August 11, 2009

Dear Editor,

If Smart Money's objective in publishing the article, "10 Things Veterinarians Won't Tell You," (Aug. 7, 2009) was to educate the pet-owning public about what they should know and the questions they should ask when their pets need veterinary care, we believe you have missed the mark.

What you have done is to promote a sense of fear among pet owners and to foster a feeling of mistrust of veterinarians. Your choice of headline and the wording of subheads throughout the article, combined with an overall negative tone, and the use of innuendo and inflammatory language, are regrettable.

Veterinarians are compassionate doctors who work extremely hard to provide quality health care at an astonishingly reasonable cost. Contrary to the article's title, communication is the cornerstone of the veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Veterinarians openly discuss medical treatment options and costs, and help their clients make decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. Just as in other healthcare professions, tailoring preventive and therapeutic care to individual patients, providing increasingly sophisticated services, and calling on credentialed specialists are all part of a normal day at the office for a veterinarian.

What makes me most proud to be a veterinarian, however, is our profession's unwavering, around-the-clock commitment to patients and their owners, including, and up to, when it is time for them to say "goodbye" to their beloved pet.

An education received at accredited institutions, stringent examinations, and licensing and oversight by state regulatory boards mean that pet owners can be confident in the quality of medical expertise and care available. As the public demand for specialized services continues to grow, more and more veterinarians are pursuing postdoctoral training and board certification in a variety of specialties. Access to such services, including advanced dentistry and behavior, are more available today than ever.

Any good relationship is ultimately about trust. Most veterinarians and their clients trust and respect each other. Fortunately for pets and their owners, when that trust is combined with professional expertise and passion, the result is unparalleled health care.

Despite the fact that the scientific community, the American public, and even the United States General Accounting Office, have appraised veterinarians as indispensable experts on both animal and human health, your article fails to accord these doctors with that respect. Indeed, one can scarcely imagine the backlash Smart Money would feel from both the public and the medical community by running an article entitled "10 Ways to Avoid Following a Pediatrician's Advice."

Sincerely,

Larry R. Corry, DVM
President
American Veterinary Medical Association