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Perspective on veterinarian suicide


sandgrubber
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https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2019/12/nonsense-about-veterinarian-suicide.html

 

Solid debunking of claims of high suicide rates among veterinarians.  US based, but I'd be surprised if it didn't apply in Oz as well.  Other professions, including farmers, fishermen, forestry workers, construction workers, miners, lawyers, etc have higher suicide rates. 

 

Edited by sandgrubber
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It's so very sad that the rates are measurable in ANY profession really...

 

What I can say is that depression is avery real side effect of working in the veterinary field (nurses included). Most enter the profession to do their very best to preserve life and the quality of same... but the reality is that ending life is a much larger part of the job than anyone will really let on, and this is not exactly something that one shrugs off as "just part of the job", each life is as precious to us as it is to the family it belongs to... it can be soul destroying at times...

 

T.

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And you can work so bloody hard and use all your knowledge on a case and still not have a positive outcome.

 

If you were a hairdresser and even 1% of your customers left your salon crying and grieving every day imagine how that would affect your psyche. I often think too after people lose an animal in difficult circumstances that they no longer want to deal with that vet, because it is easier to blame someone for a loss. And people talk so perhaps others avoid that vet too over another. So all your training and skill and career success is dependant on always having good outcomes, which is not realistic. They deal with life and death every day but they also deal with the different values owners place on those lives. They also see the irresponsibility impact too. A very demanding career choice but glad the rates are dropping - perhaps due to the exposure the issue has had.

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17 hours ago, asal said:

my daughter was thinking of doing vet science... after three weeks work at a vets she was appalled at how many perfectly healthy pets are brought in to be put down

Vets are able to refuse to euthanaise healthy animals nowadays... and they do...

 

We had a really nice finish to our day yesterday though... a little poodle having difficulty delivering her 3rd and final bub was delivered safely and we all got tiny puppy and sweet mumma cuddles. It's times like that which can really boost the morale...

 

T.

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I was talking to a locum vet recently, about her locum work.  She said that a lot of clients put the guilt on them along the lines of:  why does it cost so much, you would do it for free if you really loved dogs/cats etc.  That is a big part of it!

 

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Not to say vets have the dream job many of them expected when they were accepted to vet school.  But many jobs end out tearing people apart, and some jobs are economically as well as emotionally crushing. And fact checking is in order as to high vet suicide rates are in relation to other jobs. 

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21 hours ago, jemappelle said:

I was talking to a locum vet recently, about her locum work.  She said that a lot of clients put the guilt on them along the lines of:  why does it cost so much, you would do it for free if you really loved dogs/cats etc.  That is a big part of it!

 

After all costs have been addressed (rent, utilities, salaries, medicines, consumables, etc), vet clinics don't really make a heck of a lot of profit... especially when compared with their human medicine counterparts - who are subsidised by Medicare, so they only appear "cheaper"...

 

Vet science courses at Uni are also almost impossible to get into here... the list of prerequisites are ridiculous. It's MUCH easier to get into human medicine courses...

 

T.

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On 12/20/2019 at 6:23 AM, tdierikx said:

Vets are able to refuse to euthanaise healthy animals nowadays... and they do...

 

We had a really nice finish to our day yesterday though... a little poodle having difficulty delivering her 3rd and final bub was delivered safely and we all got tiny puppy and sweet mumma cuddles. It's times like that which can really boost the morale...

 

T.

They can refuse but the owner can still go elsewhere.  My friend is a vet nurse and taking a few weeks off after a case where a healthy 1 yr old purebred dog was euthanased by the owner because it needed a leg amputated.  Was hit by a car.  Vet didn't want to do it.  Vet nurse offered to adopt dog and pay all costs. No said owner, put to sleep.

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