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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Humanities and Social Sciences
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1480106

Complaints to the veterinary disciplinary board related to the euthanasia of animals

Provisionally accepted
Charlotte Berg Charlotte Berg *Hannah Vickers Hannah Vickers
  • Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This article presents an analysis of the formal complaints to the Swedish Veterinary Disciplinary Board (VDB) during the years 2018-2022 related to euthanasia of animals, which are highly relevant to the One Welfare approach. The aim was to examine whether the complaints were justified or not, according to the disciplinary investigations carried out, and whether animals had been exposed to unnecessary suffering during these interventions. The reasons for the complaints were investigated and categorised. The results showed that incorrect treatment or handling of the animal was the most common reason for reporting a veterinarian to the VDB, while the main underlying cause, based on the qualitative analysis, was found to be communication barriers. However, the number of complaints leading to disciplinary outcomes (admonitions or warnings) was very low. The vast majority (45 out of 47) of complaints relating to euthanasia were therefore not legally justified as per the VDB decision, as the veterinary staff were found to have acted correctly from a veterinary and animal welfare perspective. Nevertheless, even unjustified complaints can be very stressful for the veterinarian and should be minimised.

    Keywords: Animal Welfare, companion animals, complaints, Euthanasia, One Welfare, Veterinary clinic, VDB, VMB

    Received: 13 Aug 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Berg and Vickers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Charlotte Berg, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

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