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Comments on the dilemma in the May issue: ‘Immediate dispatch?’
Author(s) -
Richards Iain
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.211
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 2042-7689
pISSN - 0263-841X
DOI - 10.1136/inp.h3224
Subject(s) - payment , dilemma , unconscious mind , action (physics) , judgement , law , medicine , operations research , psychology , political science , business , psychoanalysis , engineering , finance , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics
The dilemma in the May issue considered the fate of a fox that had been run down on a country lane and the vet had been called out by the passengers of the car. Despite the vet suspecting from preliminary observations that the most reasonable course of action would be euthanasia and a passing farmer offering to shoot the fox, the three people in the car that hit the fox put forward £300 for a thorough examination and insisted that, if the fox needed to be put to sleep, it should be done only by a vet while the fox was unconscious ( IP , May 2015, vol 37, pp 262–263). Richard Brown emphasised that it was important for the vet to trust in the clinical judgement that came from years of training and experience, and not to feel pressured by others or the prospect of payment. If the vet was convinced on clinical grounds that the case was hopeless, the fox would need to be euthanased in the quickest way possible. He added that it was important to take detailed notes after the situation in case of any complaints and that it would probably be best for the vet to take the carcase away for disposal.