New AVMA Ethics Policy Criticized by Veterinary Ethicist

Dr. Barry Kipperman, a veterinary ethicist board-certified in internal medicine and animal welfare, has identified a critical flaw in the updated Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Despite offering guidelines for intentionally ending the lives of animals, the ethics principles are based exclusively on scientific criteria rather than ethical considerations.

Ethics vs. Science in Veterinary Medicine

The AVMA guidelines for ending animal lives consist primarily of lists of approved methods for killing animals, which can only provide a scientific approach to the subject. Ethics, however, is concerned primarily with good and bad, right and wrong, and is influenced by morality and identity as well as evolving societal norms. The Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals and AVMA Depopulation Guidelines make it clear that ethical questions are beyond their purview and that the morality of killing or culling animals remains a matter of personal decision-making.

Veterinary Responsibilities and Ethical Considerations

As the leading advocates for the welfare of animals, veterinarians play a crucial role in safeguarding animals’ welfare, including those used in food production. The AVMA Animal Welfare Principles provides guidance on how animals’ lives should be ended and how euthanasia should be performed. However, ethical considerations around the euthanasia of animals extend beyond the provision of a humane death; they also encompass the circumstances and intentions behind such decisions. Veterinarians regularly face emotional conflict over the suitability of euthanasia requests, including those that could be considered inappropriate.

Medically Unnecessary Euthanasia and Ethical Quandaries

Some vets are asked to euthanize healthy animals for reasons that do not align with the animals’ best interests. Convenience and economic euthanasia are examples of this, where animals are put down due to a shift in the owner’s circumstances or an inability to pay for necessary veterinary care. Notably, the revised Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics imply that euthanasia of a black cat due to its shedding on a white couch is ethical, as long as conventional methods are used. This is illogical and defies reason.

Depopulation Guidelines and International Differences

The AVMA’s Depopulation Guidelines include the use of ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+) as a permitted method for killing poultry confined in buildings, pig, and ratites in constrained circumstances. However, many methods of animal killing sanctioned under AVMA depopulation guidelines are banned in other countries as inhumane and unethical. Both VSD+ and medium-expansion water-based foam, another permitted method, are prohibited in the United Kingdom and the European Union.

A Call to Promote Rigorous Debate and Informed Discussion

All veterinarians concerned with the promotion of a culture of rigorous and informed discussion in veterinary medical ethics should speak out against the new language in the revised Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics. The language is oversimplified, lacking as it is in an adequate address of complex issues and providing cover for procedures that contradict humane end-of-life care.

Ultimately, ethical reflection and debate should not be discouraged but rather promoted in the veterinary profession.

Originally Post From https://news.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=210&catId=14426&Id=12159784

New AVMA ethics policy has a fundamental flaw