The Veterinary Industrial Complex

BCSnob wrote:
Our friend goes to homes and dog events to provide vet care in addition to working in a small clinic in a small town. She talks about some people (even those she knows personally) wanting/expecting free care both at dog events and in the clinic. These folks never think about the massive loans she needs to pay off which she took out in order to learn how to provide the free care they are wanting to receive.

I'm not saying there are not vets/vet clinics that are more about the money than the care. I'm saying that clients attitudes may have help create the attitude some vets/vet clinics take with their clients.

I know it's hard to cover the costs of animal care in many cases. The flip side is that if remuneration for the vet is not consistent with the years of education many of the most qualified will opt for other professions. This leaves the people selected for vet school picked from a much smaller pool, thus lessening the talent pool.

My comments were not so much disputing that vet medicine has changed, become more technical, equipment intensive. It undisputedly has.

I have issue with the assertion that the quality of animal care has diminished. If it has, it's not the knowledge base available or the testing or equipment that is utilized, or the cost. It's the way medicine is practiced. That is by no means universal in the profession.

I find the blanket assertion that vets routinely order needless tests or procedures in the name of money, offensive. In fact, rarely are new pieces of equipment purchased unless there is an underlying need to improve patient care AND it already makes sense financially. It doesn't make sense from a business standpoint to purchase an expensive piece of equipment in the hopes of pushing the use of it unnecessarily in hopes of making money. Doing that is just stupid.

Doug