By Nancy S. Loving, DVM
thehorse.com
If you’d like to discuss equine law, contact Adam Trenk, director of RLG Equine Law Department, atrenk@roselawgroup.com
“The No. 1 goal of the equine veterinarian is to help the welfare of the horse,” reported Rick Lesser, DVM, during a series of sessions focused on ethics, scope of practice, and racing at the 2012 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ (AAEP) Convention, held Dec. 1-5, in Anaheim, Calif. “The best way to do this is through a synergism of law, morals, and ethics.”
Lesser described the specific meanings of these concepts: Laws are principles and regulations established by some authority–these imply no free will and are imposed from the outside, with penalties incurred for violating the rules.
The word ethics describes the science of the rightness or wrongness of our actions and can encompass various philosophical approaches. He summed up Aristotle’s virtue ethics, with a goal of excellence, as “the best thing to do.” German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s logic of moral obligation suggests that “doing our duty is the goal,” with no credit given to doing the right thing. And, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s consequentialism maintains that “it is the outcome of our actions rather than the motives” that are relevant to ethical decisions. Lesser noted that consequentialist ethics stimulated veterinarians to form the AAEP in 1954, particularly with the welfare of the racehorse in mind.
