Register

Login

Vet Times logo
+
  • View all news
  • Vets news
  • Vet Nursing news
  • Business news
  • + More
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Crossword
  • View all clinical
  • Small animal
  • Livestock
  • Equine
  • Exotics
  • All Jobs
  • Your ideal job
  • Post a job
  • Career Advice
  • Students
About
Contact Us
For Advertisers
NewsClinicalJobs
Vet Times logo

Vets

All Vets newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing newsSmall animalLivestockEquineExoticWork and well-beingOpinion

Business

All Business newsHuman resourcesBig 6SustainabilityFinanceDigitalPractice profilesPractice developments

+ More

VideosPodcastsDigital EditionCrossword

The latest veterinary news, delivered straight to your inbox.

Choose which topics you want to hear about and how often.

Vet Times logo 2

About

The team

Advertise with us

Recruitment

Contact us

Vet Times logo 2

Vets

All Vets news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Vet Nursing

All Vet Nursing news

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotic

Work and well-being

Opinion

Business

All Business news

Human resources

Big 6

Sustainability

Finance

Digital

Practice profiles

Practice developments

Clinical

All Clinical content

Small animal

Livestock

Equine

Exotics

Jobs

All Jobs content

All Jobs

Your ideal job

Post a job

Career Advice

Students

More

All More content

Videos

Podcasts

Digital Edition

Crossword


Terms and conditions

Complaints policy

Cookie policy

Privacy policy

fb-iconinsta-iconlinkedin-icontwitter-iconyoutube-icon

© Veterinary Business Development Ltd 2025

IPSO_regulated

24 Feb 2025

Dognitas

author_img

Jane Davidson

Job Title



Dognitas

Image: © freshidea / Adobe Stock

I have been watching the debate around the assisted dying bill with much interest. While I believe that the passing of the bill was needed, the mechanics of how it will work are still to be determined.

This will require the practicalities of who, when and where a human euthanasia can be carried out after the big why this is required is confirmed.

From the discussion on news programmes, big emphasis is put on the welfare of medical staff. Several boundaries for medical staff who work in a euthanasia role are already being established. These include ensuring practitioners get enough mental health support related to each event.

There is also a call for the number of events or the time taken around each event to be limited. Finally, there was a discussion around how staff involved in the euthansia process would balance this with other health care roles.

Questions

Which brings forward several questions for human and animal euthanasia. Looking at this from both the human care and animal care situations there are similarities and stark, stark differences between the two.

Death, no matter when or where or who, if it’s a soul you care for then the emotions remain broadly similar.

The emotions also remain for the staff who are part of the care journey. While I’m not a fan of some aspects of nursing care plans, the Roper Logan and Tierney model used by Orpet and Jeffrey categorises death as an activity of living.

It is with this attitude that I approach the comparison of the assisted dying bill for humans and the euthanasia of animals. An act of living is to be carried out with dignity and respect for all involved.

With this in mind the emotional rollercoaster of patient euthanasia is perhaps more varied than the plans for the human assisted dying bill. But once established, could the way the NHS approaches practitioner care around human euthansia be something we can utilise with employers to improve the working practices in veterinary clinics around the highly emotional act of euthanising animals?