Allen Kate, King Mike, Anderson Lynley, Mullan Siobhan
University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Equine Vet J. 2025 May;57(3):674-683. doi: 10.1111/evj.14204. Epub 2024 Jul 20.
The ethics of equine sports medicine is a complex subject that is currently understudied. It combines veterinary ethics, sports ethics and associated regulation. Equine sports medicine may raise unique ethical issues and combines common ethical issues in ways distinct from other forms of veterinary medicine.
The purpose of this research was to identify and describe ethical issues concerning United Kingdom (UK) veterinary surgeons arising within the practice of equine sports medicine.
Survey.
An online questionnaire was distributed to UK veterinary surgeons via veterinary organisations and veterinary social media. Responses to questions were collated and descriptive analysis performed. Open ended responses were analysed thematically.
Ninety-seven respondents completed the questionnaire. The most commonly identified ethical challenges were the conflicts of interest and the pressures faced by the veterinary surgeon. The primary competing interest was balancing the horse's health and welfare with client wishes for the horse to continue in training and competition. Specific ethical challenges were identified; these related to competition integrity, medication control and prohibited substances, treatment evidence and acceptability, among others.
As anticipated with the use of a questionnaire, the responses did not provide in-depth information about an individual veterinary surgeon's experiences, however, it did provide evidence of the extensive range of issues and concerns facing this group. There is also potential for response bias, whereby respondents may have provided answers they perceived were ethically desirable.
This is the first empirical study that explores the ethical issues faced by equine sports medicine veterinary surgeons and has identified wide ranging concerns that demand further study. Areas which may pose reputational risk to equestrian sport, or the veterinary profession were identified. Governing bodies should consider how to improve support for veterinary surgeons facing ethical challenges, as for some, these cause moral distress and may impact retention within the profession.
马运动医学伦理是一个复杂的课题，目前研究不足。它融合了兽医伦理、体育伦理及相关法规。马运动医学可能引发独特的伦理问题，并以有别于其他形式兽医学的方式组合常见的伦理问题。
本研究的目的是识别和描述英国兽医在马运动医学实践中出现的伦理问题。
调查。
通过兽医组织和兽医社交媒体向英国兽医发放在线问卷。对问题的回答进行整理并进行描述性分析。对开放式回答进行主题分析。
97名受访者完成了问卷。最常被识别出的伦理挑战是利益冲突和兽医面临的压力。主要的利益冲突是在马匹的健康和福利与客户希望马匹继续训练和参赛之间取得平衡。识别出了具体的伦理挑战；这些挑战涉及比赛公正性、药物控制和禁用物质、治疗证据和可接受性等。
正如使用问卷所预期的那样，回答没有提供关于个体兽医经历的深入信息，然而，它确实提供了该群体面临的广泛问题和担忧的证据。也存在回答偏差的可能性，即受访者可能给出了他们认为在伦理上可取的答案。
这是第一项探索马运动医学兽医面临的伦理问题的实证研究，识别出了需要进一步研究的广泛问题。确定了可能给马术运动或兽医行业带来声誉风险的领域。管理机构应考虑如何更好地支持面临伦理挑战的兽医，因为对一些人来说，这些挑战会导致道德困扰，并可能影响该行业的人才留存。
