the public who 'kidnap' and/or keep/raise baby birds as pets, and dealing with people who keep bringing in injured passerine that are attacked by their cats.

Third, I sometimes felt that he didn't necessarily address the questions in the different cases. So I was left confused as to why he was finished with that case and moved onto the next one.

Fourth, his explanations sometimes didn't seem realistic. Sometimes life doesn't always work that and you can't always do what you believe in. I wanted to also see him offer examples where he did what he actually said and how successful he was in actually using this "Aesculapian authority" (if his clients were actually receptive/responsive/respectful of his application of this 'authority'). He also kept repeating that he would use this authority to convince clients. However, he never explains HOW. Instead of telling, he needs to SHOW, that is what would make the book a whole lot better.

Fourth(and a half, as this is an extension of the previous paragraph), in almost every case, he says he'll use 'Aesculapian authority" to convince the client of his belief. But if you don't necessarily agree with using that as a way to convince/persuade someone to not use convenience euthanasia or to convince someone to euthanize their dog/cat after years of unsuccessful oncology treatments, then is there another way to convince people?

Fifth, I was annoyed with his random littering of latin and french phrases. It made him seem... haughty and confused. I also never understood why he kept using "raison d'etre"... I'm not even sure he's using it correctly, as "raison d'etre" literally means "reason of being". I also don't know latin so his insertion of many latin phrases/words seems irrelevant, arbitrary, and excessive. Especially since he NEVER explains the latin words, which makes his arguments/explanations confusing and not "flowing", as I have to constantly look them up (google/wiki them).

Sixth, there were a couple of grammar mistakes that made it confusing for me to understand what he was trying to say (redundancy, comma splices, etc). Albeit it would be his editor's fault for not catching those mistakes, still... If you're going to publish a book, make sure there are NO grammar mistakes (unless they're on purpose, as for dialogue). Not to say my grammar is perfect but still. THIS IS A PUBLISHED BOOK. Make sure it makes sense through and through.

However, despite all my complaints (which tend to be many), it was a quick (well, most of the time) and good read. I did learn about how to tackle some of the cases (in the sense that I am a little too radical/animal rights-oriented than normal) in a more appropriate and socially ethical manner.

[J.e. Bowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in the discussion of animal use and our obligation as animal owners and users, this book is a good starting point for opening up good ethical theory and not just personal judgments. It was very helpful to me to see a different perspective of animal agriculture in particular.