Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Diagnosis A Veterinary Skill

Equine Dentists in Victoria are up in arms over proposed new legislation which they assert will restrict their activities. Section 4 of the proposed Veterinary Practices Act 2006 states:

4 Restricted acts of veterinary science
(1)The following acts of veterinary science are declared to be restricted acts of veterinary science for the purposes of the Act:
(a) examination of or attendance on any animal
the examination of or attendance on any animal for the purpose of diagnosing the physiological or pathological condition of the animal, including for the purpose of diagnosing pregnancy in a horse, but not for the purpose of diagnosing pregnancy in any other animal


The dentists believe this will stop them treating horses, and have organised an email campaign. EoR, however, wonders whether it could be interpreted more widely, and stop altie magicians practicing their particular brands of magic on horses in an unrestricted manner? In the UK it is illegal for anyone to treat a horse without it first being seen by a veterinarian (of course, in reality, this means that the woomeisters still treat the horses since the vets don't want to lose their clients, but at least a proper diagnosis is made first - the clever vets now offer homeopathy, acunpuncture, etc and thus provide a one-stop shop and get extrac income as well) but in Australia there is no such requirement. EoR is aware of horses that are regularly treated by alternative methods in the strict sense of the word - the veterinarian is never called.

Of course, the alties could probably argue that they never "diagnose" anything, and certainly not "physiological or pathological" conditions - preferring instead the "energetic" or "emotional" or "spiritual" conditions as they like to do in order to cover their lack of knowledge and incompetence.

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