Business Ethics Issue in a Veterinary Practice

BU490 Business Ethics
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BU490 Business Ethics
Veterinarians are professionally required to provide good care to the animals brought to their practice. However, there are times when a conflict of interest emerges between the needs of the animal and those of its owner or caregiver. These situations are ethical problems for veterinarians since they must choose whom to give primary consideration between the animal and the client or animal owner (Hernandez et al., 2018). Veterinarians are the servants of two masters, the animal, and the client, and this can create a problem in ethical decision-making concerning both personal and professional contexts. An example of an ethical issue related to the mentioned issue in a veterinary center is a client bringing her dog for euthanasia. A middle-aged woman brings her critically ill golden retriever for treatment. The animal is suffering from arthritis after suffering from a joint injury: one of the golden retriever’s hind legs was injured in a hit-and-run incident, and the infected wound resulted in significant damage inside the joint. The dog is also aged and overweight, and the weakened hind leg cannot cope with the extra load, resulting in further wear and tear on the joint.
The animal looks tired and emaciated, but the veterinary is confident that it is not too late to start treatment and that the dog can recuperate fully. However, the client believes that her golden retriever will never be the same again and opts for euthanasia. She admits that she can no longer stand to watch the dog suffer. Moreover, she believes that even if the arthritis is treated, the dog will always walk limp and have a poor quality of life. Despite efforts by the veterinarian to convince her that the dog’s condition is fixable, the client insists that she wants the dog’s life terminated. In this scenario, the veterinary is conflicted between respecting the client’s wishes and the professional obligation to give the best care to the golden retriever. The veterinary tries to convince the client not to give up on her dog and instead opt for pharmacological treatment, which will relieve the dog’s pain and guarantee a good quality of life. However, the woman is already decided on euthanasia, and any further attempts to convince her otherwise makes her emotional and belligerent towards the practice. While euthanasia is a painless and effective way of ending an animal’s suffering, it has a right to life, significantly if its health can improve with proper treatment.
While the owner does not need to demand the termination of her pet’s life, she is well within her rights to do so. Furthermore, euthanasia is widely considered an ethical procedure in veterinary practice when there is sufficient reason to believe that the animal is suffering and there is no need to prolong the animal’s poor quality of life. While the veterinarian does not believe that terminating the retriever’s life is the best course of action, he has a duty to the client who owns the pet and is also paying for its treatment. In this scenario, the apparent lack of agreement about the treatment p...