Law & Ethics

Impotent might be the best word to describe a law that would have required almost every cat and dog older than 4 months to be spayed or neutered before the measure was dramatically altered on the California Senate floor.

Wilmington, Del. - A veterinarian, beaten and bruised by churchgoers who subdued him after police say he fired three rounds of ammunition into a crowd of more than 80 at a church fund-raiser May 25, could face the death penalty for allegedly shooting and killing a Delaware church leader.

Mexico - Armed with a book called "The Peaceful Pill," foreign tourists are heading to Mexico to purchase pentobarbital from veterinary-supply stores and backstreet pet shops near the U.S. border.

Berkeley, Calif. - While debate continues over whether lethal injection in people is cruel and unusual punishment, some are looking to the veterinary community and its method of euthanasia - typically a large dose of pentobarbital.

The demands upon us continue to increase with each advance in technological sophistication.

Camden, N.J. - A federal judge approved a $24 million settlement hammered out a week earlier, aimed at compensating owners of thousands of pets that were sickened or killed by tainted pet foods last year.

Ithaca, N.Y. - Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine broke ground May 22 for the new New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC), an $80.5 million project expected to be completed in 2010.

Schaumburg, Ill. - More than 250 veterinarians and others plan to roll up their sleeves to revive four New Orleans animal shelters during next month's American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) annual convention.

It wouldn't surprise me if a certain percentage of readers who merely scan this month's piece do so because they don't see what relevance the topic could possibly have to the practicing veterinarian. I understand completely because, at first blush, it doesn't seem possible that any "investigations" would need to be carried out in an animal hospital and, even if one did need to be done, how complicated could it be?

Montpelier, vt. - Organized veterinary medicine is going head-to-head with activists in an attempt to convince the Vermont Supreme Court that pet owners have no right to sue for loss of companionship and emotional distress in alleged malpractice cases.

NASHVILLE, TEN. - Sedation before intracardial injection euthanasia soon will be required in Tennessee after a DVM's highly publicized disciplinary case led lawmakers to push for legislative clarification on the method.

I remember the summer days of my youth. My dad's veterinary practice, within walking distance of the local high school, was always fully staffed with local adolescents who just loved to be around animals. True, they didn't know anything about animal restraint or when to use gloves or pretty much anything else, but they were eager and willing and looking for a chance to get some experience with a veterinarian.

Orlando, Fla. - 4/9/08 - Continued advancements in animal cruelty have spurred the unprecedented Veterinary Forensics Symposium, which opens its doors today and is co-sponsored by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the University of Florida's William R. Maples Center for Forensic Science.

They say that most things in life swing like a pendulum from extreme to extreme. We know the business economy follows a boom-and-bust cycle that is mitigated only marginally through government intervention. Also, the political inclinations of society vacillate between conservative and liberal thought and from intolerance to excessive political correctness.

As discussed previously, the emergence of a "reasonable physician" standard of care affects both human and veterinary practitioners, defining our approach to error management. Under this standard, adverse events previously defensible by deference to custom might now result in decisions of negligence if it is determined that such events were easily preventable.

Schaumburg, Ill. - 3/17/08 - The passing of two state bills in recent weeks has made dog fighting a felony in all 50 states.

A step-by-step guide to cleaning up chemotherapy agents.

A new federal law guarantees that some primates who've served as scientific guinea pigs won't go under the knife again.

It's clearly a trend: The nation is cracking down on animal cruelty.

In December a judge ordered the return of Armani, a capuchin monkey, to the home of Rockville, Md., resident Elyse Gazewitz. Armani had been in custody at a zoo since May, when he was seized after an animal sanctuary employee called authorities to report Gazewitz's possession of the monkey.

Fort Walton Beach, Fla. - A Florida veterinarian is refusing to hand over his clients' rabies vaccination data, arguing his county's interpretation of a state statute is violating patient privacy and medical confidentiality.

This month I complete a two-part column discussing an expense that many of us put so far on the back burner it's probably on a hot plate in the shed behind your clinic.

Seneca, Pa. - It's taken six years for Dr. James Nelson to win what he considers vindication against the regulatory board he claims marred his reputation.

The commission of errors is an unavoidable part of human existence. While errors might be as benign as misplacing car keys, their existence in the medical arena might be disastrous, causing injury or death.

Washington, D.C. - A plan to advance animal-disease traceability, authored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), is being released to the public for review and comment before implementation is considered.

Sexual harassment in a small-business setting tends to present differently than in a towering office-building in corporate America.

New York - 1/28/08 - As the fifth and final defendant in the Michael Vick dog-fighting case was sentenced in a Virginia court, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reported that most of the dogs seized at the football star's property have a chance at rehabilitiation.

Mind-numbing television programs truly have a therapeutic effect after a long day at work. Listening to Oprah Winfrey or Tom Cruise talk about their latest philanthropic and humanitarian undertakings makes my eyes roll back in my head faster than a pint of Guinness.

Fort Collins, Colo. - More than 69 percent of U.S. swine producers use a veterinarian, with five out of 10 large operations employing a DVM on staff. Overall, approximately half the sites polled turn to a local practitioner for care.

I don't want you to go broke. And I want to teach you how to avoid it now and through your eventual retirement.