Animal Health Solutions

30 Covetrus | ph: 855.724.3461 | fx: 888.329.3861 | northamerica.covetrus.com Addressing an unsettling trend On January 1, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the first-ever study to examine mortality rates among veterinarians in America. 1 The results were sobering. Between 1979 and 2015, nearly 400 veterinarians had died by suicide. That is 2.1 times more likely than the general U.S. population for male veterinarians, and 3.5 times more likely for female veterinarians. 2 According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), 75 percent of veterinarians who died by suicide in 2017 worked in practices that focus on companion animals. 3 "It's really shocking," said Dr. Carrie Jurney, board member of Not One More Vet, an online organization dedicated to preventing veterinarian suicides. "I had 86 people in my vet school class… Three of them are gone, died by their own hand." 4 What is causing this trend? Why do veterinarians have such a high risk? And more importantly, what can we do about it? Let's take a closer look. Contributing factors Suicide is seldom caused by a single factor in any profession, and it is no different for veterinarians. However, a unique combination of high financial and ethical pressures makes veterinarians especially vulnerable. One of the largest contributing factors is student debt. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the average debt from a veterinary school is more than $152,000, not including undergraduate debt, 5 and about one in five veterinarians graduate with more than $200,000 in loans to pay off. 6 While these figures are close to the average debt for medical school, the average salary for a veterinarian is substantially less than that of a new physician. 7 The impact of these costs can be felt far beyond finances. With mounting pressure to pay off debt while also expanding their practices, saving to buy homes or starting families, many veterinarians will routinely work than 50 hours a week. To make ends meet, some have a second job working at a rescue shelter or working an overnight shift at an emergency clinic. Another major contributing factor comes from the ethical conflict and moral distress of euthanizing animals. Veterinarians are often forced to set aside their expert opinions and accept a pet owner's decision to euthanize a pet. 8 In a study published by the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 29.3 percent of veterinarians had received requests for the procedure that they believed were inappropriate, and about 19 percent sometimes or often agreed to do it. 9 Veterinarians also frequently find themselves euthanizing patients with treatable injuries simply because the owner can't afford the required treatment. 10 In response to the question, "How often have you been asked to do something in the course of your clinical practice that feels like the wrong thing to do?" 45.3 percent said "sometimes" and 5.6 percent said "often." Reversing the trend Without changes to practice culture, business models and other factors that lead to moral and financial stress, the challenge will remain. For example, veterinarians already spend a large amount of their time discussing non-medical issues with clients, particularly economic decisions they are not trained to answer. By sharing these duties with other trained professionals such as social workers, veterinarians would have more time to focus on what they do best: providing animals with high-quality care. Additionally, the relative lack of standardized guidelines for euthanasia can increase the burden on a veterinarian's personal judgment when deciding what care to offer. The formation of ethics committees, discussion and support groups and ethics consultation services—like those in human hospitals—could help alleviate the stress from moral dilemmas. 11 Preventing veterinarian suicide

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