Abstract:This article explores how the concept of consent to medical treatment applies in the veterinary context, and aims to evaluate normative justifications for owner consent to treatment of animal patients. We trace the evolution of the test for valid consent in human health decision-making, against a backdrop of increased recognition of the importance of patient rights and a gradual judicial espousal of a doctrine of informed consent grounded in a particular understanding of autonomy. We argue that, notwithstandin… Show more
“…A similar trend away from paternalism has been discussed in the veterinary medicine (Gray et al . , Kogan et al . ).…”
Section: Diagnosis In Veterinary Medical Practicementioning
confidence: 95%
“…, Gray et al . ), the underlying ethical principle in the two clinical domains is different:Whilst medical consent protects a patient's rights to make autonomous decisions concerning their own body, veterinary informed consent aims to protect an owner's right to make autonomous decisions concerning their legal property (Ashall et al . ).…”
Section: Diagnosis In Veterinary Medical Practicementioning
While sociologists of medicine have focused their efforts on understanding human health, illness, and medicine, veterinary medical practice has not yet caught their attention in any sustained way. In this critical review article, we use insights from the sociology of diagnosis literature to explore veterinary practice, and aim to demonstrate the importance of animals to sociological understandings of health, illness and disease. As in human medicine, our analysis shows the importance of diagnosis in creating and maintaining the power and authority of the veterinary professional. However, we then explore how diagnosis operates as a kind of dance, where professional authority can be challenged, particularly in light of the complex ethical responsibilities and clinical interactions that result from the triad of professional/owner/animal patient. Finally, we consider diagnosis via the precept of entanglement, and raise the intriguing possibility of interspecies health relations, whereby decision-making in human health care may be influenced by experiences in animal health care and vice-versa. In our conclusion, we argue that this analysis provides opportunities to scholars researching diagnosis in human health care, particularly around the impact of commercial drivers; has implications for veterinary and public health practitioners; and should help animate the emerging sociology of veterinary medicine.
“…A similar trend away from paternalism has been discussed in the veterinary medicine (Gray et al . , Kogan et al . ).…”
Section: Diagnosis In Veterinary Medical Practicementioning
confidence: 95%
“…, Gray et al . ), the underlying ethical principle in the two clinical domains is different:Whilst medical consent protects a patient's rights to make autonomous decisions concerning their own body, veterinary informed consent aims to protect an owner's right to make autonomous decisions concerning their legal property (Ashall et al . ).…”
Section: Diagnosis In Veterinary Medical Practicementioning
While sociologists of medicine have focused their efforts on understanding human health, illness, and medicine, veterinary medical practice has not yet caught their attention in any sustained way. In this critical review article, we use insights from the sociology of diagnosis literature to explore veterinary practice, and aim to demonstrate the importance of animals to sociological understandings of health, illness and disease. As in human medicine, our analysis shows the importance of diagnosis in creating and maintaining the power and authority of the veterinary professional. However, we then explore how diagnosis operates as a kind of dance, where professional authority can be challenged, particularly in light of the complex ethical responsibilities and clinical interactions that result from the triad of professional/owner/animal patient. Finally, we consider diagnosis via the precept of entanglement, and raise the intriguing possibility of interspecies health relations, whereby decision-making in human health care may be influenced by experiences in animal health care and vice-versa. In our conclusion, we argue that this analysis provides opportunities to scholars researching diagnosis in human health care, particularly around the impact of commercial drivers; has implications for veterinary and public health practitioners; and should help animate the emerging sociology of veterinary medicine.
“…This matrix provides a format to consider the impact of different decisions on various stakeholders, thus approximating scope, and examines three areas of ethical concern: the impact on the stakeholders' wellbeing, including health and welfare (utilitarian perspective); autonomy, including freedom and choice (deontological perspective); and whether the decision would be seen as just and fair to them (virtue ethics perspective). As has been discussed elsewhere by both authors [49,50], the issue of using 'autonomy' as a prima facie principle in the context of animals is problematic, not least given the anthropocentric weight that tips the scales in favour of human benefit when discussing the moral value and utility of animals, a point acknowledged by the Food Ethics Council. Such inconsistency between the moral value of humans and animals is reflected in statute legislation, as previously discussed.…”
Section: A Practical Approach To a 'Best Interests' Calculation For Amentioning
Medical decisions for young children are made by those with parental responsibility, with legal involvement only if the decision is potentially detrimental to the child’s welfare. While legally classified as property, some argue that animals are in a similar position to children; treatment decisions are made by their owners, posing a legal challenge only if the proposed treatment has the potential to cause harm or unnecessary suffering, as defined by animal protection legislation. This paper formulates the approach to a ‘best interests’ calculation, utilising the factors included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and relying on exchange of information between the human parties involved. Although this form of decision-making must primarily protect the animal from unnecessary suffering, it recognises that the information provided by the owner is critical in articulating the animal’s non-medical interests, and hence in formulating what is in the animal’s best overall welfare interests. While statute law does not mandate consideration of ‘best interests’ for animals, this approach might reasonably be expected as a professional imperative for veterinary surgeons. Importantly, this version of a ‘best interests’ calculation can be incorporated into existing ethical frameworks for medical decision-making and the humane treatment of animals.
“…However, we would caution against this direct comparison. As argued by scholars working on informed consent , Gray et al 2018, the underlying ethical principle in the two clinical domains is different:…”
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