The veterinary profession's duty of care in response to disasters and food animal emergencies

Abstract

JAVMA, Vol 231, No. 2, July 15, 2007 T issue of public health and veterinary emergency response has persisted from the 2001 outbreak of footand-mouth disease in the United Kingdom through the anthrax-laced letters of September 2001 and the 2002–2003 outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease in California. These have been reinforced by the threat of pandemic avian influenza and the pet strandings during hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Although veterinary medical assistance teams have been established and deployed in the United States, the question of large and small animal practitioner involvement in emergency response still hangs over the profession. What, if any, is our obligation to participate in response to epidemic disease during state, regional, or national disasters? From where does that obligation arise? What are obstacles to and benefits of participation? In 2006, Daniel K. Sokol raised the topic of the challenge and conflicts of the duty of care for human health care workers in the context of potentially fatal pandemic infections. His exploration of the problem included specifying the roles of physicians and nursing supervisors in providing appropriate information to health care staff to permit sufficient personal protection to sustain health. He also recognized the duty of health care personnel to protect their own lives even when treating patients infected with highly communicable agents and mentioned the reliance on good patients to be reasonable in demanding health care. Sokol concluded that insufficient discussion has occurred to develop well-delineated guides for the moral and professional conduct of care provided by health care workers treating people with highly contagious diseases. So, too, veterinarians should consider their obligations to their patients and society in the event of public health emergencies. The question of participation is far more complex for veterinarians than for physicians. Because no precedent will likely exist for the roles that will open to US The veterinary profession’s duty of care in response to disasters and food animal emergencies