college
CONNECTION
Winter 2019 / Vol. 35 No. 4
ISSN 2370-5965
BIOETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
IN ANIMAL PAIN MANAGEMENT
WHAT’S NEW
AT CVO.ORG
The College’s website got a facelift this
winter. The website is popular among
veterinarians, clinic staff and the public.
Here is a list of some of the popular
resources and where to find them online.
Find a Veterinarian: The College’s
online search tool is accessed several
thousand times each a month by
members of the public who are seeking
information on veterinarians in Ontario.
Find the link on the homepage at cvo.org.
Professional Practice Portal: The link
to the licensed members’ portal has
moved to the top of cvo.org to make it
easier for veterinarians to locate. Visit
the portal for licence renewal or to make
changes to update your information.
ROBIN DOWNING, DVM, MS (BIOETHICS),
DAAPM, DACVSMR, CCRP
THE DOWNING CENTER FOR ANIMAL PAIN
MANAGEMENT, LLC
WINDSOR, COLORADO, USA
The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor
“Can they talk?”, but “Can they suffer?” - -
Jeremy Bentham (English philosopher, 1748
– 1832)
It has not been all that long since
veterinary medicine recognized the
critical nature of appropriate and
comprehensive pain management
for animal patients. In the 1980’s it
was still commonplace for veterinary
students to be taught that relieving all
post-operative pain in surgical patients
would result in them being too active
and “hurting themselves”. Of course,
we now recognize the inaccuracy of
such a statement. Animals possess
the very same neurophysiology as
humans, meaning that an experience
or procedure that would be painful
for a human would deliver a similar
pain experience to an animal. This
phenomenon is called the “principle of
analogy”.
Understanding pain in animals to be a
similar physiologic experience to that in
humans allows us to appreciate that pain
in animals is a similar bioethical issue as
well. Reframing animals pain as more
than simple physiology, and viewing it
through the lens of bioethics opens the
door to applying the four foundational
principles of clinical bioethics to better
appreciate the imperative to provide
comprehensive, multimodal pain
management to animal patients, large or
small.
Standards & Policy: Stay current on
College expectations. All professional
practice standards and policy documents
are located at cvo.org/standards.
You have the option of viewing the
documents according to subject area
or click “list view” for a full list of all
standards and policy documents in
alphabetical order.
continued on back page
COLLEGE CONNECTION CONTENTS
An Engaged Professional 3
Executive Committee 4
Regulatory Effectiveness 5
Learning in Practice 6
Discipline Summaries 7
Accreditation Standards 8
continued on page 2
Instilling public confidence in veterinary regulation
cvo.org
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